But I'm not asking a question?

FROM: BILLY
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 10:06:48 am

Think about what you just said. If it were'nt for towtrucks, the streets would be like parking lots. You disgust me with your whining. Take responsibility for your own actions. You were illegal and you know it, you had plenty of time to fix the little things before they became big things and you chose not to. Sounds to me like you only have yourself to blame. And as for the tire just a little on the line, are we allowed to break just a little of the law, maybe just steal a little money from the bank or we'll just murder someone a little bit, maybedrive home just a little drunk. So you are watching the Superbowl and time is running out, your team is behind but they are on the one yard line, the running back scrambles for the endzone, the ball barely breaks the white line, touchdown!? but no, maybe not, it was'nt all the way in the endzone, yeah but all it has to do is break the line, such the delimma. Touchdown or not ,which shall it be? well, I guess that depends on whether it's good for you or not. 27 years in the towing business and not one time have I ever come to work dirty, out of uniform, uneducated, by the way I have a degree in business law and psychology, or with the intent on ruining someones day. They usually do a bang up job of their own. I've been there and done it all including getting my own car impounded because I was'nt paying attention and yes it was rough but we need to learn from these little lifes moments and move on. thank you

FROM: BILLY
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 10:22:01 am

I THINK I CLICKED ON THE WRONG THING SORRY

FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 10:33:49 am

This is too funny . . . ?

FROM: Paul
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 11:04:05 am

I would normally delete this stuff, but given that it's just too damn funny, I think we should keep it here. Ryan?

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 12:36:18 pm

Definitely keep it.

Touchdown!

FROM: jk
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 2:25:56 pm

I think that a linguist would call it "up-speaking" when one's tone implies a question is being stated even though the statement did not begin with a word like "what" or "who". I remember that Cindy Crawford was identified as speaking like that when she was on MTV. I think it reduced her credibility. Somewhere in here, there is a big joke, right?

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 7:10:29 pm

I think upspeaking a lot of time shows feelings of insecurity, or feeling inferior to those you're talking to. It's rare you hear friends uptalking to each other, I think... it happens more often in stressful situations.

Or with really annoying people.

FROM: Robert [E-Mail]
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 8:43:06 pm

Is upspeaking in any way related to talking out of one's ass? Let's call that "outspeaking."

FROM: Greg C
DATE: Saturday January 18, 2003 -- 8:58:20 pm

I'm with the "annoying people" thing. There's this girl at work named Wendy, who's not a native English speaker (she's Taiwanese). She speaks English quite well, but she's not very smart.

She's also the biggest upspeaker I know.

One other thing that annoys me about her, and this seems to happen with a lot of non-native English speakers, is she'll speak REALLY FAST. I don't know if you're supposed to speak really fast in her language, but it annoys the hell out of me.

FROM: Matthew
DATE: Thursday January 23, 2003 -- 5:10:33 pm

You just hit my biggest pet peeve of all time. And, if you don't believe me ask my teenage daughter. I've always called it lilting rather than upspeaking, but whatever it is, it makes you sound stupid! I'm trying to stop my daughter's bad habit of doing this, but everyone does it at school and teachers don't stop them anymore. When I was in school teachers taught you how to talk properly along with the reading, writing, etc.

Thanks for letting me vent!

FROM: Col Dee
DATE: Tuesday August 17, 2004 -- 4:23:18 am

It is great to encounter other people who detest uptalking as I do. I live in Scotland (Britain) and I remember in 1999-2000 uptalking just took people over like a plague. Seriously, at the start of 1999 nobody was doing it, ever. By the end of 2000 I was the only person in my school who wasn't doing it. It was as if everyone had become possessed and I was the last sane person left.

I agree it makes people sound uncertain and weak. There are quite a few people who actually do it NON-STOP, and they never actually make any statements. That's tragic. But even for the majority of people, those who only uptalk occasionally, it is just as bad, because I am constantly waiting for them to do it, knowing they are BOUND to do it sooner or later and when it happens it makes my skin crawl!!!

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to vent. God bless you all for your views on the disastrous vocal sport of uptalking?

FROM: Joseph
DATE: Tuesday August 17, 2004 -- 11:46:41 am

I notice it most among Asians--maybe it has something to do with tonal languages, sort of like a German always making a V sound when he or she happens upon a W (Velcome to the Vite House!). If your native language is tonal, maybe it just sounds funny not to upspeak even in your new language.

It's also something I noticed first with my west coast friends in the late 1980s. One kid who upspoke was from Huntingtion Beach, Ca. and he was of Japanese/Chinese descent. He was also extremely insecure, so he may have been doubly damned. By the early nineties the "politically correct" gang all spoke in upspeak because it had become cool. It has since died off as far as I can tell--except for this woman with whom I shared an office. She is west coast Vietnamese.

Funny, I don't find it annoying when someone of Asian descent will do it, because I don't think they're doing it to be cool. I consider it more of an accent. But when the P.C. gang was doing it, it grated me. I could tell they just wanted to be cool because they overdid it? Way overdid it?? But they overdid it with the tattoos and the piercings as well. It was also during the very touchy feely era. Upspeak with the cool people creeped me out.

I think they wanted it that way. The annoying upspeak completed the set. The overly large tattoos were annoying (on the neck and face, anyway) the piercings (daiper pin through the eye? Why?) were annoying, and the clothes (that sixties-seventies spend a lot of money to look like I shopped at the thrift store look) were annoying as well. Why not speak annoyingly to top it all off?

FROM: Kate
DATE: Tuesday August 17, 2004 -- 4:09:04 pm

I admit that I lilt my sentances occasionally. It usually happens when I've already started a sentence and don't realize that should be a question until halfway through. Or sometimes when I'm just plain unsure. "The bathroom is... over there?" I'll also admit that I'm not the best speaker in the world - more of a quiet type, and for a reason. But doing that constantly is obnoxious.

FROM: Buck
DATE: Sunday May 22, 2005 -- 7:41:20 am

Finally! An "uptalker" haters' support group. Thought I was the only one who noticed this most annoying verbal habit and that I was going crazy.

You know what's really pathetic? It's when women, both young and middle-aged, appear on national news shows and attempt to be taken seriously while expressing their opinions wearing makeup and uptalking. They lose all of their credibility yet don't even seem to realize it. Maybe it has to do with their conformist need to fit-in and their being slaves to fashion.

Anyway, I've noticed that even men uptalk on occasion; mostly the younger ones and probably out of fashion. Hearing them makes me want to kick their teeth out.

God. Our culture is so shallow.

FROM: Paul
DATE: Sunday May 22, 2005 -- 10:00:06 am

While I appreciate your general support, Buck, I couldn't help but be amused by these two sentences from your post:

1. "It's when women, both young and middle-aged, appear on national news shows and attempt to be taken seriously while expressing their opinions wearing makeup and uptalking."

2. "God. Our culture is so shallow."

What's makeup got to do with it?

FROM: Buck
DATE: Tuesday June 14, 2005 -- 10:46:08 am

BTW, anybody notice that Bush43 is an uptalker?

Probably shouldn't get political, but not only does he say idiotic stuff, he sounds idiotic saying it. And this guy's a Harvard MBA!? C'mon.

FROM: Skyforum [E-Mail]
DATE: Sunday December 25, 2005 -- 1:57:43 pm

It's Like, Totally Tubular Man, Like, Gag me with a spoon!
(Note the heavy use of shoulder padding in their dresses)

I remember those girls, they weren't especially bright.....

In the Valley, Ho Ho Ho! - The defining moment of the Dumb Blonde Syndrome?