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You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. Valspeak is a common name for the dialect used by valley girls, stereotypical dumb blondes, living in the San Fernando Valley, with rich parents, a superficial social life and a lot of attention for fashion and parties. This stereotype originated in the 1970s, but was at its peak in the 1980s and still popular in the 1990s. Though a fad, many phrases and elements of Valspeak, along with surfer slang and skateboarding slang, have become a permanent part of the California English dialect, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of "like" as conversational filler). In the United States, Valley girl, or Val, is a term coined for residents of the San Fernando Valley, and originated in the 1970s. ...
The dumb blonde is a stereotype typically applied to women (but may be applied to men) with blonde hair color, which achieved a degree of prominence in popular usage. ...
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in Southern California, United States. ...
The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from the late 1980s and shortly after the year 2000. ...
This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...
California English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of California. ...
English language spread in the United States. ...
The term "Valley Girl" and the Valley manner of speech was given a wider circulation with the release of a hit single by Frank Zappa entitled "Valley Girl," on which Moon Unit Zappa, Frank's fourteen-year-old daughter, delivered a monologue of meaningless phrases in "valspeak" behind the music. This song, Frank Zappa's only Top 40 hit in the United States, popularized phrases such as "grody to the max." Some of the terms used by Moon were not actually Valley phrases, but were surfer terms instead (such as "tubular" and "gnarly"). But due to the song's popularity, some of the surfer phrases actually entered the speech of real Valley teens after this point. The Los Angeles surfing subculture, on the other hand, did not generally begin using the Valley terms. Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. ...
Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967, in New York City) is the oldest child of late American rock star Frank Zappa and Gail Sloatman; she goes by the name Moon Zappa. ...
Top 40 is a radio format based on frequent repetition of songs from a constantly-updated list of the forty best-selling singles. ...
Buttons Kaluhiokalani at Banzai Pipeline, December 1981 Surfing is a surface water sport in which the participant is carried by a breaking wave on a surfboard. ...
Valspeak is used heavily in the 1995 film Clueless and quite a lot in Wayne's World. Clueless is a film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. ...
Waynes World was one of the most popular recurring sketches to come from the NBC television series, Saturday Night Live. ...
Intonation - Excessive use of high rising terminal. Statements have rising intonation, causing normal declarative language to appear to the listener as interrogative. Also known as "uptalking."
The High Rising Terminal (HRT), known colloquially as uptalk or upspeak, is a feature of some accents of English where statements have a rising intonation pattern. ...
Emphasizing phrases "totally", "so totally" - Meaning: "very" or "really"
- Usage: Can be used anywhere in a sentence, even in syntactically awkward positions (e.g. before verbs)
- Examples: "I totally paused!", "He so totally said that to her!"
"like" - Usage: Quotative particle.
- Example: "She was like 'oh my gawd you have to see this', but I was like, 'no way, you're kidding!'"
- a more often heard example: "She was like 'oh my gawd, you, like, have to see, like, this', but, like, I was like, 'no way, you're, like, kidding!'"
"why" A verbum dicendi (or declaratory word) is a word that expresses speech, introduces a quotation, or marks a transition to speech which may be considered non-standard. ...
A particle is Look up Particle in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In particle physics, a basic unit of matter or energy. ...
- Usage: Added for emphasis, but has no particular meaning.
- Example: "Oh, why, that came out of nowhere!"
"duh!" Look up duh in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
- Meaning: "Everybody knows that!", "Obviously!", etc.
- Usage: Usually said with heavy emphasis, often while rolling your eyes. Commonly begins a sentence or phrase, or is its own sentence.
- Example: "Haven't I heard that before?" "Duh, it's like a famous quote!"
"As if!" - Meaning: "You are wrong", "It's not going to happen", "You wish", etc.
- Usage: Used in its own sentence, usually to contradict the previous sentence or demonstrate skepticism.
- Example: "You expect me to wear that? As if!"
"What-ever!" - Meaning: "I don't believe you", "I don't care", etc.
- Usage: Used as a complete sentence to dismiss a topic. Special emphasis is placed on "Ever".
- Example: "You're, like, so totally out of nail polish? What-EVER!"
"Worst (something) ever!" (Now a Simpsons catchphrase. This phrase is also from 1337.)_ The Simpsons. ...
- Meaning: Short for "This is the worst (something) I have ever seen!"
- Usage: Usually said with significant pauses between each word.
- Example: "Worst. Movie. Ever (sometimes written as "evar")!"
"so", "like", "OK", "you know", "or something" - Usage: Usually used as fillers with no particular meaning.
- Example: "So OK, I was totally like, you know, 'I have no idea' or something!"
(Also see Vocabulary below.)
Other characteristics The dialect can often be distinguished by its intonation, and by its pharyngealisation of certain consonant sounds, particularly the "L" and rhotic "R" sounds occurring in the coda[citation needed]. Pharyngealisation is rare in the English language and its presence here is possibly unique within American English, though it is detectable in similar circumstances in some variants of Irish English and Scottish English. Pharyngealisation is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx is constricted during the articulation of the sound. ...
In linguistics, rhotic can refer to: a rhotic consonant such as IPA a rhotic accent such as General American an r-colored vowel such as IPA This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...
Pharyngealisation is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx is constricted during the articulation of the sound. ...
English language spread in the United States. ...
Hiberno-English is the form of the English language used in Ireland. ...
Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. ...
Vocabulary | Word | Definition | | Airhead | An intellectual lightweight (e.g. a valley girl) | | Awesome | Very good (e.g. "That movie was totally awesome!") | | Audi | Out of here (e.g. I'm audi.) Often confused with Outtie, this misunderstanding then went into widespread use. | | Barf | To vomit | | Baldwin | Handsome boy or man (from the Baldwin brothers) | | Barf bag | Jerk | | Barney | An unattractive boy or man (presumably from The Flintstones character Barney Rubble), sometimes confused with the similarly undesirable Barney Gumble from The Simpsons In other contexts, the term "Barney" is used to refer to police officers; in that case, it derives from Barney Fife. For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as...
Vomiting (or emesis) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of ones stomach through the mouth. ...
The Baldwin brothers, Alec (born 1958), Daniel (1960), William (1963) and Stephen (1966) are four U.S. brothers who have all become notable actors. ...
The Flintstones, an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, is one of the most successful animated television series of all time. ...
Barney Rubble. ...
Barnard Barney Gumble born (April 20 or June 15, 1967) is a fictional character on The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. ...
Simpsons redirects here. ...
For the band, see The Police. ...
Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show Barney Fife was the fictional deputy sheriff in the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. ...
| | Betty | Beautiful girl or woman (stated on the Whatever! DVD edition that the term 'betty' comes from The Flintstones character Betty Rubble) | | Bitchin' | Cool (aesthetic) | | Bro | Brother, meaning friend or dude | | Buggin' | Freaking out (usu. mildly) | | Dork | Originally slang for a penis (as used in Sixteen Candles), but eventually came to mean geek or nerd or a clumsy or eccentric person. | | Dude | General term for a male, but may also be used in a derogatory manner, or to get someone's attention | | Dweeb | Nerd and Loser | | Classic | Great | | Fiesta | Party | | Fer sure! | Certainly | | Gag me with a spoon! | That's disgusting (from a method of inducing vomiting) | | Gnarly | Good, Great | | Grody | Disgusting (e.g. grody to the max) (from "grotesque") | | Gross | Disgusting | | I'm like... | (When talking about yourself) emphasis placed on the "li" in "like." | | I'm so sure! | (spoken sarcastically) I don't believe you. | | Joanie | Unhip girl (from the Joanie Cunningham character on Happy Days) | | Later | Goodbye | | Later days or Later dates | Goodbye (Usually said by Tino at the end of each episode of Disney's The Weekenders) | | Loadie | Stoned boy or girl | | Monet | Someone (or thing) that looks good from afar, but up close it's a total mess. (e.g., "That hag is a full-on Monet!") | | Postal | To go insane/freak out/bug (as in "going postal".) | | Psych! | Just kidding | | Rad | Very cool (from "radical") | | Rays | Sunlight. (e.g., "I'm going to the beach to catch some rays.") See UVs. | | [I know] Right?/Right on | Used as bland filler when there is lack of interest or content for a response or to express agreement with indifference or cockiness. (e.g. That bikini looks so hot on you Heather! Right.!?; Hey bro I found 20 bucks under the seat of my car! Right on!) | | Scarf | To eat, usually very quickly (e.g., "I totally scarfed that burger!") | | Sketchy | Weird/suspicious (e.g., "that guy looks sketchy"; "I dunno, you were acting kind of sketchy about [x]." | | Spaz | A hyperactive nerd/geek/klutz/a confused person. (e.g., "That guy is a total spaz!") | | Sweet! | Used to express excitement, satisfaction, comraderie, happiness for another person/thing/event. (e.g., Dude I like totally dicked a Betty today! Sweet!) Strong emphasis and elongation of the Es Sweet. | | To the max | More of the preceding adjective (e.g. groty to the max). "Max" being short for maximum. | | Tubular | Very cool | | UVs | Ultraviolet radiation, the property in natural sunlight that causes skin to tan. (e.g. I'm heading down to the beach to get some UVs.) | | to Veg (out) | To rest (from "vegetate") | | Way | Used as an adjective for emphasize. (e.g. "That was way cool"). | Betty Rubble and Wilma Flintstone. ...
Look up cool in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The penis (plural penises, penes) is an external male sexual organ. ...
Sixteen Candles is a popular 1984 coming-of-age film starring Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Schoeffling. ...
Look up nerd in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
High school students celebrate at a birthday party. ...
Happy Days was a popular American television sitcom that originally aired between 1974 and 1984 on the ABC television network. ...
Disney may refer to: The Walt Disney Company and its divisions, including Walt Disney Pictures. ...
The Weekenders was a Disney animated series about the weekend life of four pre-adolescents: Tino Tonitini (Jason Marsden), Lor McQuarrie (Grey DeLisle), Carver Descartes (Phil LaMarr), and Petrotishkovna Tish Katsufrakis (Kath Soucie). ...
Look up Cannabis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Memorial of the 1986 post office incident in Edmond, Oklahoma. ...
Look up Radical in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The Sun is the star of our solar system. ...
A woman wearing a bikini. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Hamburger. ...
Note: Ultraviolet is also the name of a 1998 UK television miniseries about vampires. ...
See also California English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of California. ...
An encheferized Wikipedia article Jive, also known as the Jive Filter, is a novelty program that converts plain English to a comic dialect known as jive--a parody of African American speech. ...
Pink Five is a fan film that made its debut on the internet in 2002, created by fans of the Star Wars franchise. ...
The cover of the 2004 DVD widescreen release of the revamped original Star Wars Trilogy. ...
This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...
External links
| English Pseudo-dialects The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ...
| | Pseudo-dialects | Engrish | Globish | Greeklish | Franglais | Internet slang | Hip hop slang | Leet | Valspeak To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Globish is a portmanteau neologism of the words Global and English. ...
Greeklish, a portmanteau of the words Greek and English, also known as Grenglish or Latinoellinika/Λατινοελληνικά or Frankolevantinika/ΦÏαγκολεβάντικα or ASCII Greek, is Greek language written with the Latin alphabet. ...
Franglais, a portmanteau made by mixing the words français (French) and anglais (English), is a slang term for types of speech, although the word has different overtones in the English and French languages. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...
Leet (1337) is a sociolect variety used primarily on the Internet, particularly in online games. ...
| | Mixed languages | Chinglish | Denglisch | Finglish | Hinglish | Inglés de escalerilla | Konglish | Llanito |
Namlish | Poglish | Runglish | Spanglish | Swenglish | Tinglish | Yeshivish | Yinglish An example of written Chinglish on a signpost. ...
Denglisch, a portmanteau of the words Deutsch and English, also referred to as Denglish, describes language based on the German grammar that includes a jumble of English and pseudo-English idioms, or vice versa. ...
The term Finglish was introduced by professor Martti Nisonen in 1920s in Hancock, Michigan to describe a linguistic phenomenon he encountered in America. ...
Hinglish, a portmanteau of the words Hindi and English, is the arbitrary usage of Hindi and English, combining both, in one sentence. ...
Inglés de escalerilla (literally gangplank English) was a Spanish-English pidgin in use in Spanish Mediterranean seaports. ...
Konglish is the use of English words (or words derived from English words) in a Korean context or a Korean dialect mixed with English loanwords. ...
Llanito (IPA: ) is a mixed language spoken in Gibraltar. ...
Namlish, a portmanteau of the words Namibian and English, is a form of English spoken in Namibia. ...
Poglish, a portmanteau word combining the words Polish and English, designates the product of mixing Polish and English language elements (words, grammatical structures, syntactic elements, etc. ...
Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...
Spanglish, a portmanteau of the words Spanish and English, is a name used to refer to a range of language-contact phenomena, primarily in the speech of the Hispanic population of the United States, which is exposed to both Spanish and English. ...
Swenglish (or svengelska in Swedish) is a slang term meaning English spoken with a heavy Swedish accent or Swedish with many English words. ...
Tinglish (also Thenglish or Thailish) is the imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language. ...
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...
The term Yinglish describes the distinctive way certain Orthodox Jews in English-speaking countries, principally America, but also the United Kingdom, speak English among themselves. ...
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