“And they wanna know how ... girls talk!”

Personally, I like the Dave Edmunds w/Rockpile version of this tune better than that of Elvis Costello, the guy who actually wrote it. But it doesn't matter, because I think he's referring to something else.

NBC's Today Show reported on the growing trend among college girls of ... well, I'll let MSNBC.com explain it.

The report, recently published online in the Journal of Voice, examines the prevalence of a speech pattern called "vocal fry," the creaky, rough, guttural sound that pop singers sometimes use to slip into lower notes ... Can you hear in your head the way [Britney] Spears croaks the line "Oh baby, baby" in "Baby One More Time"?

You can also go to the source of the report, right here.

Personally, I never paid much attention to this trend. I didn't even notice it among the girls who attended the Art Institute while I was there, so much as how at least half of them (no, not all of them) dressed like skanks. (Hopefully not at their job interviews.) It's my own fault, really. I don't watch the Grammys anymore, not since a bunch of spoiled rich tramps took over the proceedings. I just go to the website and get the results the next day. (They even post the nominations along with the winners. Isn't that nice of them?)

But there is a trend that I have noticed.

Unlike the above, which is found exclusively among females of this age group, there is another vocal phenomenon that is found among both men and women. That's right, I said men. I hear it from young adults, even people at work in positions of authority. Any perfectly intelligent individual can sound as ill-equipped as the average Valley Girl when they talk this way. I'll let our New York City slam poet Taylor Mali explain it, with the assistance of the stunning typography of Ronnie Bruce.

What EVER!