Vocal Fry 2: REPETITIVE INTONATION on YouTube!

[@DrGeoffLindsey]

If you’re struggling, consider therapy with my paid partner. Click betterhelp.com/drgeoff for a discount on your first month of therapy. If you have questions about the brand relating to how the therapists are credentialled, their privacy policy, or therapist compensation, here is an overview written by the KZbin creators behind the channel Cinema Therapy that goes into these topics: www.reddit.com/r/cinema_therapy/comments/1dpriql/addressing_the_betterhelp_concerns_headon_deep/

[@Liggliluff]

Better Help is a terrible service that does not have professional therapists and sells your data. Do not use them.

[@salakasto]

Never disliked one of your videos until now. BetterHelp is an awful service that has been caught not only selling your data, including medical data, but its just a bad service in general that treats neither its customers nor therapists with respect. It's a techbro's way to simplify the realm of therapy. The creators have no experience with therapy and it shows. I would consider reading up on it.

[@deedeeen]

I am struggling. Your partner charged a little too much for what it's worth. 😅

[@salakasto]

Never disliked one of your videos until now. BetterHelp is an awful service that has been caught not only selling your data, including medical data, but its just a bad service in general that treats neither its customers nor therapists with respect. It's a techbro's way to simplify the realm of therapy. The creators have no experience with therapy and it shows. I would consider reading up on it.

[@fuzzyblurrydotcom]

BetterHelp is a really awful organisation, and this is pretty well documented at this point; I strongly encourage you to do some further research on them and stop taking sponsorships, they are actively predatory and abusive to vulnerable people.

[@FransLebin]

23:11 that Map Men joke is an absolutely perfect example of what you're talking about. I have to imagine Geoff just takes notes of every KZbin video he ever watches

[@djmcbratney]

Every Dr. Geoff Lindsey video I watch I'm doing the Leo DiCaprio with my beer every five minutes, it's incredible. Like he's created some kind of exhaustively tagged database of funny moments from all audiovisual media classified by both meaning and linguistic content

[@jeff__w]

The video/audio clips that _perfectly_ illustrate the point Geoff is making are one of the high points of his videos. I imagine, as you indicated, that he has _thousands_ indexed and at his fingertips.

[@fenskinator]

Jim Broadbent does something similar in Hot Fuzz kzbin.info/www/bejne/fojKiombeNZ9Y5o

[@sebastienh1100]

The “loose women” show is a misophonia hell.

[@karenm2669]

@@FransLebin oh but no one can seriously diss Map Men 😅 Those guys are fabulous. I love them to pieces.

[@watty9297]

When you start saying to yourself “What the hell is he talking about now?”, you know it’s a KZbinr “subtly” transitioning into his product placement speech and it's time to skip to the next chapter ;-)

[@jasperiscool]

I do wish those segments showed ‘AD’ somewhere on screen, as is officially obligatory.

[@mikesrandomchannel]

Spooky, that was exactly my feeling, too.

[@yoavshati]

Especially with Better Help who are a terrible company from what I hear

[@jamesderiven1843]

@@jasperiscool If you use Firefox you can get the Sponsership block extension that will highlight those segments for you and even auto-skip them if you want.

[@smike9884]

@@jasperiscool Get Sponsorblock

[@ZuperZocker]

My wife cannot stand the speaking pattern of the KZbinr NileRed, and this video explained it perfectly. Thank you

[@BoyKissBoy]

Yeah, same here. NileRed has very interesting content, but I can't stand how he speaks 😢

[@MrRedstonefreedom]

Omg, yea, that guy drives me insane. Sad part is, I like a lot of his topics. But I have to clench my teeth too hard to be able to listen to even a small portion of any of his videos. It's so painfully excessive, I just can't do it. I've given up long ago -- if I get an autoplay, or click into a video without realizing the creator, I quickly jump out of it as soon as I hear his voice. Maybe some like it. Me? I absolutely detest it. His speaking style is most likely my least favorite of all time.

[@annsuma28]

came here to find this comment! it actually motivated me to look into some intonation theory. same with JJ, the way he explained was a usually canadian way of speaking, which makes sense because i think nilered is also canadian. unfortunately, it's still hard for me to listen to 60 minutes of just that. before that i couldn't listen because i could not understand how that is spontaneous speech and not a tv commerical. after listening to podcasts with nilered i can say that actually happens!

[@schweisy]

@@annsuma28 As a Canadian, I hate that JJ keeps trying to tell the world he just has a regular Canadian accent. While he has some aspects of western Canadian pronunciation, for the most part his way of speaking is entirely idiosyncratic and some sort of weird exaggerated shtick he’s doing rather than any kind of authentic thick Canadian accent. It’s all so invented and unnatural I find him intolerable to listen to.

[@annsuma28]

@@schweisy no I wasn't thinking everyone speaks like him, not at all! however I could see some merit in arguing why this became a Canada thing specifically. taking media personalities for this is a tad biased because we all understand it's most likely their unnatural or manufactured way of speaking

[@thelibraryismyhappyplace1618]

"Stressful", "sick of it", "choose another voice" 😂😂😂 That editing is

[@atreidesson]

but I really liked their voices anyway 🥰

[@WaterShowsProd]

As a voiceover artist I can say that part of the ubiquity of these annoying trends is that clients believe that's what it's supposed to sound like because they heard it that way somewhere else, and their trapped-in-a-box, marketing-study macerated brains think it's not right and won't be successful if it doesn't sound like that. Speaking of film trailer voiceovers, I hated how there was a certain tone for a drama, a certain tone for a comedy, and a certain tone for we're-pretending-this-is-a-drama-and-will-suddenly-reveal-it's-actually-a-comedy. Ben G. Thomas, who is one host on his own science news channel, gets into a very odd repetitive tonal pattern, which sometimes distracts me from what he's saying.

[@davisbrowne1906]

Hahahaha - don't hold back!!!!

[@yurisei6732]

As a consumer, it feels pretty self-defeating, that. As showcased in this video, the British advert voice is so specific and repetitive - that "I'm trying to give you the impression I'm happy" voice - that it just makes me feel disgusted, and disgust isn't the emotion you want me associating with your product.

[@TrineDaely]

Not to mention a rash of YTers trying to break into the algo copying the same annoying ways of talking. I have clicked off many videos that looked promising because I simply cannot stand to listen to them but I don't want to listen to AI either. I want to hear a real human speaking in a genuine manner.

[@JobiWan144]

I've never noticed any repetitive patterns from Ben G. Thomas, at least not to the point I find it annoying. Now I'm a little afraid to watch his videos in case I can't unhear it lol!

[@ballsxan]

They're

[@fat-zer1508]

I laughed much harder than I should have on the illustrations of "pre/post-nuclear" with Terminator 2 cinematography. Thank you Dr. Geoff Lindsey.

[@technoman9000]

This is too funny. My wife has commented that everyone I watch on KZbin sounds the same and she finds it annoying. I think you hit the nail on the head. Very interesting.

[@JJJRRRJJJ]

The “goodbye” at the end makes me feel like I held in a sneeze.

[@RCake]

Oh yes that outro was just adorable 😂😂 I'm finished You can watch something else now Goodbye

[@N6TJA]

😮😮

[@revangerang]

This!! It's so unnatural and unsatisfying and anticlimactic ughhhh

[@TomWDW1]

We don't hate the Kardashians because of their vocal fry. There are so many more reasons to hate them, lol

[@seneca983]

Some people might start to hate vocal fry in general if they (subconsciously) associate it with annoying people like the Kardashians.

[@TacticalFluke09]

this is one of my favourite channel and an excellent video, but betterhelp is a dislike. they engage in such a deeply shady business, please don't promote them.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

I've just liked it to offset your dislike.

[@kethwintham344]

For those out of the loop, betterhelp has had several issues. More minor problems revolve around high charge rates for unliscened therapists, extremely difficult to cancel plans, and unconsented charges for services. The major issue revolved around betterhelp illigally selling sensitive personal data from therapy sessions (including from minors) despite explicitly claiming they didnt. They were persued by the FTC over this and ultimately paid 8 million dollars in partial refunds, but refund or no, I still cant think of anybody that would be comfy with the idea of their therapy transcripts being sold to the highest bidder for datamining.

[@CptSoundBeard]

They are terrible though lol

[@rabbiboazmarmon7723]

Why would someone make a business decision to advertise a service they have personally had a positive experience with, when a random person thinks the business is shady - and provides no evidence to back the assertion? KZbinrs should only advertise products they can’t personally endorse, and that no one of literally billions of potential KZbin viewers could possibly dislike. That should be easy enough.

[@Zavendea]

@@rabbiboazmarmon7723Plenty of people have covered the issues with Better Help at length. If you looked it up, you would see as much.

[@sigil5772]

I think what's missing in your analysis is an examination of the presentational nature of all the examples; even the clip from Loose Women, while apparently conversational, has at its root the participants' knowledge that they are on show. Perhaps there needs to be some research into the psychology of this, but I have long felt that such vagaries as you're looking at arise from a very basic dichotomy in vocal delivery: Giving a Speech - v - Having a Chat. As an erstwhile voice teacher for actors, I always felt that one of the biggest hurdles for the student actor to overcome was that although the words they were required to speak should appear to arise spontaneously, their brains always _knew_ at some level that the process was artificial and _not at all_ spontaneous; the end result being a degree of (shall we say) "presentationality" in their delivery.

[@ailo4x4]

Interesting take! I taught briefing skills to government and military analysts for speaking to very senior officers and decision makers. Getting my students to lose the rehearsed/memorized intonation was very difficult. I had to stress to them that the key recipient wanted to hear what they actually thought. There is a huge difference between, say, a real meteorologist and a 'weather presenter' on TV. One knows what they are talking about and the other is acting. And the viewer/reciever can tell the difference in a heartbeat without even registering it consciously.

[@pansepot1490]

Excellent point. The thought was in the back of my mind and I am glad to find someone who expressed it clearly. Thanks.

[@varana]

You can throw the baby out with the bathwater, though - when the desire to sound "natural" means your speech descends into incomprehensible mumbling and excessively slurry consonants. You may want to sound natural, but in the end, you _are_ giving a performance, and that comes with certain requirements. Like speaking in a way that you can be understood, even when there is an explosion with dramatic music going on in the background.

[@sigil5772]

@@varana Well now I could write an essay 😁 - but aside from recorded performance, where literal tech is as important to the finished product as vocal technique, I would agree, but up to a point. Yes, acting is artistry and not real life, and clarity _is_ important, but clarity for whom? If I'm unfamiliar with a London accent is it encumbent upon the actor (or whoever) to pronounce the 'h' in 'hear' so that I might distinguish it from 'ear?' Or should James Gandolfini have made sure that when he played Tony Soprano that his 't' sound was more plosive and less fricative so that I didn't need subtitles the first few times I heard him? I'm really thinking more of aspects like a learnt overprecision which might result in, say, an overuse of glottal onsets, having the effect of EMphasising UNnecessarily ANd UNnaturally (and even here we might argue that such features exist more in regular conversation in, say, Manchester than in Surrey). But then what happens when the text is fundamentally unnatural, like verse?

[@lamudri]

This is also a weakness of YouGlish, which seems to skew towards posh people (or the American equivalent) giving speeches.

[@pie_IRL]

Thank you for mentioning misophonia! I've often avoided talking about it because I just get laughed at, or people say "oh well I hate annoying sounds too, like nails on a chalkboard." But the more it's talked about the more people will realise it's legitimate.

[@wendym2444]

My thoughts exactly!! Thank you Dr. Geoff!

[@ozen.m8161]

Dr.Lindsey I love your videos but please look into your sponsors' history ❤

[@franks.6547]

I have googled and chatGPT'd but BetterHelp just seems to have flaws and dangers like life in general: You need to watch out for your data, no guaranties that you get a good price, or even a qualified therapist - but they do not seem to be outright evil. Compare it with dating sites that are high stakes and may even hurt the vulnerable. Experiences seem to be a mixed bag, and some countries offer better options than others for mental health care. Do you have specific sources other than warnings on KZbin, like "everyone knows that..."? I read a report from Maastricht University, but it was just sceptical not outright incriminating.

[@ccaagg]

There's a literal point towards the Cinema Therapy video. He didn't miss this, he just chose to believe what BetterHelp are saying. Make of that what you will.

[@DrunkenHotei]

@@ccaagg Dang, I can make much other than a sandwich full of pure dissapointment, personally.

[@zurora]

Yeah I am stopping watching now

[@thecaveofthedead]

Dr Lindsey are you aware of the seemingly common habit in Indian English (I'm not sure if it's a feature of other South Asian English speakers) of seeming to ask the class for an answer before finishing an explanation? It'll be something like "And so we can tell that that? China, not Pakistan is our greatest? national security threat." The pitch rises towards these 'questions', pauses as if awaiting a response, and then drops down for the 'answer' section.

[@LampDX]

i just started working with an international group of scientists and noticed this trend immediately, it’s so interesting

[@rosier1236]

I was thinking of the same thing while watching the video! I've heard a number of Indian colleagues, teachers, and even youtubers use this intonation pattern. I first heard it in a classroom setting from a grad student giving a talk to undergrads, so I didn't think much of it beyond, "huh, he does that more than I'm used to," because of course most other teachers did it sometimes no matter what their accent was. But when I later heard it in a youtube tutorial, I was like--what? Why are you pausing for answers to your questions, this is a video tutorial, you're not getting an answer? I tried to look it up to see if there was any proper linguistic research to read but didn't know the right words to google, so didn't get much beyond other folks on the internet also speculating idly about it, haha.

[@drezhb]

I'm Viet, not Indian but all my teachers used to do this too! I thought that was just how teachers talk when they give lectures. They don't do that when talking normally

[@lesleygarcia7608]

Yes!! It's such a hallmark of Indian teacher speak! It is mostly heard from? Indian teachers. 😂

[@simonwxyz]

Examples of weird intonation had me thinking about the Burger King Foot Lettuce meme vid. So absurd that it's immovably stuck in my memory.

[@freebeerishere]

i was gonna comment this 😭

[@nantsuu]

This is the exact intonation pattern he talks about at the end of the video, the fall-rise sentence-ending pattern. I think there's some vocal fry in there too.

[@gavinrode9153]

YES. THANK YOU.

[@jsa-z1722]

I was so relieved when i first saw your video on vocal fry. It bugs me so much but I never knew how to define it.

[@ErikScott128]

Excellent as always. I had a feeling after watching your vocal fry video that vocal fry alone wasn't the whole story. I've encountered the term "KZbin voice" to describe people who use these kinds of cliche intonations in their videos, and I think it's largely unconscious effort to project some sort of authority. I find it particularly annoying when the video is simply rehashing material found elsewhere, without really modifying it (ie, your typical low-effort monetized KZbin video). However, there are some channels that actually have really interesting and informative material but combined with some of the most annoying intonation patterns I've ever heard (one particular channel about 3D printing comes to mind). I think news reports are largely to blame for a lot of this, as you point out and Zach Star excellently parodied. I like "Charlie Booker's How to Report The News" Newswipe video. It's mostly a parody of the structure of a typical news report, but the intonation patterns are perfectly well executed as well. I feel like, over the years, the "news reporter voice" has become more and more exaggerated, to the point where I find it almost unlistenable. As more and more young KZbinrs come on to the scene, they imitate this as the default "professional" voice to project a sense of authority, even if they have no real expertise in the topic they're discussing. This happens to true professionals, too; a lot of news reporters don't actually know much about the topics they're reporting on (a consequence of having to get reports done quickly) and often when describing things I have interest or knowledge of, I'll notice they'll make inaccurate or misleading statements in an attempt to summarize for the audience. I think this may have caused me to mistrust those who use such voice patterns. Personally, I prefer a more conversational style somewhere in-between casual and super professional, and it's something I try to do in my (admittedly few) videos. I watch educational videos on KZbin, and I think 3blue1brown is one of the best at conveying an engaging conversational tone while remaining professional.

[@scaredyfish]

I never got bugged by vocal fry until people started talking about it, and drawing my attention to it. For the most part, I still don’t really notice, except on occasion, but I’m sure I will go through a period of noticing after watching this. I think something worth exploring is that these speech patterns seem to occur more when reading from a script rather than in extemporaneous speech.

[@joeharris2659]

As the old joke goes: Why do Australians go up at the end of their sentences? Because their ancestors went down at the beginning of theirs… 21:58

[@accentamazing]

Oh hey, it's me in the video again! Always great chatting with you about linguistics, Geoff! I also do feel like I use this news report / explanatory intonation in my own content, especially when I'm reading from a script. I think it happens less so when I'm teaching my students though. Intonation is always trickier to pinpoint and describe than individual sounds, although it really does help students, especially from Asian language backgrounds such as Chinese Japanese and Korean speakers, but other types of languages have distinct intonational patterns too, such as Polish and Russian. Russian stress in general tends to fall in pitch as opposed to rising as is the typical pattern in English stressed words, which makes for some interesting sentence patterns And for anyone else reading this comment, check my content out on KZbin or on any of my other socials! Make your accent amazing!

[@reactionisst]

Post-Nuclear Vocal Fry or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Creak

[@DawnDavidson]

😂

[@JohnSmith-zy1ur]

Bravo

[@woubaey]

The person I immediately associate the fall-rise intonation with is chills, the infamous originator of the "burger king foot lettuce" video. His narration is full of these odd fall-rises in addition to strange pauses.

[@djmcbratney]

Yeah, I've been thinking of that as the Minecraft KZbinr voice or the TikTok voice but I didn't realize there was a holotype. That's the one voice intonation style that drives me completely nuts and I can't stand listening to.

[@scrittle]

"Number 15: Burger king foot lettuce. The last thing you'd want in your Burger King burger is someone's foot fungus. But as it turns out, that might be what you get. A 4channer uploaded a photo anonymously to the site showcasing his feet in a plastic bin of lettuce. With the statement: "This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King." Admittedly, he had shoes on. But that's even worse."

[@the-thane]

​@@scrittle Oh god, I can hear it

[@AaronSmart.online]

This is what immediately came to mind when he started talking about radio idents

[@nate_storm]

chills doesn’t use the fall-rise at the end of a sentence

[@RedRabbit1983]

Amazing! For a long time I've found certain intonations irritating without knowing why. This video explains it. Thank you!

[@cobrasys]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who has to keep rewinding and replaying certain parts of videos because my brain snags on _how_ something was said and I completely miss _what_ was said. This happens a _lot_ with audiobooks, too. A genuinely good book can be utterly ruined by a narrator who keeps repeating vocal and intonation patterns, especially when they're nonsensical and/or exaggerated and/or completely at odds with the part they're reading.

[@christianb9077]

Great video, as always! I don't actually work in the field of linguistics or phonetics, but watching your videos is always a delight.

[@martinlest]

My favourite video on this channel to date: as amusing as it was informative. It was fascinating (and validating?!) to have so many aspects of my own misophonia aired and shared - and, of course, explained (even as an EFL teacher of some 35 years experience, much of what you said had not really occurred to me). I don't know how you and your Patreon team manage to unearth so many video extracts that hit the nail so firmly on the head, but hats off to you! A video I shall doubtless watch again at some stage in the not too distant future.

[@MemeSupreme69]

Dr. Lindsey, I'm disappointed to see a betterhelp sponsorship on you chanel. They work with a vulnerable population and have consistently acted in an unethical and exploitative manner. Please don't accept sponsorship from them again.

[@KarlBunker]

Nice overview of BetterHelp at kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHXNXp1jZ5WZobM

[@TheClintonio]

Kinda curious; who do you recommend? I live in a non-English speaking country so only online services are usable. Asking for future reference, never used Betterhelp but they're the first to come to mind if I think about therapy online.

[@nickchambers3935]

As he started talking about mental health I was thinking "oh I see where this is going... please don't be a BetterHelp sponsorship... oh noooo"

[@scullystie4389]

Thanks for posting this, they're a terrible company

[@Greybell]

idk why these KZbinrs are still willingly being sponsored by them. Have they learnt nothing?

[@cbw900]

As always I crack up at the finale. Your videos are always great!

[@danlyle531]

If I've understood this correctly, it makes me think that the fall-rise tone is a subconscious effort to keep a listener engaged, because the sentences don't sound final and the listener will want to keep listening to find out what comes next (even if, as per the Map Men example, it's the end of the sentence)

[@BarthaxDravtore]

The fall-rise ending reminds me of people that end most of their sentences with "so...". In polite conversation, it's difficult to distinguish when the other person has finished and puts an awkward pause between participants.

[@CAustin582]

NileRed uses the exact same intonation on every sentence he speaks

[@aaron74]

He also frequently misuses the adverbs "immediately" and "quickly" in his narrative, I've noticed.

[@camoogoo]

Used to love his channels. Then one day I noticed the way he speaks. Cant watch it at all anymore :(

[@lerualnaej5917]

Great for falling asleep to if he didnt put loud music at the end

[@pifci]

I can never tell in advance if his experiment went well or not. In all 4 cases, his intonation is the same. "After turning off the heating, it became apparent that the experiment..." A) ...was a complete failure. B) ...had some issues. C) ...turned out pretty well. D) ...was a tremendous success.

[@CAustin582]

@@camoogoo It's a shame because whenever he's in front of the camera actually talking to someone else, he speaks normally. It makes me think he does this intentionally because he thinks it makes for good narration.

[@mwflanagan1]

Speaking of KZbin speakers, there is a preponderance of ‘sing-song’ repetitive intonation. How they get it to work for every sentence is simply amazing, but even more important, is it’s so irritating I can’t tolerate more than three successive sentences.

[@jasonjayalap]

I think people believe that a professional presentation requires repetitive intonation, especially with a written script.

[@theshrubberer]

I think the repetitiveness is exacerbated by their preparing the audio as a series of small chunks edited together.

[@kethwintham344]

@@jasonjayalap I think scipt reading is hard to map genuine emotion onto, and people find monotone less engaging. The repetitive intonation allows a fake emotion presentation.

[@technoman9000]

Same, I've had to unsubscribe from some channels because of that

[@maggiem.5904]

It doesn’t take long for me to determine if I can tolerate listening to a KZbinr or podcaster. If I’m going to continue listening, I have be really interested in what they are talking about and quickly get a sense that they have something significant to say. With audiobooks, forget it. If I don’t like the way they speak, even if it’s a well-written book. Conversely, I will listen to a fair-to-middling audiobook if I like the narrator, up to a point.

[@drkatel]

My 23 year-old daughter sent me a 5-minute video to review which she made for a job interview. I did not notice any vocal fry (thank God lol) but she had repetitive uprising throughout, something I've never heard her do IRL. It seemed unconscious and triggered by knowing she was performing for an audience. I opted not to mention it because she was already nervous enough. I don't think my critique would've helped her. Just found it interesting.

[@c.h.benwan3793]

The 'good bye' really caught me😃A perfect match with your uneasiness in the final bit of the video. Well done, Geoff. So proud of you.

[@brassen]

Here in Brazil, one of the recurrent nightmare is the 'supermarket special offer announcement' intonation.

[@lukasm6905]

Explain it 😮

[@ThisCanBePronounced]

I wonder what it's like. I lived in Korea for 5 years. I fear nightmares from some of those announcements at supermarkets.

[@Artaxo]

@@lukasm6905 It's hard to explain, but I'll try. The main component is it's quite monotonic and the tone is a bit high. It's the tone you hit when you say "this is GREAT". AND EVERY SINGLE ITEM ON OFFER IS GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE. You can even picture the man smiling constantly like a creepy clown. If you were to find this man, you could hear him whisper "wanna know how I got these scars?" The second component is the pacing. Everything is pronounced clearly and perfectly. That's not a problem, obviously, but it does prolong the suffering. Every syllable get the same amount of time, no favorites. It's like a monospaced font, but for speech. I don't know what you'll imagine with this description, but hopefully you'll dread it.

[@andyjohnson4907]

The Sainsbury's self checkout has recently been re-recorded, which saddens me. I always enjoyed repeating back to the machine, and matching it's incredibly condescending tone. "Do you want a receipt? Goodbye."

[@Rycovo]

Erik of Internet Comment Etiquette has certainly noticed as he made a video about it over a year ago! (Also as a Vocal student your videos are invaluable, much love!)

[@obwill]

Vocal fry I can live with, but what really grinds my gears is the 'wet' sound some people make when they open and close their mouth when speaking. Don't really know how to describe it other than squelchy and wet.

[@dickottel]

But how to avoid it? Mouth are usually wet inside. I think I subconciously avoid them cause I notice things like that, I breathe quietly and try to not make noises when I drink, because I always notice when others do that. But people who are not so sensitive probably just make those natural noises because they happen when you're not so self concious.

[@bordershader]

Good point. I don't even know what causes it or if it's controllable.

[@djdissi]

You can live with vocal fry???

[@meedwards5]

Oh dear God, how I hate them both!!

[@sluggo206]

Could that "wet" opening/closing be ejective consonants (another Lindsey video)? I find ejective consonants even more grating than prominent vocal fry. Luckily I've only heard it in that video, so it may not occur much in the US.

[@Iscannon]

Aren't betterhelp an awful company? Or did something change

[@macprofire]

Nope, still a scam

[@LyingSpigot]

Still the same awful company.

[@thirteenthhour370]

There's a link in the pinned post documenting changes at BetterHelp that occured from 2020-2024 -- worth a read!

[@timewave02012]

Most products and services promoted in KZbin sponsorships are awful. See a real doctor. Use Tor for free anonymity instead of a VPN. Don't play pay-to-win games. Learn to cook with minimally processed ingredients from a grocery store. While you're at the store, buy razors. I shouldn't even have to mention it, but don't think some title of nobility certificate is anything other than a novelty.

[@StaceAyyy]

Yes. And by now everyone knows that. Just another KZbinr I'm unsubscribing from because of it. What a shame to see someone like Geoff benefitting monetarily from people suffering from mental health issues. Super disappointed.

[@robynthompson8745]

Thank you. Very interesting . Vocal fry is very prevalent here in New Zealand amongst young women.

[@BetterMonsters]

Oh my god, I had no idea that the British suffer auditory attacks when grocery shopping. Truly horrifying. Thoughts and prayers. I think the thing that really kills me with some artificial intonations is they connote a depth of human misery; this person is performing an inhuman degree of enthusiasm for something that neither I nor they can conceive how someone might feel that way about. If commercials were just extemporaneous testimonials from weird, obsessive fans of a business, I feel like I'd be able to endure them. Someone performing unfeelable feelings upon pain of poverty really wears on me, though.

[@andrewmole745]

Advertising speech patterns can also be quite repetitive in the US as well. The phrase “I won’t be oversold” comes to mind.

[@BetterMonsters]

@@andrewmole745 Oh certainly advertisements are a scourge no matter where you are. I just meant that I don't get ads blaring at me when grocery shopping. Though, as an odd note; I don't know that I've ever heard the phrase "I won't be oversold". Might be local

[@Secretgeek2012]

It is too easy to envisage some kind of horrifying, dystopian, announcement using the same intonation. "Tesco! Where we guarantee your favourite decaying meat packets are almost entirely parasite free! 😃"

[@pasca9408]

I have strong misophonia and repetition/inevitability is definitely a big part of it. Seems like it's such a rare disorder, feels good to have someone share their experience 💓

[@totokekedile]

My problem is that I rarely see the attitude "I have misophonia, and that's my problem to deal with" and more often see "I have misophonia, so that justifies being nasty to people".

[@BillFerrero]

Replace misophonia in that sentence with any other word, and it is the excuse of all entitled, spoiled brats.

[@jcook693]

yeah i hate to be such a boomer but this is definitely one of those "back in my day you'd have just been an asshole" situations...

[@dale3404]

I have Misophonia as does my GD. We’ve been told it’s our problem and deal either it. No one seems interested in ever making a single concession for us. It’s nice to be dismissed.

[@DawnDavidson]

@@dale3404it totally sucks to be dismissed like that. I have sensitive ears, and I was working with a company for a little bit who simply refused to hear my feedback that their sound was set too loud. I had to wear earplugs while listening to their presentations. I took to wearing my earbuds during the dance break segments, because I simply could not stand the loudness! People thought I was weird, but I didn’t care.

[@totokekedile]

@@dale3404 Of course people should make reasonable accommodations, but there's not much someone can do about the way they talk. It's one of many conditions where the jerks pretending to have it make things harder for the people who actually do.

[@demureworm]

from the time i was a small child i’ve always HATED how people speak in advertisements. it instantly fills me with rage. i can’t understand how people can sit and listen to them without issue. i almost muted this video during the radio/grocery store ads part!! it’s only gotten worse as i’ve gotten older and ads are more present than ever-impossible to get through a single youtube video without at least 3 of them and sometimes they trigger when i’m skipping past the paid promotion

[@abigfavor]

That fall-rise is killing me. I feel like I was cursed with knowledge

[@calyx_datura]

Oh god, this is so true. Now I hate absolutely everything.

[@monomakes]

Wow Geoff, Better Help has a real bad rap.

[@anidnmeno]

Gotta get that bag, man

[@miraclesandmoonbeams464]

That's your opinion, but I like better help.

[@jerotoro2021]

Just skip the ad and enjoy the video. This comment is meaningless.

[@DrunkenHotei]

@@jerotoro2021 Endorsing a scam is meaningless? Tell that to channels that supported "Established Titles," and that one wasn't even targeting such a sensitive topic as mental health.

[@jerotoro2021]

@@DrunkenHotei Did this comment endorse a scam? I think it's the opposite, this comment just stated a very well known fact that the sponsor has a bad reputation. All that needs to be done is to skip the ad segment, and not be conviced to try the sponsor's services. Stating that they have a bad reputation is meaningless, as it's already well-known by everyone and it changes nothing.

[@azazelssprachen]

Video has been over for 30 seconds but I'm still not convinced it's over

[@SednaBoo]

Great, now i can’t listen to anything anymore

[@JohnSmith-zy1ur]

😂

[@fraserwilson249]

That's exactly how I feel, now I'm always going to be listening for intonation patterns.

[@jan_Ameki]

I want to thank you for making these videos. I want to become an English KZbinr, but I'm not a native speaker. Your videos help me understand different aspect of spoken English, so I can make clear and informed goals how I want to practise my voice.

[@Brightgalrs]

On the top of intonation and KZbinrs, can someone please explain NileRed. I always feel like he's on the cusp of revealing that something went catastrophically wrong. It's got to be something with those "set up"s. (To clear, I really like the way he speaks, it's just unique)

[@jbtownsend9535]

His on camera script voice intonation is the same set-up song for every sentence and once I identified it, it seemed to intensify and become more fixed. I think people find something that they think works for them so they get locked in to a pattern or something.

[@anglaismoyen]

You've just reminded me I love the content of Action Lab's videos but his repetitive intonation drives me crazy and is the reason I just can't watch him.

[@shryggur]

Some Brits have the most gravely tragic intonation patterns I've ever heard. Dan Worral and Prof James Ker-Lindsay come to my mind

[@eroticbearvideos]

​@@anglaismoyen"look at that"

[@skateify31]

omg his intonation haunts my dreams- it's not just a quirk it's literally every single sentence

[@domenceuspriest]

This was really interesting, and as a fellow misophonia sufferer, you're spot on about the repetition and inescapability. I'm an American who used to coach speech and debate, and there are a lot of videos and podcasts I have to just stop listening to because of various speaking quirks that make it too hard for me to listen (mush mouth, repetitive intonations, etc). Vocal fry doesn't bother me as much per se, but I could feel the creeping unease with the samples where it's present in every sentence, just like pervasive uptalk. As always, your video gave me a lot to reflect on and the audio samplings help with identifying what specifically is going on. Thank you!

[@davisbrowne1906]

I'm so glad you got onto that crazy us news thing! The problem with pattern for me is that it leads me to think the presenter is less than genuine, relying on patterns that elicit emotional engagement. There's an AI voice that people are using that capitalises on the same plaintive tones and gritty pauses to sound more real, but does it with such repetition that it becomes uncanny. And then there's the highly disappointing Coffeehouse Crime, who is so close to being a good presenter but has started to become a pastiche of himself, with not only repetitive tone, but also repetitive phrases, and formulaic presentation.... Which leads the whole thing to become disingenuous.

[@marlenestewart7442]

Thank you, Dr. Lindsey, for pointing out why I miss the content of the videos that I tune in to for learning. ;)

[@B0K1T0]

I recently read an article about misophonia in some magazine and it struck me the same way as when I first heard about ASMR (which I have since I can remember but never in this stereotypical, often sexualized way). I've always thought I just was abnormally sensitive to certain sounds (as well as the feeling of certain materials). Having breakfast with my father also eating was pure terror for me. And I failed for my English listening exam at (a Dutch) school - twice - because I couldn't stand the harsh pronunciation of the S sounds by the woman you had to listen to and answer questions about. It seems to me this is something British people tend do a bit more, so at least I'm blessed by not having to deal with that very often throughout my life ;)

[@jessehammer123]

I feel the same about ASMR- I seriously can’t stand it. And your feelings about English as a Dutch person closely mirror mine about Hebrew (which I’m currently taking in college at the behest of my mom) as an American, just with different sounds. The “kkkh”s and “gggh”s grate on my ears.

[@verity_nine]

Oh wow, yes. Whispering and rustling, and other such soft quiet sounds cause me genuine anxiety. I can't be in a room if I can hear people whispering. It is actually less disruptive for me if someone has a full-volume conversation. I can easily tune it out. But soft sounds make my brain hyper-aware and on-edge.

[@lucie4185]

I can't stand the "clicky nails" adverts. Especially when you can't skip them! 😭

[@revangerang]

Here to tell you I actually understood what you were saying about having ASMR and not disliking it like the other commenters seem to think 😅😅 I DO dislike that it's since been co-opted to mean any video with vaguely soft sounds and not actual Auto Sensory Meridian Response triggers............ But alas such is the fate of anything that gets popular

[@revangerang]

Also I have a personal theory about the crossover of people with ASMR and Misophonia (which I have too- the breakfast table terror is so real 😭)

[@mark_a_schaefer]

This is by far the best channel for solid scholarship punctuated by incredible wit-often fleeting jokes that you might miss. That "pre-nuclear" and "post-nuclear" visual gag was perfection.

[@ToastyOs]

I get the feeling that ppl who use fall-rise at end of payoffs do so in order to create a sense of "I'm not done speaking," likely subconsciously. Perhaps this is something that is trained in those who are often talked over and try to push back. That would explain why it seems to be more common among educated women.

[@ailo4x4]

And what empirical evidence to you have for "That would explain why it seems to be more common among educated women."??

[@DawnDavidson]

The rising intonation at the end is also common among women or others who consciously or unconsciously lack 100% confidence in that they are saying, or are seeking supportive feedback. So the fall-rise may be a combination of the expected fall at the end of the declarative sentence, tinged by a tiny bit of lack of confidence or assurance-seeking. I have a male partner, raised in the US South, who habitually “softens” his assertions with an ending rise. He does this so often that he ends declarative TEXTS with a question mark to convey his lack of firmness. Being more declarative is very difficult for him, and often he thinks it would be RUDE to “assert himself” more. I (a person raised in the more direct-communication US Northeast) find this confusing. I can’t tell if he’s done speaking, or if he’s actually asking a question, rather than offering his own opinion. Utterly maddening at times!

[@Yupppi]

I really like your ability to express these things understandably and the examples and demonstrations that give clear ideas on what the viewer should be learning and paying attention to. Like the downshift visuals with almost singing the notes of the phrase. Where I've paid attention to vocal fry is like a Finnish expert interview on morning tv or so where it sounds like the person is bored with life and the topic and sounds like a creaky door. Many times I don't think I notice vocal fry unless it's the core part of someone's speech. But that's the emotional response I now have towards vocal fry. My personal challenge regarding vocal fry is having a rather low home base for voice yet fairly restricted range up and down, so it's an effort to climb higher and not sound nasal or have the voice break, yet staying comfortably low has the risk of being in vocal fry all the time (outside presentations where you tend to actually try to sound like a good presenter). And the fact that I need to put quite a lot of energy - air pressure - through the throat to get rid of the lazy vibration of vocal fry and have a solid clean note, and since I'm not frequently socialising out loud or singing, my comfort in producing that effort is diminished. And I can imagine drinking something like caffeine that relaxes throat muscles potentially also cause vocal fry to be more present. Also I think there's levels of vocal fry in play as well. The one that's barely noticeable nuance under the voice, and the creaky door sound as if you were rubbing a balloon. Like the pink jacketed first example that was extremely tough to listen to. Definitely there is something about the repetitiveness the way you describe and present it. The mention about being the core of someone's speech instead of a rarely appearing bit at the end of the sentence or so. And funnily enough Zack Star's case didn't even register to me because it was so stylistically intended, and it was mixed with the mental image of old poor quality vhs from 90's with a bit disintegrated tape. I can hardly tell even with the example of Lindsey's own clips when it's an individual letter. Maybe the key is not having vocal fry in inappropriate contexts? Which repetitiveness all the way through the sentence definitely is. And the difference between having it "in appropriate place" like the downshift versus everywhere. Seems like a little bit of vocal fry to bring release to the sentence is acceptable. Doesn't the trailer guy have vocal fry all throughout though? The coolness of having really low voice often times overrides people's annoyance at vocal fry with him I'm confident. And I always thought the amount of compression and normalisation used in radio and trailers in particular bring out almost inaudible vocal fry to the front. Then again there seems to be many other social factors to that as well. My ex girlfriend had quite a deep voice, but she also had quite a bit of vocal fry from overexerting her voice to the point of needing speech therapy in phone sales. I believe it could've been some sort of coping mechanism to stressing the voice. Or perhaps a result of poor voice using mechanics in general. Which would be a bit ironic since she sang in a choir when she was younger and had a beautiful singing voice. So who knows? I didn't pay attention to it much, I assume you get used to things like that really quickly if you have enough motivation to not be annoyed by it - like falling in love or something. Thinking about this more, I realised probably every Call of Duty game has the narrator/briefing spec ops officer speak only in vocal fry. You know the image, that slightly frustrated, uninterested older guy who's just having another day at the job. And I remembered how I couldn't tell the emphasis in English at all until I was closer to 30 years old, I couldn't have pointed out from an example which part of the word had the emphasis. As a consequence I couldn't shift emphasis in words myself. And it confused me because it clearly was an important part of English speaking. Yet I managed to imitate in some measure how I had heard native speakers say phrases and I had a memory of specific word from some quote. It's still not easy for me to point out the emphasis and I don't know if it's because of how little it matters in Finnish (I think you can use it to emphasise the focus of subject more than having a rule where it should always be), or if it's just a me thing. Oof never having the pay off fall makes it sound like a never ending marathon sentence. It's like listening to music that never returns to the relaxed home note to bring out the satisfying release after holding tension to create excitement. It doesn't feel natural to keep the tension, it becomes exhausting.

[@praveenb9048]

Post nuclear sounds more scary than it actually is.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

So does "nuclear family."

[@NicholasPellegrino]

Along with terminal vocal fry 🤣

[@almswell]

I had trouble paying attention to the first eight minutes because you weren't talking about misophonia, but you were wearing it. Quite a relief when you finally broached the topic!

[@IlanaCember]

"I only sound like that sometimes" says the guy whose every other sentence sounds exactly the same

[@honorcollins6962]

Ironic, I would’ve thought he’d be more self aware

[@happyspaceinvader508]

It’s so true… he’s one of the worst offenders. I couldn’t make it to the end of the video.

[@Myrtlecrack]

I am so happy when you post a new video! I can't say I understand everything you are talking about, but I am learning! Thank you!

[@bugcake006]

your video is excellent, but please use less intrusive ways to talk about your sponsors. you shouldn't seamlessly transition from talking about a subject you've researched or have expertise on, to talking about a product you're paid to promote. there should always be a very clear distinction between the main content and the ad read

[@djmcbratney]

I like when KZbinrs have a costume change for ad reads, or even have the company logo on the bottom of the screen for the whole ad, and one of my favorite podcasts does them as radio-style skits. I really appreciate that. Like, maybe keep the tortured segue script, but set off a couple of airhorns while a truck rally voice growls "SPONSOR TIME" and then do a lawnmower wipe with sound effects into a furnished home interior set where Dr. Lindsey has switched into a gold-embroidered bathrobe and a wig or something.

[@lanasinapayen3354]

I've noticed that all youtubers do it these days, I imagine sponsors demand it. Probably specifically because it's so deceptive.

[@danielj.8876]

I think he does the seamless transition as a clever way to seguay into the ad, but I agree that the start of the ad should be marked somehow. Probably best with a logo or symbol on screen.

[@TechieSewing]

Why do you say that though? There is no such 'should' in KZbin terms of service. The videos should be marked as sponsored; there is a checkbox for that. No further obligations.

[@dragonick2947]

​@@TechieSewing This isn't a matter of what KZbin itself requires, this is a matter of being transparent about which part's the advertisement for the viewer's sake. It comes across as exploitative when there's no distinction, even if KZbin allows it.

[@curiositykillingcat3226]

There’s a specific reason radio adverts are so annoying! 😮Honestly my favourite thing learned from this video

[@simonbrampton]

I was just talking about my misophonia with a teacher today!!! Noisy eaters have driven me mad since childhood, and in Spain, people stirring their coffees clicking the spoon against the glass for minutes on end almost makes me violent 😬😅 my fave video yet. 👌👍👏I'm wondering if it's worth doing a video about vocal fry for my Spanish students... doesn't exist in Spanish... yet😅🇪🇸 I would also imagine that younger people don't even hear these "annoying " patterns, and it's a generational thing... I'm almost 60... keep up the great vids ❤

[@revangerang]

Oh god silverwear on dishes is THE WORST. Only beaten by silverwear on silverwear sounds, and when people try to erase when the eraser is already used up 😭😭

[@MatheusCunha-mp5ml]

Always a delight to watch Dr. Lindsey! I'm an English teacher, and I've got a very lovely student whom I dearly like, but who keeps speaking with a rising intonation uptalk-ish. It drives me mad whener I ask her "Do you have any questions?", and she replies using the same intonation as I had when asking her: "No, I don't??" 😮‍💨

[@van-hieuvo8208]

I used to be bothered by repetitive intonation at first until I actually did my first voice-over. Reading from a script at a consistent speed and intonation isn't easy, and not all people are natural-born voice-over artists so that they can add variation on top of such a mentally and physically taxing task. Hell, even professional voice-over artists can be really repetitive when they try to affect a particular cadence, like how Dan Green voiced Yugi Muto for example.

[@TheOriginalSelenaTribute]

Dr. Geoff, the ending of your video, where you so effectively demonstrate the "fall-rise," is hilarious! Love it!

[@braziliantvhd2768]

Is it all just a matter of running out of breath before you finish your sentence? I'm a person that isn't use to talking and find myself getting low on oxygen during a long sentence, dropping lower, just creaking out the last of my words before catching my breath. Even the old timers do this, listen to Paul Harvey, even he does it, especially when he gets to the 'now you know the rest of the story' in low tones.

[@anglaismoyen]

Solid hypothesis.

[@dale3404]

I’ve noticed that with some people, but I’m not sure it explains most.

[@notarealdad]

I think it can play a part! I also have this more since living alone and not talking as often. For me, I’d say a major part is that my throat starts to feel a bit tight when talking, which leads to more fry. Apparently that’s not an ideal thing, idk what to do with that tbh. Also being Australian some of the intonation that leads to fry is just part of how almost everyone speaks. Could I see an ENT or speech therapist? Maybe, but I’d rather spend the money elsewhere haha

[@dale3404]

@@notarealdadYou might find some books or CDs or KZbin videos that could help. Idk know the Australian health system, so I’m unaware of what’s available. Good luck to you.

[@josephdutton36]

The terminator reference when talking about pre- and post-nuclear had me in stitches

[@henriquescaldini4884]

The fall-rise vocal fry sounds an awful lot like the third tone in mandarin lol

[@ilovesparky13]

All of the tones in Mandarin exist in English. We just don’t use them with every single syllable.

[@AtomikNY]

It's basically the same thing. The third tone is often associated with that creakiness because it's the only Mandarin tone that lingers in the lower pitch range. Pronouncing the third tone that way also helps to maximally distinguish it from the second tone (which also rises but starts from more of a mid pitch); the lowness of the third tone can be emphasized by adding vocal fry.

[@matthewparker9276]

​@@ilovesparky13 and don't assign semantic meaning to them.

[@maggiem.5904]

Good job there at the end, Geoff! You finally got it!

[@kitebarbie]

What? I have been told I’m being “neurotic” bc I cannot, absolutely cannot sit at the table with or even near someone who smacks their food. Drives me nuts. It ruins my meal.

[@brianmatt4822]

Mr.Lindsey - when I was a teen dying to visit Great Britain ( beginning in London, of course !) , I was fascinated & a bit obsessed with how nearly every GB person i saw in English interviews,programs, anything where bruts spoke- they recognized pretty closely or precisely where the people they were speaking with , immidiately& (to me,it seemed)very easily, by their dialects . Which, in my early listening g days seemed to vary from street to street. Of course, we have the same thing here, on a much larger,widespread scale, in the U.S. - but to have so many dialects in a place the size of my home state-California-left me amazed. I tried to check out a tape of British ( with Scots,Irish,&Welsh dialects included, i think) from our library but it was gone . Since then I've become very adept at recognizing accents & some dialects- but much of Britain still stumps me , when I see how quickly people can figure out where others are from , & then watch how they react-& judge - in the U.K. I wish SOMEONE would love the British isles dialects again , enough to make another dialectic-instructional tape ( i guess now it would be a head-phone, finger-drive, up-load or down-load, as long as it could differentiate each dialect to the last breath,even!) to give interested parties like myself a heads up when visiting ! If you love languages, appreciate accents,dialects,even the ever-changing (& always enthusiastic&fun. )football chants ,as much as i do , I wish you & your super-smart language-university folks would get together & come up with something for ignorant parties like myself- ignorant, but my ears are bent&ready to listen& learn ! Thank you for being a part of ( in my country ) an ever shrinking community of people who love our language, still use archaic words just for fun, & salivate when I hear people speaking correctly - & my goodness ! In America , the pronunciation of T's (except: "impor'ent" ,where we used to say "important"- error, drives me nuts, or "drug around" instead of "dragged"- oh, all language is in trouble. I know I've made 100 errors here already, but I'm trying,really!) seems to have went out with candy-colored apple monitors. So again, thank you , from a yank ( or a "westy-west" ) , & keep up the language-standards. & think about spreading knowledge of the exciting world of British dialects. I'll even trade you some CA to Southern U.S. dialects if you'll publish or record some dialects - or have you ? Last i had was a book called "British English". Good for a short trip down the road, but never really got me as far as i wanted to know . Take care ! - bb💙🎶💙🍂🍁

[@bernieg5874]

I'm not convinced about interpreting it as "reaction against young women sounding like they're trying to speak with authority". The irritating version sounds to me like an exaggeration, and it's the exaggeration that's irritating. More aloof than authoritative.

[@vcaccuri]

another masterpiece of a video, thank you Dr Lindsey

[@caleschley]

Your grocery stores broadcast ads over the PA? Damn that would drive me insane. I've never heard that anywhere in Canadian groceries.

[@jsa-z1722]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HIGHLIGHTING THE SUPER ANNOYING REPETITIVE TONES OF SOME PRESENTERS! HOORAY I AM NOT ALONE IN MY ANNOYANCE!

[@allanjmcpherson]

I love the inclusion of that Victor Borga bit! I wonder how many viewers will know it or who he was.

[@wacens1]

Brilliant as usually. Really interesting, deeply educational, and funny at the same time. Thank you Doctor.

[@georgiancrossroads]

There is a video channel I have watched regularly for years. At one point I noticed that the young woman had developed a rather regular vocal fry rhythm that I hadn't really heard before. I went back into her videos. It had been there for a year or so. But when I went back into the beginnings of her channel I noticed something else. That she did not use vocal fry at all. She had a clear bird like tone. Which then led me to ask why voices change. Is the vocal fry as sign of 'maturity'? Or is it actually contagious? It would be interesting to see her among her social circle to see how many others were doing it. Or then again does it come from watching too many videos and catching the bug that way?

[@karenm2669]

@@georgiancrossroads contagious. Absolutely not no way no how is it a sign of maturity.

[@fyuuredhijgfzregjjygtdftyi6021]

It's an affectation. They think it gives them gravitas

[@legendmaker694]

Your videos never fail to entertain me AND enlighten me. As a native French who always struggled with pronunciation in English, your trick for the "kit" vowel was a game changer! I've been wondering if this applies to syllables like "in", though (to my ears, natives seem to say "een" rather than "é+n" but I'm really not sure). Thank you so much!

[@faescotland4174]

Well this video has used up a month's worth of my tolerance for repititive vocal fry

[@SeanPorio]

I’d love to see a mini episode specifically on Food Wishes. He does have a somewhat repetitive speech intonation that I immediately noticed when I started watching his videos but I actually love it and think it’s unique and unlike most other KZbinrs or TV presenters

[@louieberg2942]

Quite a few examples with the downward shift seem to be of people reading or, at the very least, offering very well prepared words. It might be a reading thing and not something they would do when they speak conversationally.

[@ubermut1379]

OMG finally somebody talks about repetitive intonation! It doesn’t even have to be connected to focal fry, but there are lots of KZbinrs who always do this and while they try to come across more professionally by doing this, it has the exact opposite effect with me! I instantly feel like they can’t talk properly…

[@Elesario]

It's gone midnight, I'm just about to head off to bed. Oooh, and new Dr Geoff Lindsey video... Click!

[@artugert]

Me too

[@tobiaspape]

Always looking forward to these videos. Victor Borge was a welcome surprise, too.

[@nicktankard1244]

Didn't expect to see @JJMcCullough on a Dr Geoff's thumbnail lol 🇨🇦

[@Jessafur]

Me neither lol

[@weepingscorpion8739]

Well, I think it's safe to assume that with Dr. Lindsey, no English speaker (native or no) is safe :)

[@hbowman108]

J.J. McCullogh, the most extreme form of Canadian raising. Proof you can use to incontrovertibly prove that some people really DO (almost) say "aboot". Other than Scots.

[@imacg5]

Just can't listen to him for more than 30 seconds. He may be a good writer (and/or thinker), but his voice is just excruciatingly boring.

[@aaron74]

JJ probably is the internet's favorite Canadian.

[@АнастасияПолякова-ч4ф]

The ending is brilliant, thank you!:))

[@askingwhy123]

Solid gold. May the algo shine upon you.

[@Arathun]

the examples of the end regarding the fall-rise tone sound natural to me, with a different intent behind them. i'm surprised you didn't mention their use to denote the end of a question, which some of the examples are presented as at 24:21. you did mention it as used for "commas", and i think that effect is also intentionally in sequence to delay the expected resolution indefinitely, to keep viewer attention like in 23:35. it also seems to be used as a way to continue the "stream-of-thought" in the conversation and is less interested in presenting accounts in finality. i love how you brought attention and labeled common usage of these intonations, since it's something you know but dont really think about. when i try to imitate the "movie voice" (downshifted nucleus) or the "ad voice" (rising pre-nucleus), i know how intuitively, but it's great to bring it to the conscious forefront to know what exactly makes them up. there's a lot of intonational patterns that contain so much meaning in english, but we never explicitly learn them in classrooms. knowing their structures and variety is equivalently as useful as learning new vocabulary, new grammar structures, and even new social self-presentations (e.g. formal vs informal speech). would love if you covered intonation more in depth in the future. thanks for another great video!

[@c00bmaster]

I thought the same thing. I'm used to hearing the fall rise intonation pattern just like in the examples used, but none of them sounded final or like they were intending to be final, they were still continuing with their point or urging someone else to

[@TechieSewing]

Thank you, this is hilarious! And relatable :) When you mentioned repetitive patterns, I immediately thought of that falsetto raising that some channels do at the start of the sentences. I don't tend to watch those, but one such was The Game Theorists, particularly their video about KZbin Shorts, because I haven't watched any other. I remember the same pattern from a few minuted of Mark Rober video, before I had to groan and switch it off. Somehow I don't see many people complaining about it, and when I do, I'm met with text equivalent of blank faces.

[@davealexander59]

Wow. The end sounded just like how Christopher Walken talks.

[@FireflyOnTheMoon]

This is by far the funniest channel on KZbin - I always laugh out loud. Genuinely. The clips are hysterical.

[@Yabe_uke]

I just love all the knowledge in your videos. So many common patterns that I just didn't realize. I wonder how my intonation would sound to native speakers, as english is my third language. I'm fluent, but I'm guessing my intonations are based on castillian spanish and they may sound weird now that I think about it! So glad I found your channel some months ago, so many things that itched my brain and you solved them (none of my english teachers have ever taught me jack tbh). Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@deedeeen]

😎 Sounds like time to send us some of your voice samples.

[@karenm2669]

I could listen to a Castilian Spanish accent all day long and never tire of it. Just so you know 😊

[@Blutzen]

In the interest of sharing knowledge (and not criticism!) I've found the use of "some [duration] ago" to be an easy tell that English isn't somebody's first language. I would probably phrase that closer to "So glad I found your channel _a few_ months ago" instead. Just a weird quirk of English, "some" and "a few" often mean the same thing but "some months," "some years" or "some hours" sounds very strange to my ear!

[@deedeeen]

​@@Blutzen​, it's quite funny that I, being non-native myself, _do_ see the appeal of saying "some" instead. It doesn't limit yourself to that 2-to-5 range, saves one space & isn't even unacceptable to begin with. ;)

[@Blutzen]

@@deedeeen Oh for sure, I can definitely understand the appeal, and never meant to imply it was unacceptable. I just wanted to comment on a little quirk of the language I noticed as a native speaker speaking to non-native ones, in case they ever wanted to sound more native.

[@amontaval]

Delightful. You've also inspired me to watch as many VB videos as I can find.

[@CasualGraph]

something about the phrase "voiceover man" is really funny

[@MrsGrey]

Most consistent exponent of 'fall-rise' , to my ear, is Evan Davis on BBC PM. He sounds so explanatory, calm, and almost condescending!