I Blame TV

Q&A at The Corner:

Reader: ...When did the voices of American young women get to be so universally, gratingly, nasally flat, all across the country? And why? Who stole away the huskier voices, the rounded deep-southern tones...the ability to use any vocal range and inflection at all?"

John Derbyshire: ...There is, in fact, a very distinctive American-female voice developing. It's the "Valley girl" voice basically -- even though the Valley in question is 3,000 miles from where my daughter grew up....

It's true, and it's because kids watch too much TV, which has homogenized America's once-rich variety of regional accents. Turn off the damn TV and read to your kids in the accent you grew up with. Well, just turn off the TV. Your kids will be the better for it.