# Who Started "Valley Girl" Talk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072 "2007-10-09T11:29:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/1 "2007-10-09T11:29:27Z")
I always wondered where , like, you know, where did this Valley Girl crap of the (gag me with a spoon) 1980’s come from, and to what Valley did it belong? I know there was a song about it, but was it real? …Although, it became real soon enough! Or, did it start on TV, or, like, what? (Yuk! Grody to the max!) - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/2 "2007-10-09T12:16:26Z")
Well the [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Girl) says that Frank Zappa seems to have been the first person to pick up on it, and proceed to popularise it. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eEvLzoSVsw) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/3 "2007-10-09T12:35:38Z")
I’m not supposed to say, but it was me. Please don’t tell everyone. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/4 "2007-10-09T12:45:31Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Well the [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Girl) says that Frank Zappa seems to have been the first person to pick up on it, and proceed to popularise it. [/QUOTE] Maybe, but “uptalk” (what an ex-girlfriend who is a voice coach called the inflection) was around for a few years before the Zappa song. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/5 "2007-10-09T13:11:12Z")
Oh, and the valley in question was the San Fernando Valley, near Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/6 "2007-10-09T13:26:52Z")
Fer sherr, fer sherr. Totally. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/7 "2007-10-09T13:33:44Z")
Like, o m’god! Like, totally! He’s like, Lord God King Bufu! Dammit! Now I have an earworm. One I really, really don’t want… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/8 "2007-10-09T17:10:29Z")
Valley girls started it. (Is this a trick question?) ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/9 "2007-10-09T17:17:56Z")
I just watched the first season of SNL on DVD. Laraine Newman was imitating the Valley Girl uptalk back in 1975. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/10 "2007-10-09T17:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Oh, and the valley in question was the San Fernando Valley, near Los Angeles. [/QUOTE] Heh. The poor Valley gets no respect. It’s not just “near” Los Angeles … it IS Los Angeles … the northern half of it. The Valley tried to secede a couple of years ago because they felt like the city government was pouring lots of tax money into the Basin and leaving them with the scraps. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/11 "2007-10-09T17:44:22Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] Heh. The poor Valley gets no respect. It’s not just “near” Los Angeles … it IS Los Angeles … the northern half of it. The Valley tried to secede a couple of years ago because they felt like the city government was pouring lots of tax money into the Basin and leaving them with the scraps. [/QUOTE] LA is, what, 40 neighborhoods looking for a downtown? It’s hard to tell what’s actually LA and what’s just near LA… ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/12 "2007-10-09T18:06:38Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] LA is, what, 40 neighborhoods looking for a downtown? It’s hard to tell what’s actually LA and what’s just near LA… [/QUOTE] Way more than that. The San Fernando Valley alone has 5 incorporated cities and 43 other communities over 345 square miles. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/13 "2007-10-09T18:08:13Z")
It’s like hippie girl talk but high on coke not grass and mix in rampant cosumerism. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/14 "2007-10-09T18:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=zeldarae] I just watched the first season of SNL on DVD. Laraine Newman was imitating the Valley Girl uptalk back in 1975. [/QUOTE] Gail Matthius (from the dreaded Doumanian half-season) is credited in at least one SNL book as being the first to bring the Valley Girl character type (vocalization and appearance/attitude) into the public consciousness. That was from 1980. She also did the character on the short-lived sketch comedy show “Laugh Trax” that aired on NBC in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/15 "2007-10-09T18:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] It’s like hippie girl talk but high on coke not grass and mix in rampant cosumerism. [/QUOTE] Right. Long ago I realized that valley girl dialect was closely related to hippie dialect and surfer-dude dialect. Imagine Chong saying, “Ooooohhhwwowwww…toooootally tuuuuubularr…” and then speed it up the way a valley girl would say it and you’ll get an idea of how one style evolved into the other. ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/16 "2007-10-09T18:45:20Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Gail Matthius (from the dreaded Doumanian half-season) is credited in at least one SNL book as being the first to bring the Valley Girl character type (vocalization and appearance/attitude) into the public consciousness. That was from 1980. She also did the character on the short-lived sketch comedy show “Laugh Trax” that aired on NBC in 1982. [/QUOTE] There may not have been a name for it before 1980, but that vocal style did exist before then. Laraine was in a skit which centered around a group therapy session and nailed the vocalization and mannerisms such has the hair-twisting and gum-chewing. I really wish I could remember which episode it’s in. Anyway, before '80s that accent was just what people condidered flakey Californiaspeak. ---
**Author:** ![mikews99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@mikews99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikews99)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/17 "2007-10-09T19:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] I always wondered where , like, you know, where did this Valley Girl crap of the (gag me with a spoon) 1980’s come from, and to what Valley did it belong? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=zeldarae] There may not have been a name for it before 1980, but that vocal style did exist before then. [/QUOTE] It existed waaay before 1980 and in a different valley too: the San Gabriel Valley. I heard it spoken by my latina classmates all throughout grade school in the late 60’s and early 70’s. “Ay, Silvia, why do you go OWW-oot with him? Oh my GAW-awd! He’s totally gross!!” ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/18 "2007-10-09T19:07:21Z")
Oh yeah, I’m not saying that the vocal style didn’t exist. Believe me, Gail Matthius is not exactly a powerhouse of creativity. I’m just saying that according to a book I read once hers was the first character that brought together the look, the mannerisms and the _name_ “Valley girl.” I used to love that “Laugh Trax” show she was on (Mister Fridge _ruled_) and I remember her Vicki the Val character from that. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/19 "2007-10-13T09:17:21Z")
Yes, and what exactly did “totally tubular” mean? Does LA have a love for cylinders? Thank goodness for the East Coast! Those earthquakes have scrambled your brains out there! I seem to recall some '80s TV show where they talked like that. But, that show conflicted with the timeslot I reserved for cleaning my toilets… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072/20 "2007-10-13T09:58:02Z")
First time I heard it on TV was Jennifer DeNuccio on _Square Pegs_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-valley-girl-talk/422072.md?page=2)