The "totally" was meant to be a funny, I guess I botched that one. But I agree, the usage of the "valley talk" does seen to leave one once they edge toward their thirties. I stopped that speech pattern once I got to my late tewnties. But, oddly enough, a radio DJ friend of mine in Arkansas liked to record little snippets of my "vally" talk for his radio station (I was fresh out of Cali). This embarrassed me to no end at first. There was a lot to be learned from this experience. First, it drew unwanted attention to myself in a place I was trying to blend into. Second, I was able to hear just how ridiculousI was enchanted to read this, Huny. In social conversations with the 20-somethings in my work group, I soooo hear frequent usage of TOE'-tahl-eeeeeee in their speech.I so totally agree with the generational thing with the "valley talk" type accent.
I think we're stuck with the valley girl speech; like the affected southern, cowboy, preacher, rapper, or BBC-America-derived British affectations, they do seem to fill a need for those who identify intensely with niche groups. And y'all, much like, say, the commemorative t-shirt from the best concert you ever went to, they are so totally fun to put on now and then, when with your peeps...
-gailr
and juvenile I sounded to myself. So, I left much of my youthful vicabulary behind at that point and moved on.(left Arkansas behind, too) You know what they say..When in Rome...