Comments about stuff other people are saying....

So anyway, Fr. Z wrote about talking like a girl.

I hate it that he has more screen time than I do and can write about all that stuff I set aside to write about when I get some time.  Oh to be a priest with nothing to do.  What?

More men speaking in girl's dialect ...

That's the title of the article on a study conducted by a linguist at the University of California, which the BBC reported on here.  It's called uptalk.

More young men in California rise in pitch at the end of their sentences when talking, new research shows. 

This process is known as "uptalk" or "valleygirl speak" and has in the past been associated with young females, typically from California or Australia. 

But now a team says that this way of speaking is becoming more frequent among men. - BBC

Finally someone is pointing this out.  I've noticed it for a long time in younger men - and not just amongst gay men.  You hear guys talk like that in interviews, on the news, or on late night talk shows.  Voice inflection amongst young men, and fast talking conversations amongst guys can sometimes sound a bit how women talk amongst themselves.  For instance, sometimes when I'm at the store or some other public space - even church, I can't help but overhear conversations.  Many times I look around to see who is speaking and very often it's a guy with his kids or with his wife or girlfriend.  I look around because the guy is talking that way. 

Maybe guys just feel they are wrong all the time?  Especially when speaking to women.  Maybe they use the uptalk to demonstrate they are not being sarcastic, hostile or aggressive with their significant other?

"One possibility is that this is an extension of a pitch pattern that we actually find in most varieties of English which is used when you're making a statement but you're [also] asking indirectly for the interlocutor to confirm if they are with you," Prof Arvaniti said. - BBC

I first noticed the trend when guys came back from Europe.  I'm not sure it is always related to  valleygirl speak, nor is it necessarily related to the 'feminization' of men - yet both of those categories may derive from the way boys are educated these days, as well as the influence of pop culture and media.  I have to wonder however, if the study overlooks a European connection - when Americans attempt to emulate the accent of some of their European counterparts when they speak English.  "Non?"  "Oui?"

I've also noted the inflection used by people who worked in India, and most especially those who worked with the Missionaries of Charity.  I had several religious friends who did the uptalk thing back then. 

Now everybody does it.   (No big deal, but that's all I wanted to say on the study.)

The cassock coat.

The black traditional cassock deserves decent outerwear.

Here we have a long, full trench which stops

about 6 inches from the hem of the cassock.

The trench coat is constructed of soft black microfiber

with a contrasting french khaki lining.

Extra wide collar and belted (not shown).

What?

Fr. Z again: How to upbraid an outspoken deacon... Soooo many thoughts and responses. ^

Play the celibate-continence card:  Remind the pertinacious permanent deacon of the “canons about sexual continence for all clerics, including deacons?”

Fr. Z can get a little bitchy sometimes, and his commenters can be worse.  The post was about cassocks and Fr. Z gets pretty defensive about that stuff.  However - when it comes to permanent deacons, I think people need to be a lot more respectful and avoid any sign of clericalist snobbery related to hierarchical status.  A couple of commenters to Fr. Z's post addressed the problem this way:

adeacon says:

8 December 2013 at 6:02 pm

I would like to chime in. It seems that this conversation is becoming anti-deacon – because of the comments of one deacon about cassocks. The deacon should probably have kept his thoughts to himself. Still, we know comments like this come from all sides – deacons to priests, priests to deacons. Who here is not a sinner?
I am a permanent deacon. The Lord called me to this vocation, the same as he called all my ordained brothers. I am not a liberal heretic. I have no issue with cassocks. I feed the “poorest of the poor.” I am conservative – as many of my deacon brothers are. Some are not conservative. Still, we give our all for Mother Church. Please, love your deacons.

Subdeacon Joseph says:

8 December 2013 at 10:00 pm

I am a married priest who always wears the cassock whenever I serve. I also have children. There are 22 particular churches within the Catholic Church who ALL have married priests, and in all of these particular churches the cassock is the norm, not the Roman collar. There is only one particular church within the Catholic Church that suppresses their priests from marriage, and canonically expects their deacons to abstain from normal and healthy relations in marriage, and that particular church is the Roman church. Bringing up “canons about sexual continence for all clerics, including deacons?” is painting with a real broad brush, and offensive to the majority of particular churches in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

 

Fr. Z's post was about cassocks of course and what to say to a deacon who upbraided a priest for wearing one.  Oh the persecution!  Why does something like that have to turn into a bitch fight? 

Cassocks - wear them if you want.  It's like chapel veils - wear them if you want.

I wear jeans to Mass, and I don't care what people think.

These are stupid issues.

Chinese lady say:

"I like a man in uniform.

My man wear Changshan.

Ching-chong!"

Notice the lift in her voice?