[throwaway914]

I watched this, and the commentary from the 2nd tour guide seems non-serious. I did think the "valley girl" accent is what threw me off, but I stopped watching at "super cool sled". I just don't understand who their audience is with this type of commentary.

[altairprime]

I have an impeccable valley girl accent and just shy of thirty years of production sysadmin experience. Debiasing is hard work, but it’s worth it.

[throwaway914]

If you sound disinterested and don't articulate your speech for the technical audience you have -> you deserve the perception you get.

Biases exist for a reason. If I'm not hearing the detail I'm looking for or the sincerity I can trust, I know I'm not your audience.

[altairprime]

If, in a technical settings, someone consciously interprets the valley girl sound itself as an indication of inarticulate, insincere, and disinterested; then, then they’re perpetuating biases against a regional accent, which is completely unacceptable. The harder problem is getting people to notice when they’re unconsciously doing so, and then to compensate for their own bias when listening to – and judging – others.

(Your comment makes sense otherwise, no argument here — I’m only here for the valley girl subthread.)

[throwaway914]

Hmm. I will say from past experiences I've only found the 'valley girl' accent to be in certain parts of California, and not representative of Californians. Growing up I remember when my sister and her friends adopted this style of speaking for a time. Usually at school, this was (from my perception) to project an air of being disinterested in bored in conversation toward authority figures. I also found it when someone wasn't capable of demonstrating a deep knowledge of something (where the bias comes into effect). I know it's incorrect, but I have many friends that think Californians don't have an innate accent and I've often thought this about how I sound when going elsewhere.

I think your comment makes sense, and I appreciate the way you detailed this.

[jbverschoor]

I hope they're just frying vocals and not m1s