HELEN AND I WERE JUST COMMENTING ON THIS THE OTHER NIGHT: “Vocal Fry” creeping into U.S. speech. “A curious vocal pattern has crept into the speech of young adult women who speak American English: low, creaky vibrations, also called vocal fry. Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style. Now, a new study of young women in New York state shows that the same guttural vibration—once considered a speech disorder—has become a language fad.”

It seems to me that “language fads” mostly propagate among young women. I wonder why that is?