I think it is a little off to make generalizations about California speech when you grew up in Kentucky and moved to the Bay Area as an adult. As someone who was born and raised in San Francisco proper, I find it insulting to attribute Valley Girl speech (which is from a different region of California) to all of California. If you had used "hella" as an example I wouldn't have mentioned it. No one I know over uses the words: like, for sure, totally gag me with a spoon, or has spoken with a Valley Girl accent. I am quite thankful I speak accentlessly

NorCal is a younger generation thing, I see decals on vehicles in Idaho and Washington that belong to students from Northern California. I'm a bit older so I don't say it, but it is now the common vernacular, as Valley Girl speech was 25+ years ago.

As I noted before, my initial reply was sarcastic and made in jest. Too bad that was not conveyed as well as I had hoped.

And while I may not have been born or reared here, and have only lived in the Bay Area for over twenty years, I do have a keen ear to California speech patterns. And I can report that I do hear variations of valspeak in and around the San Francisco Bay Area all the time.

For what it is worth, I found this from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. So you know it's got to be true. :rolleyes: (That is sarcasm just in case you didn't get it. ;)) The bolding and underlining are mine.

I will have to trust your personal experience on what is happening in Idaho and Washington. However, I have not noticed any "NorCal" decals on vehicles nor do I hear it as part of the vernacular here in the San Francisco Bay Area. From personal experience, the Bay Area residents *I* know (starting as young as preschool and beyond) refer to the area as Bay Area. Not "NorCal". But I do not doubt that there are plenty of "NorCal folk" who say it. Just like I am sure that there are NorCals (persons of NorCal?) that perhaps over use "like" now and again.

Y'all have a nice day. :)

What do the Brits think about ESPN? And not "The Ocho" stuff, I mean like ESPNews and Sportcenter with Boomer, Stuart Scott and MNL?

They have the decals on their vehicles because they aren't living at home. You don't need to advertise where you're from if you're currently there. Idaho plates are designated by county, so everyone knows where your car is registered, and a general area of where home is (except some kids from Sandpoint have those oval stickers with three letters SPT, but that's Bonner County, and kind of special). Washington doesn't do that, but the NorCal stickers are mostly used by athletes, as many student athletes are from Northern and Southern California at both UI and WSU. The Alaskan kids have Alaskan Grown stickers, and it is just how people identify their home while away from it.

I don't know where and who you're hanging around, but for my social group, the "like" speech was not acceptable, and as I said, no one I know speaks that way. Most of my cohort is still living in the Bay Area, as I was one of the few to leave for more than four years. Perhaps it is a San Francisco proper thing, Glitter650 and LucyKKG could weigh in on it as they are local but not the same zip or area code. Likely I'm just an anomaly, as every kid I grew up with.

Are the decals similar to the national car stickers used in Europe?

http://images0.cafepress.com/product...x350_Front.jpg

Ironically, while trying to find a picture, I found this.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...indowDecal.jpg

Did no one in your social group ever slip and used the "like" speech? If not, there must have been some interesting conversations. Makes me think of Winona Ryder trying to speak with a British accent. :p

Personally, my "social group" does not actively use the "like" speech either. However, I am never shocked when I hear a peer (or myself) slip and use something from "like" speech. I simply attribute these slips of "like" speech to having been exposed to it. Because a "watered down" version seems to flow freely from many "locals". I only have to ride BART or MUNI to get a healthy dose of it. To be clear, I am in no way saying that everyone or even the majority of Northern Californians use "like" speech. But many of the little valspeak phrases do pop up in the general population.

http://www.norcalclothingco.com/

You have never seen this before TSteven? And you live up there? I respect your opinion but EVERYBODY I know that's college age from Northern California calls it NorCal...heck, even WE from Southern California call it NorCal because they do! All the guys have those NorCal shirts. And they all say "hella" constantly and none of them have remotely what I would call a Valley girl accent. I honestly am blown away that you disagree with all of that. "SoCal" and "NorCal" are mainstays in the college age vocabulary for residents of BOTH areas.

People in Washington and Oregon say "hella," too, and people from Southern California think it's funny. Kinda like how people from Boston say "wicked." In fact, there are competing groups on Facebook regarding use of the word "hella." Northern California has more in common with the pacific northwest (PacNW) than it does Southern California. Personality, climate, scenary, popular culture, industry, political ideology...just everything.

No, I have yet to see these shirts. The company is based in Santa Cruz and the shirts seem to be more "surfer" type. As such, they are not the kind of shirt I or my peers tend to wear.

And while "NorCal" or "SoCal" might be "mainstays" in the college age vocabulary, I am not college aged. Nor do I generally socialize with 18-22 year olds. The college aged men and women I know - and whom I might socialize with on occasion (i.e. an alumni or family event for example) - have yet to use "NorCal" around me. Maybe they did and I just did not pick up on it. So I don't disagree that it is used. However, I do state that *I* have yet to hear/notice it. I will try to be more alert to it now that you and others have made me aware of it.

As for "hella", I have heard "hella" a lot. I never disagreed about that. Nor did I mention people speaking with a Valley girl accent. Never my point. However, my point has simply been that *I* often hear variations of valspeak (the over use of "like" being the most common example).

As a resident of California, are you (any resident of California) saying that you do not hear some variation of valspeek at all? The use of "like" as a filler for example.

I would agree.

So far as you know, do most private US schools offer comprehensive financial aid to research students?

I have confirmation that Stanford would finance 5 years if successful. Any others?

How about Caltech's SS department?

Talk about being defensive all day long.

hella.

I dont understand.

Exactly like those stickers.

We actually would use that manner of speech to mock others, such as those who claimed to be from the city but were actually from suburbs (I know I know, so mature to heckle to poseurs, but we were in high school). I heard it in class this morning, from a younger person, then an older student (non-traditional) spoke up and didn't use it. Maybe it is a result of the foreign and classical language training, or the peer pressure of speaking properly, who knows.

I also think a lot of "locals" are not locals. They weren't born there, and came from elsewhere. So the speech may be imported or some perceive that is the way we speak, so they do it to fit in, and then it is everywhere. LucyKKG is the linguist, I just have a passing relationship with it from my anthropology background.

geryon, the international students I know who receive funds are in the sciences and thrive off of grant money. Engineering and agriculture are the biggies, but that depends on the school and who is currently doing research.

It was not forgetfulness that kept the Tar Heels from being in that list. After all, like the old saying asks, "If God is not a Tar Heel, why is the sky Carolina blue?" (And it's Tar Heels, not Tarheels.) ;)

Very well put MysticCat. And as far as sweet tea goes... I grew up in North Carolina and then moved to Michigan. Ya'll cannot just add sugar to your tea and have it be the same.