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Comment by throwaway914 | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.)

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.

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