Valley Girl

Valley girl is a socio-economic stereotype depicting a class of women characterized by the colloquial California English dialect Valleyspeak and materialism.

Originally referring to upper-middle class girls from the Los Angeles commuter towns of San Fernando Valley during the 1980s, the term in later years became more broadly applied to any English-speaking female—primarily in the United States and Canada—who engendered the associated affects of , , and/or greater interest in conspicuous consumption than intellectual or personal accomplishment.

One of the earliest depictions of the Valley Girl persona in pop culture was "Sherry," a character portrayed by Laraine Newman on Saturday Night Live beginning in 1975. This was followed by the "Vicki" character played by Gail Matthius in the 1980-81 season of SNL. Beginning with the second season of The Muppet Show (1977-78), the character "Janice" (a member of the show's "house band," Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem) was depicted as a Valley Girl.

The height of the "Valley Girl" period was during 1982-83, with several films, TV shows and music of the New Wave era embodying the "Valley" atmosphere of the San Fernando Valley during that time.

In 1982, composer Frank Zappa released the single "Valley Girl", with his 14-year-old daughter Moon Unit speaking typical "Valley Girl" phrases. Zappa intended to lampoon the image, but after the song's release there was a significant increase in the "Valspeak" slang usage, whether ironically spoken or not.

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