On April 23, 2023, I wrote a devotional about vocal fry. Mental Floss explains it this way: “In vocal fry, the vocal folds are shortened and slack so they close together completely and pop back open, with a little jitter, as the air comes through. That popping, jittery effect gives it a characteristic sizzling or frying sound.”1
“Vocal fry, which has also been called creaky voice, laryngealization, glottal fry, glottal scrape, click, pulse register, and Strohbass” is also a technique used in some dialects of the world.2
Another definition is provided by TIME magazine. “Vocal fry involves dropping the voice to its lowest natural register, which changes the way a person’s vocal folds vibrate together. Those changes create inconsistencies in the vibrations and lend the speaker’s voice a subtly choppy or creaky quality—which is why vocal fry is sometimes referred to as “creaky voice,” says Casey Klofstad, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami.”3
Now, there’s something called code switching. Code switching is “a linguistics term for the practice of tailoring our language to our social context… You can also shift between dialects…At this point, though, code-switching has transcended official languages and dialects and become a colloquial catch-all term for any kind of socially motivated shift in language (whether intentional or not).”4
On June 26, 2024, Paris Hilton was testifying on Capitol Hill before Congress about abuse in the child welfare system. If you can get past the immoral, party-girl persona Hilton has created for herself and the way she has displayed herself as the quintessential spoiled, entitled, rich, mean girl, you hear her switch from vocal fry to a normal voice. Why did she do this?
In the midst of telling how bad things were in the reform schools and detailing the abuse she endured, she stops to compliment committee member New York Representative Claudia Tenney on her “blingy” jacket. Hilton wants to talk to her afterwards to find out who made it. These odd shifts of topic and tone are called code switching.
Most experts agree that we all do it to a certain extent. One of the simplest examples of this is when a northerner goes to the south, they quickly pick up words and phrases like “y’all.” Psychologist Kia-Rai Prewitt “defined it for the Cleveland Clinic as “a way of changing your style, dress, or maybe even language or behavior, in order to match what you think would be appropriate or would make someone else feel comfortable.”5
While it might annoy us to hear the young and entitled make this vocal sound like they are bored with life, the basic concept of code switching was demonstrated by Paul. 1
Corinthians 9:19-23 says, “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. (20) And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; (21) To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. (22) To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. (23) And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”
Paul code switched.
One Bible commentator explains it this way. “In summary, Paul became all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. He did not compromise the gospel. He would not change the least truth in the least way in order to satisfy anyone. But he would condescend in any way for anyone if that would in any way help bring him to Christ. He would never set aside a truth of the gospel, but he would gladly restrict his liberty in the gospel. He would not offend Jew, Gentile, or those weak in understanding.”6
Can we code switch? Can we condescend to others with grace and graciousness in order to win them to Christ? There is no justification for crossing the line of sin. We don’t compromise values, morality, and truth. Rather, we set aside nonessentials so that we might be better communicators with others of the Gospel message.
Take to heart 1 Corinthians 10:33. “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”
1https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/61552/what-vocal-fry
2Ibid.
3 https://time.com/5006345/what-is-vocal-fry/
4https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/what-is-code-switching
5Ibid.
6https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0279/becoming-all-things-to-all-people
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