No, I’m not talking about the drug. In the title, “Crack” refers to the mortal enemy of every pubescent teenage male; the voice crack. A voice crack is nature’s off-putting way of telling everyone in the room, “ALERT: A pubescent child is among you”. For the females out there, or boys who haven’t yet experienced the discouraging effects of having a voice crack in front of a large group of people, let me explain. Actually, before I start, pretty much all of the information that you’re about to read is pretty subjective.
Wikipedia says, “Voice break generally refers to transitions between different vocal registers of the human voice”. Basically, you can go from sounding like the Greek God of manliness to sounding like an elementary school girl for about half of a second. While it may not seem like such a big deal, trust me, it is. Voice cracks seem to only happen in front of a lot of people or in front of very important people. For example, while talking about the of the sacred Rac of the Asu tribe in the discussion section of my SOC 100 class, I thought of a great point to add to the conversation. I raised my hand and began to speak. Everything was going fine until my voice cracked harder than an iPhone 7 dropped from the top of the Eiffel tower. A few girls sitting next to me giggled a little bit, but then it was all over, for them at least. For me, the struggle had just begun. See, when you’re voice cracks, everyone notices and they only care for about 7 seconds. However, the mental effect on you is much deeper. You start to forget what you were even talking about. You’re instantly insecure about your “manhood”. Your entire world revolves around the fraction of a second that really had zero significant impact on society. The worst part is, there’s really no remedy for the embarrassment a guy. You can’t play it cool like it never happened, because you’ll probably end up making it seem more dramatic than it was in the first place. You pretty much have to “walk it off”.
With all that being said, the next time a guy’s voice cracks when you’re talking to him. Do one of two things. You can contain your laughter and remember that it’s a key part of them becoming a man and you shouldn’t make fun of them for it. Or, if you have no soul, Act like you have to go to the bathroom and laugh in there. Sorry for ranting but my voice cracking is something that I’ve genuinely had to deal with for a long time and it’s annoying.
Sidenote/P.S.: You should read about the Asu tribe and the sacred Rac sometime. It’s a very interesting story.
It's true that females don't have voice cracks as often as males, but I have still had my share of them. I agree with you-- it's super uncomfortable and embarrassing when it happens to me so I empathize with people they happen to. That being said, I still think voice cracks are incredibly funny, so I guess that just goes to show how dumb my sense of humor is.
ReplyDeleteI had more of my voice cracks in 7th and 8th grade, so they mostly came out when i was yelling on the soccer field. But i remember some distinct times when they were thoroughly embarrassing. I'm not too embarrassed about them because they are natural but it does shake your being for the time being. A good thing about voice cracks is that it's just a small period of time in your life, and later when you grow up and you can look back and enjoy a good chuckle.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing about voice cracks is that you really can't anticipate it. However, I still laugh at them whether it's my voice or others. Everyone experiences them in their life so it's not that bad.
ReplyDelete