We Love These 5 Valley Girls (Like Seriously)

Even if you didn't grow up in the San Fernando Valley, you likely know how to speak as if you did — at least according to what a few popular movies suggest. You, like, kinda raise your pitch, and like, totally pick up your speed, and, well...you know. But, make no mistake, your use of the word "like" and "totally" do not determine any lack of intelligence. On the contrary, women who speak this way may actually be the more evolved linguists — and setting the trend for the rest of us.

Young women's voices are powerful (just ask any advertiser) and we know how to set a trend that can catch like wildfire. However, a recent study in the New York Times suggests that, like Fashion Week is to the fashion industry, women who experiment with asserting their voice and sentence style may be equally influential to the society at large.

While some of the most popular vocal trends associated with teenage girls are upspeak (a sentence ending in question mark, rather than a period. Example: "I'll have a Diet Coke?") and vocal fry (think: Zooey Deschanel's slight raspy fluttering that usually elongates the end of a phrase), the article also suggests that men are very guilty of using the supposed Valley girl vernacular. Like, in other words, VGs deserve some serious credit. And we'll gladly oblige.

From the girls who reigned right in Beverly Hills to those who just totally took on the jargon, we're taking a moment to acknowledge the fictional characters whose all-too-real talk was, dare we say, revolutionary. Judge a book by its cover? As if! These ladies have made a solid influence in pop culture through their teenage talk that had both substance and style.