On retirement and the gender of Daleks
In May, I gave my employer notice of my decision to retire at Christmas. I reiterated it this week with three months to go (just to make sure there was no doubt that I had provided the obligatory three months notice!).
Our corporate electronic HR system now requires my boss to press the right buttons to end my employment. I’ve done it for my own staff in the past, so I know that after navigating the system and entering the relevant details, the final button is reached – it’s labelled Terminate!
Here’s what I think…
Although work’s not a thing that I hate
I’ve struggled along as of late.
So please don’t delay
To help me on my way.
“Terminate! Terminate! Terminate!”
Whovians will recognise that the limerick works best if the last line is spoken in ‘Dalek’, ie, where the vocal pitch and volume rises dramatically with each repetition of the word ‘TER-MIN-ATE‘ and finishes with an upward inflection known as a high-rising terminal.
The high-rising terminal is also known as the Australian question intonation and, in California, as Valley girl speak (although I first heard of it as the Australian interrogative and blame the Aussie import TV show Neighbours for popularising it in the UK in the mid-1980s, but I think the Daleks got there first with I WILL O-BEY)
According to linguists a high-rising terminal is primarily associated with younger women in both the USA and Australia, which is indirect (albeit entirely specious) evidence that Daleks are predominantly female. QED!
Postscript: If you really do want to sound like a Dalek you can find all the techno-geekery you need here.
