yarl

yarl

English

WOTD – 4 August 2012

Etymology

Presumably onomatopoeic. Coined by Josh Sinder and Alex Sibbald of the band Hot Rod Lunatics.[1]

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /jɑɹl/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)l

Noun

yarl (plural yarls)

1. A deep, guttural vocal style with affected pronunciation, characteristic of male grunge and postgrunge singers of the 1990s and early 2000s.
   • 2002, Patrick Berkery, "Record Review", Creative Loafing (Atlanta), 9 January 2002:

     So pontificating on how Weathered's earnest morass of block-headed rage, grunge-lite mega-riffs and singer Scott Stapp's machismo yarl amounts to little more than Pearl Jam circa '91 for dummies is like shooting fish in a barrel.

   • 2008, Michael J. Vaughn, Outro, iUniverse (2008), →ISBN, page 10:

     One of my college kids informed me that the latest acoustic grinder hunk had covered it for a soundtrack — probably with that grungy yarl that everybody ripped off from Eddie Vedder.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:yarl.

Verb

yarl (third-person singular simple present yarls, present participle yarling, simple past and past participle yarled)

1. To sing in this manner.
   • 2009, Andrew Matson, "Is there any reason to listen to the new Alice in Chains album, "Black Gives Way to Blue"?", The Seattle Times, 21 October 2009:

     On "All Secrets Known," he yarls "fingers" into "fingerrrrrrrraaaaaaughhhhhzzzzzzz."

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:yarl.

References

1. Jack Endino, "Verb of the Month: 'To Yarl'", Backfire, Summer 2000 issue

Anagrams

• Lary, Lyra, RYLA, Rayl, Ryal, aryl, lyra, ryal