the.com/vocal cords
Two flaps of flesh flapping fast enough to become your personality.
means The pair of elastic muscle folds in your larynx that vibrate as air passes through them, producing the sound that becomes your voice.
from 'Vocal' comes from Latin 'vox/vocis,' meaning voice. 'Cord' traces back through French to Latin 'chorda,' meaning the string of a musical instrument — itself borrowed from Greek 'khorde,' a gut-string, like the strings on a lyre. Early anatomists saw the thin folds in the throat and, fancying them like taut strings capable of producing tone, named them accordingly — even though they're not cord-like strands at all, but folds of tissue and muscle. The term stuck, so you're technically walking around with 'voice-strings' that are really voice-flaps.
- not cords
- They are folds of mucous membrane, not strings
- vibration rate
- Up to 1000 times per second for high notes
- no gym for them
- Rest, not exercise, repairs an overworked voice
- gender myth
- Length differs by person, not neatly by sex