What was going on when I was born?

*Copyright c 1982 Munchkin Music Okay, fine Fer sure, fer sure She's a Valley Girl In a clothing store. Okay, fine Fer sure, fer sure She's a Valley Girl And there is no cure.* By RON ALEXANDER LIKE, ohmigod, the only way you might not have noticed the phenomenon that is the Valley Girls (which would be, you know, a really beige thing to admit) is: 1. If you're like a space cadet or an airhead; 2. If you haven't been hanging out at shopping centers; 3. If you have been paying more attention to the price of miniskirts and ruffled blouses than to who's wiggling into them for nonstop tryons at tubular, awesome places like Bloomingdale's or Fiorucci's; 4. If you've been into your Sony Walkman so totally to the max that you haven't even like heard a syllable of Val-Speak; 5. If you've been out of the country all summer to some grody place like the moon.

Corruption in New York City's construction industry ''costs millions and millions of dollars'' each year and is ''eventually passed along to the public in higher rents for apartments and office space,'' an aide to Mayor Koch told the State Commission of Investigation yesterday. The aide, James F. McNamara, who is director of the Mayor's Office of Construction Industry Relations, said graft and other abuses had become ''widespread and pervasive,'' partly because of a policy by building contractors and developers to agree to payoffs in return for labor peace and to avoid violence. ''It seems to be an unfortunate tradition in the industry that it is better to cut a deal rather than face a disruption in work,'' Mr. McNamara asserted.

A South African Anglican Bishop told New York church leaders yesterday he was uneasy about a governmental commission now investigating the South African Council of Churches because ''the track record of judicial commissions in South Africa is not something that makes you sleep more comfortably.'' The Bishop, Desmond Tutu, the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said that the ecumenical organization was being investigated because of ''our longstanding opposition to apartheid.'' On his visit here, Bishop Tutu, who has become a major spokesman for the church's struggle against apartheid, has met with African delegations to the United Nations and with Dr. Claire Randall, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. His 19-day visit to the United States ends tomorrow.

I.B.M. has dismissed three executives and sued them on charges of stealing trade secrets, the company reported. It said the three had formed a company and tried to sell designs related to still-secret I.B.M. products in the personal computer field. One of the accused disputed some of the charges. The suit was filed after an undercover inquiry by I.B.M., its second in recent months. (Page A1.) Bendix and Martin Marietta won antitrust clearance for their competing takeover bids for each other. But the Government is still reviewing United Technologies' bid for Bendix. United and Marietta have agreed to split up Bendix if either's bid succeeds. (D5.)

An article Sunday about the primary for Manhattan surrogate incorrectly reported county Democratic screening committee ratings of the Democratic candidates. Renee R. Roth and Judge Edward H. Lehner are both rated ''highly qualified.''

Business inventories of unsold goods rose a slight one-tenth of 1 percent in July as weak sales and high interest rates continued to depress the nation's economy, the Government reported today. Sales by all United States businesses fell less than one-tenth of 1 percent in July, the Commerce Department said. That pushed up the closely watched inventory-to-sales ratio in July to 1.49 from 1.48 in June and 1.46 in May. This ratio measures the amount of time it would take to sell off inventories at the July sales rate.

OF all the foods that have been popularized in the last few years, probably none have been taken to more extremes than yogurt. What began as simple curdled milk culture has been flavored, liquefied, solidified, frozen, turned into custard and given a variety of French or pseudo-French names. Along with any number of calorie-laden fruitflavored preserves, such ingredients as modified food starch, gelatin and sugar are now commonly found in yogurt. The success of these efforts to expand yogurt's horizons is unquestionable. Yogurt is chic. Yogurt is supposed to be healthful. Yogurt has a sales rate that is growing by 19 percent annually. An indication of yogurt's image is that it is frequently mentioned as an ideal diet food, Findings from a yogurt tasting - See page C6. even though many of the flavored types contain 210 calories for a six-ounce serving.

The nation's three largest auto makers reported today that sales for the first 10 days of September fell 28.6 percent from last year's levels, despite slightly lower interest rates on auto loans. The early September sales dive continued the dismal demand for cars that has plagued the auto industry this summer. Sales in August and early September last year were strong as a result of cash bonus promotions and price increases that had been announced for the new model year, starting in the fall. Because of the sales slump, auto makers are generally holding the line on prices of 1983 models, even cutting prices in some cases, thus removing an incentive for customers to buy before the new cars appear.

International Lebanon's President-elect was killed when a bomb shattered the headquarters of the Lebanese Christian Phalangist Party in east Beirut. President-elect Bashir Gemayel, 34 years old, who was to have been inaugurated Sept. 23, was said to have died as he was about to address 400 of his followers at a weekly meeting. The state radio said eight were killed, and more than 50 wounded. (Page A1, Col. 6.) U.S. officials feared renewed fighting in Lebanon between Christian Phalangist forces and the Moslem leftists might follow the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel. They said a new outbreak of civil strife would also raise the possibility that Syrian and Israeli forces, confronting each other in Lebanon, might enter the conflict, destroying hopes for restoring stability. (A1:4.)

A picture caption in Metropolitan Report yesterday misidentified a man accompanying Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson of Newark. He was David Gor- don-el, a Newark police officer.

''P.L.O. is a liberation organization; it is a process toward the achievement of peace.

The 700 mourners, most of them the age of Vicky Hensel's children, filed into St. Rose Roman Catholic Church here this morning. Mrs. Hensel waited in the parking lot in her car. It is a common pose for a parent in the suburbs: waiting to pick up a child after school or a music lesson, waiting for a son or daughter to come home late on a weekend night. Today, Mrs. Hensel waited for her 15-year-old daughter, Laura, to emerge from a funeral for two youths who never made it home last Friday night. They were among four friends and classmates who were killed as two others were injured when their pickup truck crashed while being chased by the police.