I just read of a lady who has a very rare brain disorder, called "foreign accent syndrome."

A Florida woman had a stroke in 1999, affecting her speech. When she began to speak again, lo and behold, she spoke with an English accent! Her new speech patterns, according to this Chicago Sun Times article, had elements of cockney, English West Country burr (???) and a hint of Australian, but nothing American.

In fact, this poor woman became a recluse, developing agoraphobia, because she couldn't bear hearing all her friends say, "Oh, come on! You're just faking that British accent!"

Now, this woman had never been to Britain, never had British friends, and never watched British TV shows. A specialist said that it is related to vocal tract posture. British English evidently has tenser vowels. The first known sufferer was a Norwegian woman who sustained brain injuries during a 1941 air raid. She was ostracized after starting to speak Norwegian with a thick German accent.

I wonder what Snopes would say about this one!

I read this article, and assume that the British accent she speaks would still sound American to us on this side of the Atlantic. I've watched too many episodes of Friends to think any different.

Are you referring to the "Friends" episodes that took place in England, with Emily and her family? How so?

In this case, all of her friends thought she was faking to the point that she became a recluse. Now, the accent was obviously not a pure English one, but, still, it sounded quite different than an American one.

It's my understanding that those "Friends" episodes set in England actually portrayed British accents better than those spoken by true locals. This was accomplished through the assistance of Dick Van Dyke (of "Mary Poppins" fame) as vocal coach.

Quote "...It's my understanding that those "Friends" episodes set in England actually portrayed British accents better than those spoken by true locals. This was accomplished through the assistance of Dick Van Dyke (of "Mary Poppins" fame) as vocal coach..."

I assume this is a joke...!

Richard English