BLIMY!!!……………….Americans have long joked about waking up an Englishman in the middle of the night to see if they would talk without the accent.
Well, at the opposite end of the spectrum, so to speak, it was recently reported that an Oregon woman, Karen Butler, awoke from oral surgery with more than suturing in her mouth; she actually started speaking with a British accent. Her surgery took place more than a year ago and in her own description, she awoke with a swollen mouth and a thick, foreign accent. “I sounded like I was from Transylvania.”
While the swelling is gone and the pain has vanished, her accent remains – softer, but it is still there and everyone she meets assumes she is British.
Her health is fine – she’s been completely checked out including brain scans, but this phenomenal occurrence now actually has a name. Ready?? It is called Foreign Accent Syndrome, an extremely rare disorder usually caused by a stroke. Fewer than 100 people worldwide have been diagnosed with this since the beginning of the 20th century.
As odd as this may sound, Ms. Butler who admitted to being a shy person, says this new accent actually makes her feel more sociable and engaging. She was just an ordinary sole before, but now people find her intriguing. She rather likes it deary!!
Now, everyone knows the list of things that can go wrong during any type of surgery are too numerous to mention, and while this certainly isn’t one of the worst, maybe some concern is needed since the cause of this change is a stroke afterall.
But, that’s just me – Karen Butler is enjoying this whole thing, probably feeling a real kinship to the Royals at the recent wedding. I just hope no more oral surgery for her – next time, she could awake speaking like Donald Trump, and, of course, sounding real stupid!!!!
