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Subscribe to RSSForeign accents conjure images of an exotic Ingrid Bergman, the mysterious lilt of socialite-turned- newshound Arianna Huffington, British heiresses like Jemima Khan and beautiful people from anywhere but here.
Glamorous, no? No, according to Robin Vanderlip.
The Fairfax County, Va., woman suffered a true slip of the tongue when she fell and hit her head in a stairwell at a 4-H youth conference. Two days later, after being released from the hospital, she suddenly began speaking English with a foreign accent. Now she’s suing for $1 million in damages from the National 4-H Council, the Washington Post reported this week.
While it seems the stuff of “Gilligan’s Island,” a very real condition can cause people who hit their heads, like Vanderlip, to suddenly develop Foreign Accent Syndrome. The rare malady occurs when a part of the brain affects speech is damaged, causing many patients to sound like they’re from Sweden due to the way they pronounce vowels.
The first widely known case was in World War II when a Norwegian woman was hit by shrapnel and developed an unfortunately strong German accent, which caused her to become an outcast in her country.
More recently, 35-year-old Sarah Cowell of England, who has never so much as been to China, suffered a migraine this spring and began speaking with a Chinese accent, according to The Guardian.
After Linda Walker, a U.K. woman, suffered a stroke she developed a Jamaican accent. “I’ve lost my identity because I never talked like this before,” she told the BBC in 2006. “I’m a very different person and it’s strange and I don’t like it.”
Still, for some, it can be even worse.
In April, a 13-year-old Croatian girl reportedly woke up speaking only German, a language she’d been studying in school but wasn’t fluent in. She completely lost the ability to speak in her native tongue. She likely had a condition known as bilingual aphasia, where people lose one of their two languages because different parts of the brain are involved, according to a Discovery News article.
That may also explain what happened to Sun Kwon on ABC’s “Lost” this season. The character, who spoke both Korean and English, lost her ability to speak English after hitting her head, although she could still read and write it.
Or maybe it was just the island’s mysterious mojo.
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Of course she's suing.
Any head injury to this chick is bound to be minor though.
How exactly does one legitimize suing for $1 million for developing a foreign accent? Was she using the handrail when she fell in the stairwell? I really hope this gets thrown out, it's seriously frivolous.
From the Post link:
That's a drag, but I don't know if you've got a case unless the handrail actually cracked you in the skull.
Courthouse News notes that her complaint doesn't say which accent she's stuck with.
Unless the stairwell was in a state of disrepair or lacking life safety code compliance it would be disgusting to think she would warrant any form of compensation. Whatever happened to taking responsibility for your own screw-ups. Life in America is supposed to be about opportunity to do something for yourself, not about seeking entitlements!
At least it wasn't a Mexican accent--she might be deported! Seriously though, suing 4-H? Really? What an ass.
mira pues what percentage of your day is spent thinking mexican and about mexicans? My parents and great great grand parents were born in the state of texas and to this day i have an accent and its not mexica_mexican. To the mexicans my accent is gringo and to the gringo is mexican, and its either one its your european spanish and as a mestizo half breed uncivilaized savage indio i tnk the tata dios for giving me my language....tnks y bueno bye.... mxgen joe valcantu
Papers? We don't need no steenken papers!
Vell, I yam shure I don know vat all da fass is about! Vat is wrung vid a foraine akcent?
We can all joke about it and have a good time but the bottom line is this. This Lady was released from the
hospital to early! She has more wrong with her "Head" than just a new accent. I don't mean to be rude
but I will be praying that you get $0 when all is said and done because that's just what you are, A ZERO.
And to the lawyer who has offered to defend you. Guess what you get? Correcto $0 + $0 = $0. Losers!
O, mine gott, I didun tak like dis before I read dis article. I yam goin to get a layer n sue MSNBC!
Really!! Suing a non-profit organization, that has to fight for all the funding they can get, thats about as low as she can get. I can see asking for help with the hospital bill if you dont have insurance but taking a million dollars from 4-H would put a large dent in the great work they do with kids and young adults. She should be ashamed.
You can bet she isn't! This day and age, a LOT of folks are trying to get rich quick. SMDH @ her behavior! I used to be in 4H. Had some gr8 times there, learned a lot about myself as a child.
Agree that it's pretty low of her...that's what's wrong with society anymore! Too litigious for our own good! And there's nothing wrong with a foreign accent in America these days...there are dozens of accents in my city alone!
Can this be a permanent problem? ANd it is too bad she fell and was injured, but gee....was it really worth a million bucks?? Seems a little outrageous...
There's always a lawyer out there to take that case... unbelievable. She should've hit her head harder - might've knocked some sense into her.
what a bitch sue the 4-h????????????????????
Oh chit, zee Grrreek side brain do flippies i no talke so good no mo. give me money from govt to talke better, need soma money forr car ..go to englsh lesson i speekie much good for new job in Washie DC
can you spell Tort Reform?
HA! At the LOST reference ~ that's the first thing I thought of when I read this article
I don't know if you are brainless or just are stupid, but When a person has a head injury they do tend to have a speech impediment. Yes It is called a speech impediment not accent. This happens when you have hat type of injury. Always......
Charles Janoe, I'm not really sure what you're smoking, but it is completely possible to recover from a head injury without any lingering side effects.
Also, as it clearly states in the article, this is an accent which results from a certain part of your brain being affected. It also has a name (Foreign Accent Syndrome) and a history - thereby making it a real condition. Pretty sure a Jamaican accent is not a 'speech impediment'
"".your sofa king we tod did. really.... jur fuerging vehtahdod. ""
They avoid what is reported to happen most in these accidents. The soul in the person who was hit was killed or in a comma. Their spirit went into the light and another spirit, who has already died, came out of the light and went into their body. Story after story has come out of this man who almost died and then started making museum quality furniture. Another Doctor who died, came back, didn't know one person in their family. Started doing medical research on cancer and cured several forms of cancer from going to India, where he remembered that he was a former Indian Doctor who was killed when an archway gave in and killed him. He knew what herbs to buy and created a cure. Stories and past life regression confirms it
past life regression is a bunch of crap!
"The soul in the person who was hit was killed or in a comma. Their spirit went into the light and another spirit, who has already died, came out of the light and went into their body."
HA HA HA! Seriously?
I love how some people shun scientific fact to further their religious agenda. You're probably one of the people that say Tourette syndrome and Epilepsy are nothing more than demon possession. UGH.
"Another Doctor who died, came back, didn't know one person in their family. Started doing medical research on cancer and cured several forms of cancer from going to India, where he remembered that he was a former Indian Doctor who was killed when an archway gave in and killed"
Dear Rudy - would you believe me if I say you took a loan from me in your previous birth for a million and we both are now alive and you owe me that much. If it is benefitial to a person he or she will say any lie and if it is not benefitial he\she will hide any truth. If they say oh "we do understand but you have to be injured or lost an arm or a leg for u to sue us - will she agree to amputate her hand?