Foreign Accent Syndrome

6 Stories

US Cancer Patient Developed Irish Accent in Final Months

Researchers describe just the 3rd known case of foreign accent syndrome in cancer patients

(Newser) - A North Carolina cancer patient developed foreign accent syndrome during treatment—and continued speaking with an "uncontrollable Irish accent" until his death, researchers say. FAS is incredibly rare and most common in people with psychiatric disorders or those who've suffered head trauma or strokes, according to researchers at...

After Tonsil Surgery, She Gets an Irish Accent

TikTok's Angie Yen describes suspected case of foreign accent syndrome

(Newser) - Angie Yen grew up in Australia, but she doesn't sound like it. For the last two weeks, the 27-year-old has been speaking with an Irish accent , and not out of choice. Indeed, the Brisbane dentist, who's never been to Ireland, couldn’t have told you what an Irish...

Texas Woman Comes Out of Surgery With British Accent

Lisa Alamia was born and raised in Lone Star State but doesn't sound like it anymore

(Newser) - When Lisa Alamia says the word "kitten," she's not talking about a cat—it's just what it sounds like when the Texas woman says "kidding," a British affectation that isn't an affectation at all, but a symptom of the foreign accent syndrome she...

Oregon Woman Wakes From Surgery With Weird Accent

Karen Butler believed to have rare 'foreign accent syndrome'

(Newser) - Oregon native Karen Butler woke up from dental surgery with an accent that's not from Oregon—or anywhere else in the world. Butler, 56, who experts believe may be a victim of the rare but real condition "foreign accent syndrome," now speaks with an accent described as...

Good News for Hypochondriacs: 'Stone Man' Disease Is Real!

New book highlights frightening ailments

(Newser) - Did you know that there’s a rare syndrome-- fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva—that can cause your bones to grow so uncontrollably that you become a “stone man”? That’s just one of the strange ailments described in the Hypochondriac’s Handbook, a new book chock-full of rare diseases....

Headache Gives British Woman a Chinese Accent

'Foreign Accent Syndrome' apparently a real thing

(Newser) - As if migraine sufferers didn't already have enough to worry about, a woman in Plymouth, England, recently had a headache so powerful that it replaced her British accent with a Chinese one. As ridiculous as it sounds, doctors say she actually has a rare condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome,...

6 Stories