What is it with celebrities ditching accents? I’m as absent-minded as the next person and regularly lose my keys, purse and marbles, but I have never mislaid my accent. Even when I emigrated from the UK to Australia.
But not so Harry Styles, who this week befuddled his fans when they discovered his diction has gone in a different direction.
Appearing at The UK’s Brit Awards on Tuesday, the pop star gave an acceptance speech sounding more NorCal than northern England. He grew up south of Manchester, but fans were stumped by his shameless new transatlantic accent.
Alas, Hazza is not the first to succumb to Celebrity Accent Syndrome, which is not to be confused with Foreign Accent Syndrome, which poor Aussie Angie Yen, 27, hit the news with this week.
Angie, from Brisbane, posted a video to TikTok explaining she had gone in for surgery to remove her tonsils and woken up with an Irish accent, to be sure.
“All of a sudden I was talking in an Irish accent,” she says.
“I’ve never been to Ireland. It’s totally not normal. I know that I need medical attention.”
At least Angie has a cause and will hopefully find some help as to why her brain has decided to relocate her voice without a visa. Doesn’t it know there’s a travel ban, anyway?
Foreign Accent Syndrome is a real — and rare — condition. The term was coined by neurolinguist Harry Whitaker in 1982 and more than 100 cases of the strange syndrome have been…
