I could scrape the barrel for some new boring casting story today, or I could share with you this: a news story about Karen Butler of Oregon, a lady who went in for oral surgery and woke up with an Irish accent (or whatever the hell kind of accent she’s doing there). A fast-acting accent disease. This might be my favorite neurological disorder since Tourette’s. As if her spontaneous brogue weren’t amazing enough, prepare yourself for the medical explanation at 1:48 mark: “Karen has an extremely rare neurological condition known as ‘Foreign Accent Syndrome.'”
Whoa, slow down there, Poindexter, what is that, Chinese? I’m going to need some time to research these terms in my medical text.
The culprit may be an extremely rare condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome, which is triggered by a stroke or brain damage, Dr. Ted Lowenkopf, medical director of the Providence Stroke Center in Oregon, said on “Today.” “It’s so rare — less than 100 cases ever reported — that the average neurologist, even a stroke neurologist, would not see a case in their lifetime.”
Not much is understood about the condition, but the best known case is probably of 30-year-old Georg Herman Monrad-Krohn, who picked up a German accent after being hit by a shrapnel in Oslo from a German air raid in 1941, reports The Oregonian, who covered the story last week. [HuffPo]
I wish there was a way to make this condition predictable. Because I would push my mother into traffic if it mean she’d wake up from her coma talking like Jason Statham. “Mom, mom! It’s me! How are you feeling?” “Well Oy’s just been shallacked boy da town fockin’ bus, but ovva den dat Oy’s just Peachy. Now be a good cont an’ bring us somefin ta drink, an Oy don’ mean appew juice.”