American Kids Are Speaking With Slight British Accents After Watching 'Peppa Pig'

New Yorker Paul R. LaMonica tweeted, “My youngest son has recently become obsessed with Peppa Pig and has even adopted a fake British accent. Confession: So have I.” Jess Steinbrenner from Minnesota is experiencing a similar phenomenon with her child, tweeting, “The most entertaining aspect of my life right now is that my toddler has been watching Peppa Pig and now speaks with a British accent.”

And they’re not alone in reporting the “#PeppaEffect.”

Yeah I can vouch for the #PeppaEffect in our house. Tayla absolutely lapses into a slight Brit accent and vocabulary, and uses the word “straightaway” more than I ever have in my life! 😜.

“Daddy, when we get home do I have to go to bed straightaway?” https://t.co/VOiMiJugtr

— Eddie Painter (@PaintManNO) February 12, 2019

I thought I was seriously crazy for a while until my dad pointed out Olivia was starting to have an English accent! Guess I’m not the only one whose kid is suffering from the #PeppaEffect 🤣https://t.co/6HzCOKy8Q5

— Eugénie Applewhite (@eugenius27) February 14, 2019

Dr Susannah Levi, an Associate Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at New York University, explained to The Guardian that toddlers tend to mimic, hence the phenomenon, but that without concrete and regular interactions with a British person, it’s improbable that children will keep on speaking with a British inflection and use British vocabulary and idioms.

Although it is unlikely that the accent will stick, if a generation of American teenagers grows up with an inexplicable British accent, we’ll know to blame the pig.