American Children Have Adopted British Accents After Watching So Much ‘Peppa Pig’ During Lockdown
American parents are saying that Peppa Pig is changing the way their children speak.
They call it “The Peppa Effect”, and it refers to the adoption of British-English by children who have watched way too much Peppa Pig during the pandemic.
According to The Wall Street Journal, one mother from California recalled her daughter asking her:
“Mummy, are you going to the optician?”
During the pandemic, her daughter had watched a lot of episodes of the kid’s show, which seems to have taken the world by storm.
IM A WITNESS TO THIS ACTUALLY BUT ITS DIFFERENT one time i was at my dads friends house and she had a daughter and she wanted to play peppa pig with me so i was like ok and her voice was normal then as soon as she took peppa out her voice was a PERFECT british accent it was WILD https://t.co/haOagACBz0
— igor 🐰🍸 (@roddymcdowaII) July 20, 2021
Last Christmas, 6-year-old Aurelia insisted on celebrating the holidays the British way, wearing a crown and making mince pies for “Father Christmas,” her mother, Lauren Ouellette from North Scituate, said.
Lauren says:
“It gave us room to explore something new. Is Father Christmas the same guy as Santa? And why is he called that?”
I absolutely LOVED this part of Peppa Pig being played 24/7 at home so Poof at 3 would legitimately speak in this tiny British accent 🥺😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/hFurbWW8ZU
— b, macarena (@makkydoll) July 19, 2021
The little princess says things like, “Can we turn the telly on?”. She also referred to the bathroom as the “water closet”, which completely caught her mother off guard. Lauren said:
“I was like, ‘Where did she learn that from? Was she on the Titanic in a past life?'”
A week later, when they watched Peppa Pig together, it all started to make sense…
my baby sister had a British accent for 4 whole years because of Peppa Pig. https://t.co/tLx3bXQXzY
— aurora (@heyprude) July 20, 2021
Another mother, Dominique Parr, shared a clip of her 3-year-old daughter Hazel, repeating lines Peppa Pig.
The video amassed more than 10 million views and struck a chord with other parents whose children were adopting a similar accent.
@cultofdom #momsoftiktok #toddlersoftiktok #peppa #peppapig #benandhollylittlekingdom #british #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #accents #toddler #toddlermama #cute
According to Parrot Analytics Ltd., Peppa Pig is one of the most popular cartoons on the planet, reaching the second most-watched spot on their list for the past year, right behind SpongeBob Square Pants.
American kids watched so much Peppa Pig during the pandemic that they developed British accents and started regularly using British words like “holiday” instead of “vacation,” confusing their parents. 🐷🐽
My first A-Hed for @WSJ with @Preetika_Rana:https://t.co/6rnW4NKKyQ
— Meghan Bobrowsky (@MeghanBobrowsky) July 18, 2021
The heads of Peppa Pig Entertainment One Ltd. made the following statement:
“Young Peppa fans see her as a friend…and, as we do with friends that we admire, pick up some of their characteristics. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
For CBS’ report on the story, please see the video below.
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