Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for May 12, 2023

WHY is that woman crying? Mummy offensive? Don’t tell the British

The “mirror neurons” cartoon is hinting at a secret fourth fact:

Yawns are notoriously “contagious”, most likely because of how those mirror neurons combine with an involuntary action. This doesn’t even just affect humans: many social mammals also are likely to yawn when they see someone else yawn, and it can even cross species in some cases.

My brain neurons are mirroring other people? I hope they’re not taking up smoking.

Zeh-bra

I sometimes speak in a southern accent if I see a TV show or movie that takes place down south.

“I say, mummy, this Peppa Pig is cracking good! Now be a dear and pop off to the kitchen to fetch me a tin of biscuits.”

Our granddaughter is one of the Peppa Pig phenom. Not so much the accent, but the terminology. Holiday versus vacation, as an example.

Maybe the new accent will be Australian after the airing of Bluey.

“Eye bot this parrot ear off an are ago! He’s DEAD!”

Oy sigh, gibnee.. Peppa! ~ Tom Cruise, I do try

Take care, may pubic candid yawn surveyor Walter “It’s All About The Uvula Exposure” Boredomord be with you, and gesundheit.

Oh, the horror! Children speaking with a British accent!

My ex was an Australian teacher. She used to get a lot of kids from Sri Lanka,Thailand, etc. Asked the kids where they learned “American” accent. Seems they all watched and learned from “Sesame Street”.

Mum should have had them watch Bluey, they could have an Australian accent.

Why do people kept saying british accent ? English is the british language and so the proper way to speak. The US are the one with and accent, not the british.

Blimey,you don’t bloody well say?Where’s my tea and crumpets,Mater?

Ready, steady, GO!

Next they’ll be having candy machines dispensing Snicker’s bars to those looking hangry …

Little ones who are still in the language learning stage of development have an easier time learning language and picking up accents. We taught our daughters French and Scots Gaelic (their mum’s a Scotswoman) when they were growing up. The Gaelic has come in handy as a private language and when we visited and the French was great when they were younger and has been most beneficial since we moved up here and they went to uni in the UK.

So many British accents. I’d take Cockney, so I could pick pockets and take the loot back to Mr. Fagen

I have been listening to the English language all my life, and I’m still not very good at it. I have overheard Chinese, and I get none of it. As for others, it’s all Greek to me.

I can confirm. Peppa pig and bluey have turned my sister at least 20% British from watching them. Please send help!

Another way to see things:

Consider accents as part of the musicality of language.

If clarity and communication are not impaired, what’s to fear or hate?

YAWN!

RBION, mirror neurons don’t mirror things people do, yawning or whatever, they “fire”, they react electrically. That’s not mirroring in the sense RBION seems to mean. RBION wants us to picture a neuron literally yawning, with a tiny little mouth inside our brains. Silly, silly RBION.

Know of any British-speaking children in the U.S. after the Peppa Pig fiasco?

Viewing this made me yawn. Really…

Meh! I started speaking with a British accent at 13 when I had a history teacher who was an Oxbridge man. (In fact, I learned 50 years later that he had been a pupil of C. S. Lewis.) I’ve never quite lost it, really, because in high school I was in a production of “My Fair Lady”, and because I have about 20 years of doing Renaissance faires under my belt.