You say tomato... Increasing number of American children are speaking with British accents after binge-watching Peppa Pig during the pandemic
Some American children have begun speaking with British accents and using words like 'telly' after they binge-watched the English cartoon Peppa Pig during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The so called 'Peppa Effect' had children already mimicking the main character before the pandemic, but the lockdown and stay-at-home orders made the effect more widespread.
Parents were working from home and in order to have Zoom calls without distraction, they allowed their children to have more screen-time.
But now they are finding that their kids are now speaking with polished British accents - just like Peppa, the main character of the show.
American children are now speaking with British accents and using words like 'telly' after they binge-watched the English cartoon Peppa Pig during the Covid-19 pandemic
The so called 'Peppa Effect' had children already mimicking the main character before the pandemic, but the lockdown and stay-at-home orders made the effect more widespread. Pictured: A Peppa Big booth at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California in 2019
Dani, a five-year-old kindergartner from California, baffled her parents when she asked her mom, who said she was going to the eye doctor, in an English accent: 'Mummy, are you going to the optician?'
'And we were like, "the what",' Dani's father, Matias Cavallin, told the Wall Street Journal. 'That's like a college-level word. At least, I wasn't using it.'
Dani has now changed a lot of her vocabulary - all because she watched Peppa Pig throughout the pandemic after Cavallin let her watch it while he worked from home and his wife worked in an office.
'It was almost like a happy accident at a time when I was trying to find a pseudo babysitter during Zoom meetings,' Cavallin, a public-relations manager in El Cerrito said about finding the cartoon at the start of the pandemic.
But now Dani calls Cavallin 'daddy' in a British accent rather than 'papa'. She also says 'petrol station' instead of gas station and 'biscuits' instead of cookies, and when her father has a cup of coffee, Dani asks, 'Are you having tea now?'
He also tweeted: 'On a recent vacation, my 5-year-old dared tell me that she was loving her holiday. I told her, we speak American in this house...and Spanish too.'
Cavallin told the news outlet that Dani's grandparents, who mostly speak Spanish after emigrating from Argentina, joke: 'We don't understand her to begin with, and now she's speaking British?'
The family are not alone in their predicament as Peppa Pig has left many American children now adopting a British Accent.
Peppa Pig was the world's second-most in-demand children's cartoon for the 12 months ending February after 'SpongeBob SquarePants', according to data by entertainment consulting firm Parrot Analytics. The show also jumped to the world's 50th most in-demand program of any kind, up from 203rd the previous year.
Parents are finding that their kids are now speaking with polished British accents - just like Peppa, the main character of the show.
The family are not alone in their predicament as Peppa Pig has left many American children now adopting a British Accent
'Young Peppa fans see her as a friend…and, as we do with friends that we admire, pick up some of their characteristics,' Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One Ltd. told the outlet in a written statement. 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,' it added.
Meanwhile, six-year-old Aurelia from North Scituate, Rhode Island, has insisted on the British holiday tradition of baking mince pies for 'Father Christmas' after watching Peppa Pig religiously, her mother Lauren Ouellette said.
'It gave us room to explore something new. Is Father Christmas the same guy as Santa? And why is he called that?' she said.
Aurelia also now asks, 'Can we turn the telly on?' and called the bathroom a water closet.
'I was like, "Where did she learn that from? Was she on the Titanic in a past life?",' Ouellette said, adding that it became clear why her daughter had picked up a British accent when they watched the cartoon together.
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