Selects: How Foreign Accent Syndrome Works | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

good afternoon Governor it's Chuck here. on a Saturday and I'm going to pick a. selection called how foreign accent. syndrome Works no idea what this is. about but is from March 28. 2017 and I hope you enjoy it good. day welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart Radio.

hey and welcome to the podcast I'm Josh. Clark and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant. and Jerry's here as always so it's stuff. you should know stuff you should know. you should have said that in a British. accent it's stuff you should know. hey how was that it was great you're a. regular Rich. Little remember the arrest development.

little subplot where Charlie theren was. thought to be a British spy oh yeah what. was uh for British Eyes Only yeah but. what was um the name of her character Mr. F Mr F that's right that's right I knew. I had some like they said that every. time right mhm it was pretty funny she's. great yeah she was pretty lady funny. smart yeah good actor what else that's. all I got on her she can Mac oh really I.

don't know I just assume oh. okay this is off to a great. start uh is it's unusual odd even you. could say that you suggested I say the. intro in a British accent because we're. talking about Foreign Accents today. Chuck that's right it was. koi I see now it makes sense yes and. we're specifically not talking.

about um there's a thing sometimes that. certain people. do when they meet someone with a an. accent different than their own right. where. they accidentally or sometimes purposely. adopt it. momentarily yes it's called code. switching my Mom's done this. before that I remember it happened when. I was a kid my brother and I thought it. was so funny.

yeah yeah and it seems like it's usually. a parent of an embarrassed child sure um. and is there a explanation behind it or. yeah yeah so. um so this is from what I understand. this is the point right so our accents. are extremely personal they're part of. like us individually but they also. signal our membership in different. groups right so like uh a farmer is. going to talk differently from a stock. broker.

and a farmer from uh Georgia is going to. talk a lot differently than a stock. broker from uh Portland Oregon right. okay because that's the other stock. market seat yeah you thought I was going. to say New York I did nope um so when we. when we code switch when we meet other. people and take on their their way of. talking it it's called code switching. and I think it's a way of signaling hey. I we have something in and I don't want.

you to be distracted by it's a welcoming. thing yeah my my overalls with no shirt. on are distracting enough I don't want. you to be distracted by my accent too so. I think it is a way of saying like hey. I'm I'm I'm we have something in common. the thing is accents are such a part of. group identity that if you do that in. front of some other members of your. group whether it's your family or your. friends or whatever they're going to. tease you they are going to tease you. guaranteed and one of the reasons why is.

because what they're doing consciously. or or otherwise is maintaining the. borders of their own group's identity. yeah they're saying ah don't put on airs. don't think you're fancy don't think. you're just like that guy you're one of. us and and making fun of somebody who. adopts someone else's accent is a way of. doing that it's a way of maintaining. group divisions and borders where really. when you do kind of adopt someone else's. accent it I think one of the things that. you are doing is trying to make the. Foreigner The Stranger feel more.

comfortable and having met your mom I. guarantee that's what she was doing well. I just remember the only one I remember. specifically and you know you just have. these random childhood moments that sort. of stick with you was uh we were in. Florida and we were talking with uh an. Irish woman I believe she may have been. from England but I think she was Irish. MH and the other thing too is you. know I don't I don't think my mom had. probably talked to a l Irish people at.

that point you know she's from west. Tennessee they moved to Georgia we. didn't have Irish people all over the. place she wasn't super well traveled. back then although she is much more now. um so it was probably a bit novel to her. and I remember very specifically the. woman said something about going to. Disney uh instead of Disney World and my. mom said she got kind of proper and she. says you know we haven't been to Disney. yet and I remember my brother and I just. thought that was so funny instead of. saying Disney World did you guys make. fun of her in front of the woman no I.

don't think so we may have laughed a. little um under our breath but I mean I. don't think we I don't think we even. teased her I'm teasing her now a bit. sure but um I don't think like we made. fun of her really I think we just kind. of like my brother and I want to do very. quietly looked at each other and in that. way that Brothers do right and then talk. to each other like the kids in Escape. From Witch Mountain yeah were they. telepathic yeah uh but it's funny I was. listening to um the great Judge John.

hodman podcast yeah with our pal John. and class Jesse Thorne BFF Jesse and. they had an actual case a few weeks ago. that was very funny where this this mom. um does this on purpose she's a trained. actor and loves to put on accents when. she goes to places and the daughter was. just she took her to the uh internet. court and was just like stop doing this. like you've got to stop doing this and. the mom's whole thing she was very just.

fun and Whimsical and having a lot of. fun with it so it was really hard to to. rule against her but I think Hodgman. ultimately did rule against her he's. tough but fair well I think his whole. thing was like you know I think he ruled. partially in her favor like you got to. let him know where you're from and you. can't do it to like waiters and service. people because their job is to like.

take your dumb jokes and and have a. stiff upper lip about it and it just. kind of makes their job harder if they. think maybe you're making fun of them. and right you know like you may not. realize the unintended consequence of. this is somebody may feel uncomfortable. that they have to put up with. this wow that was took a really serious. turn at the end there no it did I mean. you know that's what's great about that. show is it's they're funny cases but he. adjudicates seriously I think that's how. it works and then Jesse always shoots. his gun off at the end yeah yeah.

be uh so anyway I just thought it was. pretty weird that this article came up. and then that episode had just aired but. that's different than what we were. talking about totally like I started. saying this is not that at all this is a. legitimate super rare this reminded me. of alien hand syndrome and its Rarity. yeah um because I've seen different. numbers but the most I've seen is about. 150. um described official cases of foreign.

accent syndrome right that that that's. super rare for sure yeah and what makes. it different from somebody taking on the. affect or dialect or accent of somebody. else someone taking the piss right this. is this is where you you can't stop it's. involuntary yeah and you know it sounds. weird and exotic and you just want to. like poke the person who's doing that in. the neck to be like what are you doing. there but I if you really start to dig.

into the actual cases it's sad in a lot. of a lot of cases oh yeah because again. you're accent what you sound like makes. up a part of your personality so if you. are if it if it changes on you. involuntarily it can be quite traumatic. for some people you could have an. identity crisis of sorts yeah so um I. guess we should just go and talk about a. couple of cases so people know what. we're talking about um the first one. mentioned in our own article is really. interesting for a few reasons uh and. it's the most recent case that's.

documented um oh I'm sorry it's not the. most recent but it is fairly recent a. woman named Lisa. alamia um she had jaw surgery because of. an overbite and then when she came out. of surgery even though she was from. Texas and had never been to England she. spoke with a British accent and she's. like right bloody. hell and uh wait wait I I need our. British listeners to write in and tell. me how how good my British accent is.

okay well I'm known on the show for. doing the bad accent so I'm glad you're. taking up no yours are good no I don't. know mine are they Verge on decent at. times that's well they're cartoonish and. stereotypical but they're really really. good cartoonish stereotypical versions. of accents uh so she woke up had that. accent and her husband and three kids. thought it was a joke um she had only. been outside the country to go to Mexico. and it was a real thing called foreign. accent syndrome yeah she'd never been to.

England she apparently probably had seen. British people on TV kind of thing but. her case actually is the opposite of. what I was saying she was apparently um. quite shy before and now she has. something to talk about a conversation. opener I guess and she's a little more. chatty than before that's interesting. yeah it is it's it's the opposite of of. some other people who have really. experienced a crisis as a result she's. like well I sound British now I guess I.

should talk more than before so she. sounds like a drunk Cockney Chimney. Sweep pretty much and she does sound. Cockney to me oh really I didn't hear I. didn't see this one on YouTube so uh. yeah we should say you know this is kind. of like optical illusions it's one thing. to talk about it you need to actually go. see and hear these people talking yeah. um if you just look up Lisa alamia a l a. m i a and you will find plenty of. interviews with her um and she's she's. like you said fairly recent there's one.

that's a quite a famous case maybe the. most famous because it was the one that. put foreign accent syndrome on the map. even though it was before the term was. coined yeah this one had a had a much. darker turn um because it was during. World War II a Norwegian woman named. Astrid suffered injury um and the. ironies here are really sad she suffered. a brain injury from shrapnel from a. German bomb and a bombing raid. and then when she came to she had a.

German accent right very not fun for her. no because the Germans were occupying. Norway at the time right yeah so people. she didn't really know were like oh hey. German spy yeah you want some milk no. milk for you yeah she was shunned um she. couldn't even speak German but she had. that accent and was uh obviously very. distraught by this and she went to a. neurologist named uh yorg armman monrad.

cron nice job it's a great name and um. he coined the first term uh for this. which is uh dis procity which is procity. is like the tone and rhythm of your. speech yeah and the prefix disc. obviously is like abnormal or ill um and. that didn't catch on too well it didn't. but as we'll see he kind of nailed what. the problem was yeah because you know.

the the the non-grammatical parts of. speech the procity are what is affected. when you have foreign accent syndrome. you you have what appears to be a. foreign accent but you're usually your. vocabulary your syntax your grammar. remains unchanged it's all the little. nuances that make up your accent or your. intonation or the rhythm of your speech. that are affected and has changed so. dispro is actually like the perfect name. for the syndrome yeah but foreign accent.

syndrome is way more catchy and that uh. oh it's sexy in. 1982 uh neurologist named Harry Whitaker. came up with that um so Whitaker coined. it in the. 80s uh I think 1982 was when he coined. That official term right and he he was a. neurolinguist who did some pretty. serious Research into foreign accent. syndrome he actually came up with a. fourpoint criteria for diagnosing it and. the number one is that the accent has to. be considered by the patient the people.

the patient knows and the researcher the. doctor to be a to sound like a foreign. accent right yeah straight from what. they are yeah well that's number number. uh two it has to be different from the. patient's former pro sure noticeably. different number three it has to be. related to central nervous system damage. and this one has come under fire under. the last few years and then four it. can't be related to a patient's ability.

to speak a foreign language already. right so there's actually a condition. it's astounding to me it's called. bilingual Aphasia or there's also. polyglot Aphasia and apparently if you. suffer a stroke or brain injury or some. other trauma or insult to your central. nervous. system and you know more than one. language you may completely lose the. ability to speak one language and. completely retain the ability to speak. the other that's how decentralized our.

language process is in the brain well. yeah because that's one of the the. factors in foreign uh accent syndrome is. you could it's not like uh in a case. where you might have a stroke and lose. the ability to speak like you still can. speak in perfect dialect whatever that. dialect is as far as being you know. articulate and coherent oh right right. yeah yeah so you're you're yeah exactly. you're not like slurring your speech you.

just sound different and like a a. foreign person saying the same words. would right yes oh gotcha okay so. there's this fourpoint diagnosis. criteria that's kind of been. deconstructed over the years um the. problem with foreign accent syndrome. it's like you said um there's been 100. maybe 150 cases so it's just totally up. in the air as to like how to diagnose it. what qualifies as it and we'll talk a. little bit about how scientists have dug.

into it thus far uh after this. [Music]. break so Chuck forign accent syndrome.

it's kind of all over the place right. now right yes you've got um Lisa alamia. um who woke up from jaw surgery with it. apparently people who have strokes can. um can suffer from foreign accent. syndrome uh and I actually saw one case. where your foreign accent syndrome in. one patient who suffered a stroke was. cured by a second stroke elsewhere in. the brain wow so we have like it's very.

tough to predict what's going to happen. when foreign accent syndrome does come. about and you know there's been people. from Japan who developed Korean accents. or there have been people from Scotland. who develop South African accents um it. it's it's kind of everywhere and all. over yeah you can uh one of the other. causes it can be from the onset of uh Ms. uh from multiple sclerosis mhm um this. one woman that we'll talk about in more.

detail suffered a uh from chronic. migraines but had a migraine attack so. severe that it it spurred this and uh. we'll get to her but all of these in a. bucket from some sort of trauma uh or an. event are called uh neurogenic type and. for a long time they used to think that. was the only way uh that you could get. for an accident syndrome right because. remember that Harry Whitaker 1982. criteria specifically says it has to be.

related to central nervous system damage. yeah so there's another uh kind called. psychogenic uh also non-organic or. functional or psychosomatic but um one. of the leading experts said that they. prefer. psychogenic uh he said because quote. this term has the advantage of stating. positively based on an exploration of. its causes that the disorder is a. manifestation of Psych psychological. disequilibrium like anxiety depression. personality disorder or conversion.

reaction in quote right um and you know. we're talking about could be bipolar. disorder it could be some other form of. mental uh illness and um this really. kind of rocked I mean it's not a huge. Community studying this but the people. that do are obviously super fascinated. by it and it kind of rocked their world. when they found out that someone that. had no head injury no stroke or anything. like that would could have something. like this yeah so they developed um.

first was neurogenic then they developed. psychogenic and then there's actually a. third one now it's mix so apparently it. can actually be from a psychological. issue that possibly could arise from say. a brain lesion so it's both of them. together right working to create this. foreign accent syndrome and definitely. psychogenic the psychogenic version of. foreign accent syndrome differs. tremendously from the uh neurogenic in a. lot of ways and number one is the. psychogenic tends to clear up it.

accompanies say like a psychotic break. or a manic episode or something like. that um and as the episode wanes or goes. away or clears up so too does the. foreign accent syndrome that is not the. case with neurogenic with neurogenic. they have no cure whatsoever and. basically the only treatment that they. can come up with is um through speech. therapy where speech language. pathologist basically retrains you to. talk the way you did before yeah it's. also uh the neurogenic is also much more.

common out of the cases I think it's. about 86% are from some sort of. neurological damage right so what does. that leave 14% or unless I guess you're. accounting for the the new super odd one. that is could be both um one of the more. famous cases that kind of demonstrated. that psychogenic FAS was an actual thing. um happened here in America there was a. woman in her mid-30s who had a history.

of schizophrenia in her family and she. was brought to the ER after attacking. her mom's landl yeah this one's the most. recent case actually and she um she she. believed the land lady was practicing. voodoo on her against her and she. attacked the woman um and throughout all. this during this episode she had taken. on a British accent and taking a family. history they found that number one she. had schizophrenia her family she was. diagnosed with schizophrenia. as a result of this incident but that.

she had had similar instances before and. during these she had spoken with the. British accent yeah I wonder I didn't. see anything in there about her if she. like had a I mean is it another. personality is it multiple personality. disorder I don't believe so that's not. what I took from it oh because that. would make sense you know if you have a. just a British personality that came out. that's violent maybe or something yeah. well I mean we remember we I think we've. done one on skit phrenia before haven't. we I don't know have we we we definitely.

did one on dissociative personality. disorder yeah um which was just. absolutely fascinating but I I was I. like you I kind of noticed like hey what. about multiple personalities it doesn't. it seems like something that would be. right up that alley I'm sure they've. looked into that but apparently. apparently that's not part of it yeah um. another case that I said we were going. to get to those this one is really weird. um and super sad woman named Sarah cwell.

in uh. England she was the one that had the. migraine that set it off and uh this one. is super odd because she's an an English. woman who now has a Chinese accent I. mean just straight up sounds Chinese and. like broken English. Chinese right right so she sounds like a. a native um I think man Mandarin speaker. is probably what we're thinking of who.

um is speaking English and if you. weren't looking like you would expect to. see say maybe like a middle-aged um. Chinese woman uh when you looked at the. at the video yeah and no it's like a I. don't know late late to mid-30s um. Caucasian woman yeah a native born. English speaker who um and she's who I. was thinking of when I was saying for. some people it's it's a really big. problem. presented AIG crisis for her identity.

she said that she can't look in the. mirror while she's speaking anyer she. just doesn't feel like anymore it's. really hit her hard yeah I mean she her. case is really sad it was I think 2010. when she was uh diagnosed after this U. migraine incident and in. 2015 um she couldn't work anymore uh and. she she has she has a lot more issues. going on than just the speech with these. uh migraines that have come on she's um.

got a whole range of physical problems. that she's had to stop work she's in a. wheelchair even though her limbs. completely work her brain basically. can't tell her limbs to do what they. should do good Lord so um from. migraines yeah from I think these really. extreme migraines I think they even. likened it to like having a stroke uh. they were so severe mhm um so she's had. to sell her house and um I think her. husband is Afflicted with something too. it's a really really sad case but um you.

know you can there's all kinds of uh. interviews with her and it's just so. strange to hear that accent coming out. of uh this white lady it is and from. what I gather she'd be like yeah well. imagine how strange it feels coming out. of you oh yeah you know and you know I. saw videos where they would sit down and. play. her uh and before I looked up further. that she was having even more uh. troubled times it seemed like she was. getting a little better throughout the. inter interview through therapy because. they were playing her one of the things.

they do is they play Old recordings of. herself and she would sit down and. listen to him and try and mimic it and. um which kind of brought up one of my. questions is can you even mimic an. accent like you know people can fake an. accent like can you even do that uh and. I didn't get an answer on that but um. then you're just mimicking an accent. your entire life too even if you could. yeah you know so that's problematic on. its own sure. but um it seemed like she was getting a.

little bit better in that interview but. apparently not it's really sad yeah it. is I mean like it's bad enough you've. got migraines and then to have a crisis. of identity yeah it's yeah not fair so. one of the other things it's um really. troubling is you can't just go to a. neurologist and get it cleared up um. there a whole range of doctors that. you'll probably see along the way. including a. neurologist um you talked about a speech. Lang anguage pathologist you might go to.

a clinical psychologist to deal with the. Fallout from everything uh maybe a neuro. psychologist uh maybe a radiologist you. might see you know six and eight doctors. and still not get anywhere right because. can't do a lot for you we don't know how. to treat Strokes very well and once. damage has has occurred in the. brain it can be pretty tough if not. impossible to reverse that damage right. if it's permanently damaged um so yeah.

the the idea that you're you've now. gotten a foreign accent they're probably. like that's kind of the least of your. words you just had a massive stroke or a. huge head injury or something like that. but what it's revealed to them is not. that there's this huge mystery and we we. have kind of played into it a little bit. by not revealing this from the outset. but you you as a patient with foreign. accent syndrome you didn't hit your head. and wa up with the foreign accent it's.

all in the ear of the. beholder the whole idea that there is a. foreign accent syndrome as as the way. that it's stated is. false and we'll talk about that after. this break. [Music].

okay Chuck we're back yes so I thought I. heard you drawing a breath right before. we broke I might have been did you have. something to say I don't know yeah I. think I. have a little trouble wrapping my head. around this whole idea that it's only in. the ear of the person because if you. know that lady clearly has a Chinese.

accent it's not oh I'm just hearing it. that way so there have actually been. studies where they've played a video. clip of or a audio clip of a person with. foreign accent syndrome to different. people yeah and said you know where do. you think this person's from and the. same person will get tens of different. answers out of tens of different. people yeah I I don't know I mean that. makes sense in some cases I think but I. don't see how anyone could hear this.

woman and say she sounds uh British to. me right well no no no she she. definitely doesn't sound British but. that's the point she sounds Chinese but. she's not actually speaking in a Chinese. accent she didn't hit her head and wake. up with a Chinese accent what happened. was she got these series of migraines. probably had some sort of stroke and a. region of her brain that controls the. really intricate process of uh Pro of. making your tongue do certain things to.

intonate an accent uh certain words in. certain ways that make up your accent. and your dialect overall that got. damaged and so now she can't control it. in the way she used to before it comes. out sounding differently and to you. somebody who has heard people speak in a. Chinese accent before it sounds like a. Chinese accent that's the difference. yeah that's I don't get that what I do. get though. is we take second nature just when we. open our mouth we talk we don't realize.

the complex uh series of events that's. going on to make your voice come out the. way it does so you know you're you're. well in the brain they think um and. again the mysteries of the brain they. the what how you create speech is really. complex and involves all kind of uh. areas of the brain but uh specifically. damage in the left hemisphere and the. cerebral artery they know a lot of times. can cause foreign accent syndrome right. but when you're speaking you're using. your tongue you're using your lips your.

jaw uh your larynx and the way all these. things combine and who you are uh is. going to make you have and we should do. one on accents period but um agreed it's. going to control how your speech comes. out so and you know the one example they. they use in here is if you know you have. a little too much to drink those you. know you might lose some of that muscle. control and you might slow your words or. talk funny or differently right so. that's a.

pretty pretty basic way of understanding. it but um I know vowels are are sort of. a big deal when it comes to foreign. accent syndrome yeah if you if you say. ah instead of a um or you substitute. consonants like R for L right so you're. um you know. uh what's that what were they singing. Jingle Bells on um oh no uh de the Halls. on On A Christmas Story Christmas Story.

far right so if you were a a Caucasian. English speaker and you damaged your. brain in a way that the the part of your. brain responsible for forming L's now. formed ours instead right to other. English speakers who'd heard. um Native Chinese speakers you would. sound like you had a Chinese accent. because that's what people who speak. Chinese do when they're speaking English. right so you didn't actually adopt a.

Chinese accent you're just creating. sounds in the same way that somebody who. was a native Chinese speaker would yeah. I I mean I see what they're getting at. with all. this to me it's a little bit splitting. hairs I think that's what I'm trying to. say I think the difference is this chuck. with your your accent your native accent. your native dialect is the result of. your exposure to your environment right.

lifelong all the people around you all. the stuff you've learned all the things. you've heard it creates your dialect. right when you suffer foreign accent. syndrome your dialect your brain is. damaged so that you can't produce that. anymore and you're just kind of. haphazardly producing something else. yeah you don't actually follow so like. if you took uh Sarah Cal cell's language. uh and had her read a passage from. a book and then you had a native Chinese.

speaker typical accented Mandarin. speaker read that same passage it would. not be the exact same thing there'd be. all sorts of derivations and deviations. from that normal Mandarin accent because. Sarah cell's brain was damaged in a. certain way that makes it a totally. unique accent yeah I get that but that. happens within the Mandarin accent. between people too you're not letting. this one go I just don't get it all. right one thing I do get is that there's.

no like and this is probably what's so. frustrate or one of the things so. frustrating is it's not like they wake. up with a new cultural identity either. right I mean this. woman still wants to have her tea and. biscuits every afternoon but when she. says that she says it with chuck would. call it a Chinese accent a neurologist. would say well you're just hearing that. right right uh so you know it like you. said people suffer a bit.

from uh their own like sense of self. right you know because uh see here's. what I wonder is in in. their do they hear it in their head as. their own regular accent I don't think. so no I think it sounds off to them and. I think it's probably distressing. because they're like wait let me say. that again and they still say it the. what they perceive is the wrong way. because apparently one of the Hallmarks. of foreign accent syndrome is the the. errors or the differences that they they.

make uh Pro in their Pro is predictable. right which makes it like an accent I. mean that's what an accent is is you're. going to drop your t's or replace the T. with the th with a d right just about. every time or add that R when you say. wash um that yeah exactly like that's. it's a predictable thing and that's part. of foreign accent syndrome it it starts. to happen in predictable ways too so I. would guess. yeah they it sounds off to them as well.

well because the reason I say that is. because when um like and I think I've. talked about this when my grandfather. had a stroke he still. talked uh but it just came out as. gibberish but in his head he was saying. the things that he was trying to say. which is you know one of the the most. frustrating things I think yeah after a. stroke victim is I remember seeing him. talk and getting so frustrated yeah he. would just you know say things out loud. and it would come out as gibberish to us. but in his head he's still saying you.

know his English words right they it's. got to make you feel trapped in your. body yeah um. however FAS is a little all over the map. because there have been other weird. cases because we've been saying this. whole time there's not a new identity. it's the same uh you're saying the same. words and everything but there have been. cases where people do substitute out. words like you would say uh lift instead. of an elevator right that's like the.

psychogenic version I know it's just so. confusing well it almost makes me think. like so before there was nothing but. neurogenic foreign accent syndrome right. uh everything else was you're just crazy. now they they recognize that there's. psychogenic FAS as well I think what's. going to happen with more and more study. they're going to just diverge into two. totally different syndromes now yeah. that makes sense you know I think going. to be like that's actually not the same. thing that's something totally different.

neurogenic forign accent syndrome is its. own thing and psychogenic is is. something else entirely as well just. make up a new name yeah uh this one. other case I thought was interesting the. about the Dutch. woman uh which one she was Dutch is. Dutch mhm and she developed a French. accent mhm but she spoke Dutch using. French syntax and occasionally fren. French words as if she was a French.

person learning Dutch and it turns out. that she was a Dutch language teacher. who taught French people to speak Dutch. right and I don't know was her. psychogenic or neurogenic it would have. to be psychogenic because neurogenic has. basically that original um Harry. Whitaker criteria in 1982 you'd never. use different words and things well it. was it has to not be related to the. patient's ability to speak a foreign. language oh okay yeah right so like that.

she would be technically canceled out. from neurogenic for that one and um it. would also it didn't have anything to do. with with central nervous system damage. right which is again it's why I think. it's going to end up being its own thing. man so interesting it is what else you. got uh that's all I've got man isn't. that enough I think so man any language. stuff anytime we talk about language in. the brain I guess. neurolinguistics I just my I turned to.

goo it's so interesting to me yeah. that's what happens when something. interests me I turn to. goo uh if you want to turn to goo and. learn more about foreign accent syndrome. you can type those words in the search. bar at howstuffworks.com and since I. said that it's time for Chuck. administrative. details how was that that was great man. so Chuck yes we've got some more people.

to thank for sending us some nice stuff. that's right I'm going to start off with. Nathan. Faso oh that's good uh he sent us some. really lovely handdrawn calendars and. bookmarks um and you can find those at. wildlife. wildlife. Marini. foto.com com.au and that's m a r i n i f. e r l a z C zoo.com com.au and um it was.

really really beautiful work and it's. it's a cool thing because portion of. every sale is donated to uh a nonprofit. wildlife organization very nice I think. you handled that foreign accent very. well thank you um want to say thanks big. time to Robert kums or Combs from white. tail coffee for the amazing coffees um. especially like seriously this is a. really good coffee um especially the. leras and larella um and that's white.

tail t a l e Coffee uh it's just an. amazing coffee subscription service that. you should check out uh well I got a. couple of more coffees I'll just knock. them both out uh you have one sitting. actually have two of them sitting on. your desk right now my friend can't wait. to go grab them uh True Stone coffee. roters from St Paul Minnesota s it's. their medium blend and uh I can't vouch. for The Taste yet cuz it just got here. but it smells good and then Devon from. True coffee roers in Fitchburg Wisconsin.

s uh dark roasted Sumatra and a Mexico. utra I'm sorry Alura nice thanks a lot. guys got coffee coming out our ears. that's great that's a good place to be. we're not GNA have diabetes my friend no. uh Doug fuk sent us a beautiful. Illustrated card thanks for that Doug. thanks for saying hi uh Meg from Seattle. uh she sent me a card about laon's. passing my cat which I lost last year. which is very very sweet and while I'm. on that um Buckley my old boy passed.

away couple of weeks ago and um everyone. on uh Facebook was beyond supportive and. sweet and that really helped out so. thanks for that yeah from everybody. listening to you Chuck we send our. condolences to you thank you it was very. dark time yeah um let's see Preston Pope. he sent us some amazing chocolates Chuck. from V chocolates V V just the letter v. chocolates.com u seriously it's good.

stuff uh I feel bad I feel like I'm. running around on little bit sweets oh. that's okay that we'll always come back. to them okay uh our buddy Jeff Barney. was kind enough and I still haven't. tried it it's in my fridge but you said. it's the best he sent us Cy Japanese. mayo oh it's so good because of my love. for mayonnaise and um Chuck you may. never go back to American Mayo again. well I'm finishing up a a gallon of.

Dukes this afternoon yeah I'm just going. to G to shoot it down yeah and then I'm. going to dive into the Q and see what's. going on there got to see what the. difference is it's subtle but you you'll. notice you'll say wow this is actually. really really good mayonnaise all right. well thanks Jeff Barney for that um. thanks a lot to Tim and Joe from primer. stories I don't know if you remember but. our animal rights double parter tied. into an essay I wrote on primer.

stories.com and they sent t-shirts to. say thanks for that so thanks back for. you guys support Ian Newton of the. Baltimore whiskey company sent us some. ginger Apple. lur and. Jen yes thanks a lot uh don Kent who. last gave us some plyy the Elder before. which was nice oh yeah also sent us a. bunch of soilent and thank you also to. soilent itself the company who heard our.

soent episode and said you guys haven't. tried soilent here here's some. soent and thank you for that soilent. that was very nice I think they got what. they wanted out of this which is for us. to say soilent 12 times soilent uh this. came in today Thomas kraal car uh k r g-. l he sent me a Fring monacle oh that's. neat and he heard me talking about my. eyes going and how I just need him to. read things close up mhm and he said. buddy here's what you need to do because.

you will one day embarrass your daughter. like I embarrass my children you need to. rock a monacle mhm and it's a monacle so. is he like a trained optometrist who can. like no no so he just gave you a piece. of glass that's going to ruin your eye. over time yeah I mean it I tried it and. it's you know it's kind of like a reader. it works about the same as my. prescription um but he uses one he sent. a little picture of himself yeah and uh.

I guess I should plug the company it's. near sights monal is what he used yeah. for sure and um yeah I got a monocle now. nice job Chuck I'm GNA use it your new. nickname is Pringles guy okay uh I've. got someone else Pringles guy Janelle. Samara sent us a copy of her book our. only hope thank you and congratulations. on writing a book uh Bridget massoth m a. SS o t h sent us some really cute along. with an extra large handwritten note.

sent some really cute Josh and Chuck. cutouts like kind of paper cut and paste. uh cutouts nice and yours is on your. desk thank you you got to get out of. this room and I do go over to your desk. you got a bounty uh Francis delapaz uh. so you know there's like a whole group. of people out there who believe in. writing letters beautiful letters with. fountain pens and all that yeah and. Francis delapaz is one of them sent us a. a beautiful handwritten. and you you also apparently customarily.

send What's called the flat gift and uh. they sent a a post card the sad life of. sag clown which is great we think sad. clowns are great well I got a few. letters actually I'll just knock those. out because uh Sandra maybe this was. because of international correspondence. writing. month uh that we got these because. apparently that happened oh okay um but. Sandra sent us a nice handwritten letter. in honor of that specifically and then. Austin from Baker field sent us a very. nice handwritten note and then Kristen.

cook sent us a Valentine's Day card to. all of us including Harry. null man that's not Harry NES of Ain't. It Cool News but our own null who was. just paring right we got some other ones. too Chuck we got a lighthouse postcard. from Big Sable point from. Teresa um we got a couple of Christmas. cards from the Johnson alaman family and. Tess Sullivan and her family uh and I. guess in part because of national what.

is it national writing month or letter. writing month International. correspondence writing month exactly uh. Noel verosa no sorry no. verosa no verosa it's hand it's. handwritten you can't uh you know I got. it that last time n n verosa wrote us a. nice hand uh letter handwritten letter. in Fountain Pen uh I've got two more um. Megan Moon Waltman that's Megan with two. G's oddly she sent us a copy of uh this.

really cool thing she made it's a book. it's called song book A book of music. for all levels all ages and it is 11. songs uh kind of written out as chords. and things and Illustrated for different. instruments like there'll be a song for. guitar an intro song for banjo one for. cello and it's got these cool pictures. and then you can download these songs. and kind of I figure it's I mean it says. for all ages but it seems like it'd be. great to give a kid right so check that.

out it's very worthwhile um I've got two. more to finish than two one Austin Doyle. sent me an amazing oil cray painting um. which I assume will inflate in value. very rapidly once Austin dies uh. hopefully do doesn't happen cuz Doyle is. one of our oldest uh and I don't mean by. age but one of our longest time. listeners yeah he's a great guy I mean. like when he dies of old age I just play. outlive them that's okay so I can cash. in on the painting he made me uh and.

then Ben and Aaron Gibson sent us the. Japanese car magnets that signify an. elderly driver or a teen driver which. we've talked about before oh yeah yeah I. remember those thanks dudes uh I got one. more and this one boy you have no idea. what's waiting in there you just came. right into the recording studio for a. change yeah um on your desk right now. Josh I can't wait you have a handmade. cutting board awesome and it's really. really nice this is from Christopher at. the timbered wolf and um it's just you.

know it's gorgeous he sent a couple of. these in and they're really really nice. nice so you got to you got to take care. of it though I left the instructions for. you I got a lot of stuff to carry out of. here yeah you need a uh someone needs to. send Josh a wheelbarrow or a Radio. Flyer oh I got one of those for my kid. it's nice oh yeah yeah the old red wagon. like the real one the Radio Flyer yeah. they still make them nice well thank you. again to everybody body who sent us so. much great stuff we appreciate it big. time uh and uh if you want to get in.

touch with us you can send us both an. email to stuff podcast at. howstuffworks.com and as always join us. at our home on the web stuff you should. know.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].