PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Do you ever do a British accent just for fun?
This has been around forever, mostly as a joke, but now Generation Z has taken it to a new level and become a TikTok craze.
KDKA’s John Shumway is here with the trend and the reaction.
If your kids have and you’ve wondered why, here it is.
Gen Z, which is anyone between the ages of 9 and 24, seems to like the relaxed way a British or Australian accent rolls off the tongue.
It’s no surprise since the accent has been comforting Bluey and Peppa Pig for years.
“I think a lot of these shows have a certain charm. Of course, Peppa Pig, you know, every kid in the UK watches Peppa Pig,” said Aaron Gidney, a British parent.
Gidney says he’s not surprised that young people in America like to speak British.
“I think it comes with a certain sense of humor. Almost a self-deprecating kind of humor,” Gidney said.
But it’s not just the little kids. There are also bigger influences like Bridgerton and Ted Lasso.
“There’s a certain cultural crossover, which I think is clearly very attractive to a lot of young Americans,” Gidney said.
And this isn’t a new crossover, as Ross tried it on Friends, and there was Mary Poppins.
“Dick Van Dyke’s accent in Mary Poppins was often a source of ridicule,” Gidney said.
While Ross didn’t convert Millennials and Boomers just laughed at Van Dyke, they didn’t have TikTok.
Indeed, some Gen Zs have adopted British as their dialect, but don’t ask Aaron to try an American accent.
“I wouldn’t want to offend anyone on your side of the pond,” Gidney said.
Some say the British accent is soothing or kind, and if it’s often used as a disarming defense mechanism, whatever the attraction, that’s one thing.
We expect this from actors, but people changing the way they speak seems a bit over the top.
Foreign actors have mastered American dialects for years, and Johnny Depp, who is from Kentucky, often slips into Captain Jack Sparrow, but American children become British, at least it’s a harmless trend.
John Shumway
