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But Of Course: Madonna's British Accent Explained

Emily Farris — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:07:00 GMT

Ever wonder how a girl from Detroit ended up with a British accent? Well, you know, sometimes you just wake up with an accent. Seriously. There are dozens—dozens!—of documented cases of Foreign Accent System.

One woman's story, after the jump.

From ABC News:

CindyLou Romberg sounds like she could be from any number of exotic countries around the world. She sometimes rolls her "R"s like a Russian, chops syllables like a German or turns an unsuspecting "W" into a "V," like a Swede. But Romberg is not Russian, German or Swedish. In fact, she has never even left her tiny hometown of Port Angeles, Wash. Romberg suffers from what doctors call Foreign Accent Syndrome, or FAS, an extremely rare brain disorder that, as the name implies, causes its sufferers to speak as if they are from a foreign country. "We'll be in the grocery store and someone will come up and say, 'Oh, you have a beautiful accent. Where are you from?'" Romberg told "Good Morning America."

The syndrome is likely related to an accident in 1981 when CindyLou suffered a depressed skull fracture after falling out of a moving truck, scientists say. She recovered from a severe brain injury, and spoke normally until just two years ago when she lost her voice for a couple of days after a visit with a chiropractor.

When her voice came back, it was not the one she had grown up with."She may have suffered a small episode of decreased blood supply to the brain during the manipulation that provided an additional injury, which led to the FAS," neuroscientist Julius Fridriksson said.

Fridriksson said that FAS comes from a trauma to the left side of the brain in an area responsible for speech.

Watch the video here.

[ABC via BWE]

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Fake Shakespearean Actors Stage Colin Farrell Sex Tape

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:07:00 GMT

Have you heard about this live show called Celebrity Biographies where celebrities read from terrible celebrity books, such as Loni Anderson's memoirs? (Kristen Wiig, Rachel Dratch, and Sherri Shepherd are among the usual readers and the show is supposedly hysterical.)

Well, a couple of dudes from who knows where took this idea a step further-- they made this video of themselves putting on Shakespearean airs and reading celebrity sex tapes...

The actual, full sex tape can be seen here. It's not as bad as we thought, particularly once they get down to the actual sex. Here's a screenshot of the hotness if you can't watch it right now:

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10-Year-Old Boy Is the Lone Protester of Nude Sunbathing

While You Were Sleeping: Sasha Grey's Shot At The Mainstream

While You Were Sleeping: David Duchovny Can't Keep It Together

Video of the Day: 21 Accents

Emily Farris — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:12:00 GMT

Aspiring actress Amy Walker introduces herself in 21 different accents from Czech to Cockney to 1940's Transatlantic. We were almost skeptical of a few of the Southern accents, but sometimes we can hardly believe that people who are actually from the South talk like they do. Overall, very impressive, considering she does all this in under three minutes.

So after hearing all that, where do you think she's really from?

Seattle.

Somebody hire this girl. She's just as cute as Natalie Portman and her English accent is so, so, so much better.

(Note: We still heart V for Vendetta very, very much)

[via Very Short List]