Peppa Effect: Canadian Kids Are Talking With English Accents Thanks To 'Peppa Pig'
If your kid has suddenly started calling you mummy and asking you to clean up the rubbish, you can likely blame a plucky pink piglet.
The so-called "Peppa Effect," where kids who watch the English cartoon "Peppa Pig" start speaking with an accent and using Britishisms, is going whole hog with Canadian kids.
"Peppa Pig" is a quaint and witty children's show that follows the life of Peppa and her family in a fictional U.K. town. It first aired in 2004 and is hugely popular, with more than 7 million YouTube subscribers and a range of merchandise. It's watched in more than 200 countries and is worth over $1 billion worldwide, Mental Floss reports.
Watch: Learn more about the "Peppa Effect." Story continues below.
On Wednesday, after reports of U.S. kids speaking with English accents were making headlines, CTV News asked Canadian parents if they were seeing the same phenomenon.
"When we take our kid swimming, she runs to get her 'swimming costume," Clare Miller wrote on Twitter in response to CTV's tweet.
"My niece has never left Georgetown, Ont., but she sounds like the Queen," John Shea chimed in.
"Our daughter talked with a British accent for about six months after she started watching Peppa. My fave word she picked up was rubbish. She once told us to get 'all this rubbish off the table!'," Holly Besinger tweeted.
When we take our kid swimming, she runs to get her "swimming costume"
— Clare Miller (@ClareMiller19) February 13, 2019
Oh for sure. My niece has never left Georgetown Ontario but she sounds like the Queen.
— John S (@sheajon) February 13, 2019
Our daughter talked with a British accent for about 6 months after she started watching Peppa. My fave word she picked up was rubbish. She once told us to get "all this rubbish off the table!"
— Holly Besinger (@mrstheclassical) February 13, 2019
Parents have been noting the "Peppa Effect" in their kids for years, but it only recently got a name, HuffPost U.K. reports. In a recent Romper article, U.S. mom Janet Manley wrote:
"After 21 hours of flight time spent binge-watching "Peppa Pig" episodes on the iPad, my kid had adopted Peppa Pig's plum British accent, calling me "Mummy" and finishing her sentences with Peppa's trademark snort. Two years later, she still oinks in conversation. Call it the Peppa effect."
Other parents have since been chiming in about the #PeppaEffect on Twitter, and how their own little piggies have adopted accents and Britishisms such as calling elevators "lifts," vacations "holidays," and flashlights "torches."
Loving the fact that thanks to the #PeppaEffect my son says toe-mah-toes ???? it's so darn cute @peppapig
— Danyellen (@daniboo217) February 14, 2019
My 5-year-old nephew only goes on holiday, NOT vacation. He's California born-and-bred. #PeppaEffect
— Dalena Nguyen (@humblehills) February 14, 2019
If you're concerned about the long-term effects of your toddler speaking like a wee Brit, don't be. A 2012 U.K. study found that most kids pick up their accents based on the voices they hear at pre-school and playgroups.
Mimicking Peppa is "a matter of exposure," Roberto Rey Agudo, the language program director of the department of Spanish and Portuguese at Dartmouth College, told Romper.
The accent has been so notable "in part because Peppa Pig has been such a phenomenon with the 2 to 5-year-old crowd and it's considered cute, whereas I don't know what other shows have that kind of currency right now."
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