Baller Alert Entertainment & Lifestyle
An increasing number of American children speak with British accents after binge-watching “Peppa Pig” during the pandemic.
Some children are developing English accents and using terms like “telly” and “ready, steady, go.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many children in the US started imitating Peppa Pig after increased television time as parents worked from home. Parents reported that their children were saying “Father Christmas” instead of “Santa Claus” and using phrases like “give it a try.”
Entertainment One Ltd, the show’s owner, said in a statement, “Young Peppa fans see her as a friend .. and, as we do with friends that we admire, pick up some of their characteristics.”
California resident Matias Cavallin said on Twitter, “On a recent VACATION, my 5-year-old dared tell me that she was loving her HOLIDAY,” she said, “I told her we speak American in this house … and Spanish too.”
Cavallin was responding to a crowdsourcing request from Preetika Rana, a Journal writer who co-wrote a piece on the subject and said her 5-year-old niece in New York City had begun speaking with a “posh English accent.”
Cavallin claimed in the Journal article that his 5-year-old daughter, Dani, had started saying things like, “Mummy, are you going to the optician?”
Another New York mom, Lauren Ouellette, stated that her 6-year-old referred to a restroom as a “water closet.”
“I was like, ‘where did she learn that from? Was she on the Titanic in a past life?’ ” Ouellette told Journal.
Peppa Pig has caused many American children to acquire a British accent, so families are not alone in this situation.
According to data from entertainment consulting firm Parrot Analytics, Peppa Pig was the world’s second-most popular children’s show for the year ending February, after ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ The show also climbed to the 50th most popular show of any kind globally, up from 203rd the year before.
