It’s all about perspective. To the average American, a British accent is fun and intriguing. To the average British person, American accents are exotic and new. It is all together adorable when a toddler adopts either one after watching their favorite shows. Many American toddlers started using British accents and slang words because of the popular show Peppa Pig and now it seems British toddlers are doing the same after watching YouTuber Ms. Rachel.
Kelly Convey, a UK-based mom, took to TikTok to show her 21-month-old daughter Bea speaking like an American. Kelly knows it is because Bea loves watching Ms. Rachel videos. Thankfully, Kelly has a good sense of humor about the situation.
Kelly begins her video by asking her followers if they are in a similar situation. “Has anybody else got a British — and I have to stress British — toddler who watches Ms. Rachel and, as they’ve started to speak, you realize that they’ve actually got an American accent?” she wonders.
For those of you not in the know Ms. Rachel is Rachel Griffin Accurso. She is best known for her musical educational preschool videos posted on YouTube, which encourage language learning. She also focuses on movement and social-emotional growth. Her channel began in 2019 and was a life-saver for many parents during the pandemic. Her videos have been viewed over 2 billion times.
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Kelly goes on to show Bea saying words in an American accent. Kelly asks Bea to say car. A British dialect has the word sounding like “cah.” Bea clearly states it just like an American would.
Car is not the only word Bea Americanizes. Kelly also asks her to say zebra which mom pronounces “zeh-bruh.” Bea does it just like Ms. Rachel instead utilizing the long e sound.
Kelly’s video quickly gained popularity on TikTok, catching the attention of Today.com. “She’s started saying ‘here’ instead of ‘heh-er,’ and the zebra thing is surreal,” Kelly told the outlet. “But luckily she still says waw-tuh and not water!”
Bea’s American accent is “quite strong” according to mom. “She’s 21 months, and she’s only just started talking in full sentences but you can hear the tone in her voice is very American,” Kelly explains. Thankfully, Kelly is taking this in stride but jokes that she absolutely will not allow Bea to say vacations instead of holidays.
"We love Ms. Rachel in our house. She's so engaging, and she just knows how to speak to children. She makes them feel like she's talking directly to them,” Kelly gushes. "I think she's absolutely brilliant." Ms. Rachel even posted her own TikTok reacting to Bea’s American accent. She loved it!
Kelly was not the only parent facing this predicament, as evident in the comments section.
"That's nothing my daughters nursery teacher called me and asked which part of America my baby was from… She's British," one user boasted.
Many Americans joked that Ms. Rachel was their payback for Peppa Pig. Apparently, society is in the middle of a dialect war.
