[Dr. Frank fan]

Um. Isn't it more likely that the stroke gave her a kind of speech impediment which superficially sounds like a British accent?

I'm not trying to slur British accents or anything. I'd consider it equally likely that someone with a British accent could get a stroke and end up with a speech impediment which makes her sound "American".

It's just that the idea that there's some kind of "accent-switching" syndrome which can mysteriously, spontaneously switch you from Cockney to Indian to Aussie (or whatever) accents strikes me as rather wacky and fantastical.

For the record, I once knew and worked with a woman who, I was certain, spoke with a British accent. Then one day I asked her where in England she was from (or somewhere along those lines) and it turned out, it was a speech impediment, she was from Texas or somewhere like that. And she wasn't offended (or claimed not to be), she said she heard the "you sound British" comment a lot.

That's why I see this as the most likely explanation, I have precedent.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Um. Isn't it more likely that the stroke gave her a kind of speech impediment which superficially sounds like a British accent?

In reality, and all joking aside, that was my first thought.

[jim_trent]

Back in my college days, there was a person in one of my classes that spoke with a strong New Jersey accent (or at least what I thought was one). I found out that he lived in the Midwest and asked how he got the NJ accent. He said that he had a speech impediment and had never been in NJ. I felt pretty small.

[george wythe]

Isn't it more likely that the stroke gave her a kind of speech impediment which superficially sounds like a British accent?

Either that or she watched too many British shows in PBS.

I have a friend, raised in the South, who can impersonate a great British accent. He learned the accent watching PBS.

If he ever had a stroke that made the learned British accent the default accent in his brain, he might prefer to speak with the British accent.

My $0.02

[BfloGuy]

it turned out, it was a speech impediment

Same thing happened to me once. I worked with a guy who had a fascinating accent; I placed it as Czech maybe, or possibly even Rumanian.

One day I asked him where he was from and he said, "right here".

"No," I answered, "where are you from originally, where were you born?"

"Right here", he insisted. Finally my thick brain processed the data and I realized he had a speech impediment and I finally shut up.

[TASMANIANRED]

The real test is if she uses lorry for truck, lift for elevator, wanker for idiot leftist watermellon students on the public dole.