Texas mother wakes up with a BRITISH accent after jaw surgery triggers rare brain disorder
Lisa Alamia went through routine jaw surgery to correct an overbite but the surgery has made the American mum sound British
A TEXAS mother has developed a British accent after going through routine surgery.
Lisa Alamia was born and bred in Texas but since going through jaw surgery to correct an overbite now speaks with an entirely different accent.
She has now been diagnosed with the rare neurological disorder, foreign accent syndrome, often confusing strangers when she speaks as if she has lived in the UK her whole life.
The mother of three said: “People who have met me before they’re shocked. People say ‘oh I love it’ but for me it’s a lot different.
“People who don’t know me, they’re like, 'Hey, where are you from?'.
“’I’m from Rosenberg’. They’re like, 'Where is that?' I’m like, 'Right here in Rosenberg.' 'Oh, you’re from here? How do you talk like that?' So that’s where the whole story comes up.”
Her children told KHOU they were gobsmacked when she told them what her doctors had diagnosed her with.
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Lisa Alamia’s oldest daughter, Kayla Alamia, said: “I thought she was joking with me.
“But then she showed me that the doctor diagnosed her with foreign accent syndrome. Then I was like, 'Oh, Lord’.”
Daughter Kylie Alamia said: “They are always asking me how my mom got that accent.”
Less than 100 people worldwide in the past century have been diagnosed with the syndrome, according to a Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital doctor.
Local doctors have since conducted tests including getting the mother to repeat tongue twisters as well as undergoing MRIs and other tests to confirm the diagnosis.
“'Mum' is probably the one word I notice right away,” Alamia said. “'Kitten' (is another). They think I’m talking about a baby cat. I’m not. I’m saying, 'I’m just kidding.'”
She said she had been unwilling to speak about her accent, worried that people would think she was lying.
She said: “I didn’t know the reaction I was going to get from people.
“So I didn’t know if they’re going to judge me. Are they going to think I’m lying or even understand how I’m speaking?”
The family is now getting used to the accent.
Ms Alamia said: “(The children are) like now there’s no way you sound ‘hood at all.
“Even if you tried, you wouldn’t be able to sound that way. My daughter laughs at the way I say 'tamales.' I used to be able to say it like a real Hispanic girl. Now, I cannot.”
