Line #23 Main/AccentRelapse


1	->''"I see you supized I speak Engrish so werr!"''
2	-->-- '''Creator/DaveBarry''' (in a column about depictions of the Japanese in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII movies)
3
4	When a character who has been speaking perfect, unaccented English (for whatever region he's in), gets revealed to be a spy or covert operative from some other country, from that point on, he instantly reverts to a thick accent from his native language. A character [[RoboticReveal revealed as a robot]] will suddenly switch to [[MachineMonotone a classic "robot" speech pattern]].
5
6	This is distinct from OohMeAccentsSlipping in that it is not a poor acting display by the performer, but instead a deliberate (and inexplicable, unless the character is aware his cover is blown) thing written into the story. Bear in mind that in works using a TranslationConvention, the transition from fluent English to, say, Russian-accented English may represent a genuine transition from English to Russian.
7
8	From a linguistic standpoint, it can actually make sense, as maintaining an accent or dialect perfectly is exceptionally difficult until you get extremely familiar with it. Most people would cease to exert the effort if they knew they didn't have to. Makes less sense for a DeepCoverAgent, however -- once you get to the point that you can speak the language at near-native level, then it's harder to revert ''back''.
9
10	Compare AccentSlipUp, where a character's real accent slips out when they're emotional or under stress.
11
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:Comic Books]]
18	* Wolfsbane from the ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' initially had a Scottish brogue, which she lost during the second volume of the series. She began using her accent again in ''Comicbook/XFactor'', which was eventually explained in an issue of ''New X-Men''. Turns out she tried to hide her accent from her friends in order to seem "cool," but no longer felt any pressure to do so once she joined X-Factor. (Meanwhile, an issue of ''Madrox'', which served as a prequel to ''X-Factor'', explained it more as Rahne's accent returning whenever she's irritated. The events of ''X-Factor'' give her plenty of reason to do so.
19	[[/folder]]
20
21	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
22	* ''Film/SpiesLikeUs'': Once the [[spoiler:mission contacts]] are revealed to be Russian spies, in the subsequent interrogation scene, they have thick Russian accents.
23	* Film/TheRocketeer: The Nazi spy, [[spoiler:Neville Sinclair]], after speaking perfect English the whole movie, [[HumorMode zuddenly haz ze German acczent vunce he iss expozed]].
24	* Norm in ''Film/TheresSomethingAboutMary'': he even forgets himself and nearly uses his real accent in front of the woman he was trying to fool, before trying to recover but giving up and telling the truth. Justified, in that he was putting on an upper class English accent and is actually American.
25	* Done by Ann-Margaret in Creator/NeilSimon's ''The Cheap Detective'', when detective Peter Falk tricks her into revealing that she's Russian -- she is unable to pronounce the word "baubles".
26	* Was supposed to happen with Dr. Scott in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', but for some mystifying (to O'Brien and the audience alike) reason Jonathan Adams had an accent even before being called von Scott.
27	* Done in ''Film/SpyHard'', after Dick Steele (agent WD-40) makes love to a woman, she is revealed to be a spy for General Rancor with a heavy Russian accent. Apparently, she doesn't slip into her native accent even in the throes of passion but drops it immediately before trying to shoot Steele. He doesn't notice it, though.
28	* ''Film/NoWayOut1987'': At the end of the film, TheMole is finally revealed to the audience. As he is being interrogated by his superiors, [[spoiler:Kevin Costner's character]] apologizes for his poor Russian accent with the excuse that he's been speaking English for so long that he's become rusty.
29	* In ''Film/AHistoryOfViolence'' gentle and likable Tom Stall, the owner of a restaurant in a tiny Midwestern town, becomes a hero when he saves his diner from a pair of murderous thieves. Shortly after Tom's heroics get their fifteen minutes of fame on the national news, some mobsters from Philadelphia come to town, telling anyone who will listen, (and some that won't) that Tom is in fact Joey Cusack, a former enforcer for TheIrishMob whose AxCrazy... "[[DeadlyEuphemism antics]]"... used to [[HorrifyingTheHorror terrify even the most hardened criminals in Philadelphia]]. All throughout the film Tom speaks in a general Midwest accent, until he finally admits that the mobsters are right and he is Joey, at which point not only does he say a few lines in a Philadelphia accent, but the way he walks and the general way he carries himself all change.
30	* ''Film/{{Black Panther\|2018}}'' has this trope show up in the first scene. As [[spoiler:N’Jobu and Zuri]] are introduced, they both speak in African-American Vernacular English. As soon as T’Chaka shows up, however, they revert back to their native Wakandan accents.
31	* ''Gotcha!'' (1985): The exotic European FemmeFatale who seduced the protagonist into a spy operation is revealed to be a CIA agent when she loses her accent during an argument with him.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Literature]]
35	* In ''Literature/TheLiesOfLockeLamora'', Locke drops his false [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Vadran]] accent the few times he's completely found out.
36	* In ''[[Literature/TakeshiKovacs Altered Carbon]]'', Reileen Kawahara spends most of the story speaking in a very formal, cultured accent in order to project an air of respectability. When she's under great stress and her facade cracks, however, she reverts to speaking in a vulgar Fission City accent.
37	* Inverted in ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'' - as Cheris spends more and more time with Jedao attached to her soul, she starts speaking with his accent.
38	* In ''Literature/TheWatsonsGoToBirmingham1963'', Kenny notes that his mother, Wilona, reverts to her southern accent whenever she's extremely angry (pronouncing "here" as "he-uh", "buster" as "bust-ah", etc.). When they visit Grandma Sands in Birmingham, she and her mother talk to each other so southern style that Kenny can hardly discern much of what they're saying.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
42	* At least a couple of examples from ''Series/TwentyFour''.
43	** In season 1, the Serbian man impersonating Ted Cofell spoke flawless English with a neutral American accent. However, after his cover was thoroughly blown and Jack Bauer began to interrogate him, he cursed Jack in Serbian and spoke in a thick Serbian accent.
44	** In season 8, the assassin Davros, in his cover identity of an NYPD officer, speaks in a New York accent when trying to get a coworker to switch shifts with him, but once it becomes clear that the guy won't budge, Davros pulls out a gun and switches to a Russian accent.
45	* Inverted in ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'', where a British spy who has been spying on Germany returns and ''retains'' his extremely heavy German accent, causing others to assume he was a German spy.
46	* Inverted on an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'': the intern with the thick Middle Eastern accent slips into his actual American accent. It turns out that he was faking the accent to avoid having to explain to the practically StrawAtheist Brennan and Squints why he took his religion so seriously: if he was an immigrant, it would make sense for him to clutch at his roots, but he apparently felt that the members of Brennan's team wouldn't be able to understand why a rational, scientific mind like theirs could not only be religious, but ''devoutly'' so. Bonus points for Bones actually noticing that he got the accent ''wrong''. He was supposed to be Iranian but his fake accent was Jordanian. Bones knows these things but didn't think it important enough to ask.
47	* In an episode of ''{{Series/Chuck}}'', the titular character encounters a British handler (played by Creator/TimothyDalton) who turns out to be the criminal mastermind Alexei Volkoff. When he reveals himself, he suddenly switches to a very bad Russian accent. In the subsequent episodes, though, he speaks with a perfect British accent, even in his Moscow headquarters. Later explained when he turns out to have been British all along, just brainwashed to think he was Russian.
48	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "[[Recap/CSINYS05E22 Yahrzeit]]," a man pretending to be Jewish is revealed to be a German former Hitler Youth soldier. Even after 64 years of pretending to be a non-practicing Polish Jew, marrying a Jewish woman, and raising an Orthodox Jewish son, he reverts to his German accent when his crime is revealed.
49	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
50	** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]], the alien speaks English with a rather affected and unconvincing posh Southern accent when disguised as a human, but when he's unmasked as an alien, his accent shoots way OopNorth (the actor's natural accent).
51	** Possibly as a ShoutOut to ''Series/{{Poirot}}'', a supposed socialite reverts from RP to a Cockney accent after being exposed in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn and the Wasp"]], the Creator/AgathaChristie homage episode.
52	** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]], when the policewoman/kissogram with the Estuary English accent reveals to the Doctor that she's a grown-up Amelia Pond, the "little Scottish girl" [[TheSlowPath he just met five minutes ago, in his mind]], she switches back to her native Scottish accent to drive the point home. The Doctor later uses the fact that she was stubborn enough not to lose her native accent after 12 years growing up in a British village as proof that she would want to travel with him.
53	* The criminal of the week in ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' is encountered by a detective in a hospital and speaks perfect American English. After the cops finally figure out that she's a French national, she suddenly slips into her "natural" accent (the actress is American). Later on, [[spoiler:Irene Adler]] drops her pretty convincing American accent for her natural British one after being revealed as [[spoiler:Jamie Moriarty]].
54	* Grand Maester Pycelle in ''Series/GameOfThrones'', who is a master at ObfuscatingStupidity, spends most of his time in public pretending to be a doddering old man, complete with a weak, quavering voice. In the S2 Finale, however, when he is alone with Tyrion he drops the act entirely, conversing in his natural, strong voice.
55	* Spoofed in ''Series/GetSmart''. Max asks why TheMole is suddenly speaking in a German accent after being unmasked. He replies, "Vot accent? Zis is my veal voice!"
56	* Inverted by Omid Djalili when he guest-presented ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou''. He began the show's introductory segment using a thick Iranian accent, only to stop halfway through and declare "I'm sorry, I can't keep this up" in his natural London accent, which he then proceeded to use for the rest of the show.
57	* Happens to a German spy who has tried to infiltrate the POW camp in ''Series/HogansHeroes''.
58	* On ''Series/JustShootMe'', a couple pretending to be Nina's birth parents drop their façade in the elevator and start speaking French as they discuss the next phase of their plan.
59	* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', [=McGee=] falls for a pretty girl with an American accent--but the romance takes a twist the day after she shows up at HQ to see him, despite the fact that he never told her that he's an agent. Her accent immediately collapses (and it's revealed that she's actually a South African agent).
60	* ''Series/PerryMason'': In the final moments of an episode, Perry Mason corners a witness into admitting that he's actually a German Nazi in hiding. In spite of speaking in a flawless American accent beforehand, the Nazi suddenly starts shouting in a thick German accent.
61	* Inverted in ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Sotto Voice," Detective Fusco is interrogating a frightened Middle Eastern man who was arrested with a handgun, which he protests was only bought for self defense. Fusco discovers that the weapon was used in a number of homicides, whereupon the man drops his accent and reveals himself as a SmugSnake ProfessionalKiller.
62	* ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' does this once with a supposed socialite who reverts from RP to a Cockney accent after being exposed.
63	* PlayedForLaughs on ''Series/ThePretender''. The second season sees the introduction of Mr. Lyle and his enforcer Brigitte. She speaks with a British accent for most of the season. But during a battle with Miss Parker, she tells her something with said accent to which Parker responds "Why don't you drop the accent? No one's buying it." Brigitte then says "Yeah, too much work anyway." in an American accent.
64	* More of a Personality Relapse, but before being revealed to the audience as a Terminator in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', Cameron talks and acts like a perfectly natural teenage girl. Afterwards, even in situations when she's with people who don't know she's a Terminator, she seemingly loses this ability to act natural and instead stares at people oddly and is generally robot-y in her speech patterns and reactions.
65	* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents version, in ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' Sally Stukowski dropped her Texan accent when Mrs. Frederic informed her they knew she was from Connecticut.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Radio]]
69	* Half-way through the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' drama "Invaders from Mars", the character Glory Bee suddenly reveals that she is vorking for Matherr Rasha, ant hencefarth eess eencapable off maintaining her prreeviasly parrfect Amarricn aksant.
70	* Once the {{Masquerade}} drops in ''Podcast/TheHiddenPeople'' and the magical elements and TheFairFolk start coming into play, Shaylee completely drops her peppy American accent in favor of her natural Irish brogue before becoming the series's MentorArchetype.
71	** Another variation, because the setting portrays PowerEchoes as an accent for magical creatures, [[spoiler:both the nurse in 1.04 and Nanny Karen in 1.05 are actually Lady Liliana, who hid her ''magical'' accent for both and in the case of Nanny Karen put on a Scottish accent. Next time you meet her, she has her "natural accent" in full force.]]
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Theater]]
75	* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', when Sweeney Todd is visited at his shop by Adolfo Pirelli, the SnakeOilSalesman that he showed up in an earlier scene, Pirelli reverts to an Irish accent, revealing his actual non-professional name to be Daniel Higgins.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Video Games]]
79	* In a mod for ''Videogame/Portal2'' called ''Videogame/PortalStoriesMel'', Virgil pretends to be Cave Johnson for a while. His impression is pretty convincing, until his Norwegian accent begins to slip through.
80	* In the TabletopGame/{{Clue}} VCR game from the '80s, Miss Peach reveals herself to be M. Brunette's daughter and therefore French. She subsequently delivers most of her remaining dialogue with a French accent (as opposed to the Southern drawl she'd used until then).
81	* In ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters2003'', once [[spoiler:your advisor with suspiciously accurate information]] is revealed to be a Russian general, he is calling out to you through a sewer. Your character does not recognize his voice until he uses his disguise American voice once more.
82	* In ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', [[spoiler:Fontaine speaks with an Irish accent as Atlas, and with a thick Bronx accent as himself.]]
83	* When the Spy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is disguised, his voice clips change to match that of whoever he's disguised as. Which is more a gameplay mechanic, but fits the trope because he reverts to his normal accent once he drops the disguise.
84	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': When Vanille first shows up, she slips in and out of an Australian accent to the point where it sounds like it's a bad case of OohMeAccentsSlipping, but after [[spoiler:you find out she's from Pulse]], she gets the accent full-time, matching Fang's.
85	* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Imperial Agent normally speaks with a thick British accent common to the rest of the Empire, but when s/he goes undercover he drops the accent completely. If his/her cover is blown at any part of the story s/he drops the accent once s/he's positive they know s/he's a spy and not just bluffing him/her.
86	* In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', [[MsFanservice Mad Moxxi]] relapses into her natural accent -- the DeepSouth hillbilly accent of the Hodunk bandit clan -- in the middle of an angry rant, then stops herself and tells the player never to speak of this to anyone. In ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'', the player at one point sneaks into a secret room of Moxxi's bar, where they find her wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit and tinkering with machines (Hodunks are all savants with machinery), happily singing to herself in her natural accent. As soon as she notices the player she stops and again says to never speak of this to anyone.
87	* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Chihaya, the Wheel of Fortune confidant has her accent briefly slip from the Tokyo accent she normally uses to a thick rural accent when she shouts at some people who refuse to believe that the overpriced good luck charms she used to sell were worthless and had no actual power. This gets them to pay attention long enough for her to convince them.
88	* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': Dingo Inflagrante and Lampita speak with Spanish accents. When Raz tells Edgar that they're the memories of his teenage years holding him back and causing his current mental distress, their voices take on preppy Californian drawls.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
92	* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': CampStraight StageMagician Maximilian Galactica normally speaks and acts as flamboyantly as he looks, but that is just his stage persona. He's really a GoodOlBoy named Billy Bob Johns, with the accent to match. However, he greatly prefers being Max Galactica at all times and only relapses back into Billy Bob when he's too stressed out to keep it up.
93	* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
94	** In the English dub of [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc the first game]], [[ConsummateLiar Celestia Ludenberg]] often drops her French accent when yelling angrily, indicating that it, like everything else about her, is a big fat lie. [[spoiler:She drops it permanently after being found guilty of murder and revealing her real name, Taeko Yasuhiro (that is, during the trial and her very last lines; the game reuses her accented lines for her interjection clips used outside of trials and cutscenes)]].
95	** In the sequel ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[spoiler:Teruteru Hanamura]] slips into a rural accent (Cajun in the English dub) when suspicion starts to fall on him during the class trial. It eventually becomes so incomprehensibly thick that Monomi has to translate for him.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Web Comics]]
99	* Inverted in ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'', when Genos tries to interrogate a cybernetic adversary, who is dismissive of his power in a RoboSpeak voice until witnessing Saitama's SuperStrength, after which he starts blabbing in a very conventional voice. When Saitama asks what happened to his voice, he admits he was just putting it on to sound cool.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Web Video]]
103	* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'':
104	** WebVideo/CriticalRoleCampaignTwo
105	*** Has a heroic example with Fjord. After [[spoiler: [[FaustianRebellion breaking his pact with Uko'toa]]]], he permanently reverts back to speaking in British accent, in contrast to his [[SouthernFriedGenius initial Texan drawl]]. It's implied by Jester, and later confirmed by Fjord that [[spoiler: he was imitating Vandran's voice and mannerisms in an attempt to cope with his own DarkAndTroubledPast and self esteem issues]]. Part of the healing process was realizing that the Mighty Nein still cared for and respected him after he lost the affectation [[spoiler: and his powers]]. Notably, he had a few moments of AccentSlipUp prior to this that hinted at his true voice.
106	*** Discussed but subverted when Caleb casts a Tongues spell on Jester. Caleb, who usually speaks with a Zemnian[[note]]similar to real-world German[[/note]] accent, suddenly sounds Common [[note]]similar to real-world General American, since the actors are all American[[/note]] to Jester, who gets confused where his accent went. He points out he is speaking flawless Zemnian to her, and she is hearing what he sounds like to a native Zemnian speaker -- he doesn't have an accent in his native language, proving the spell works.
107	** In the ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu : Shadow of the Crystal Palace'' one shot, [[spoiler: British celebrity spiritualist Septimus Goodfellow]] turns out to be an Irish PhonyPsychic, who reverts to his real accent when he reveals he doesn't know how to stop the shadows chasing them.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Western Animation]]
111	* When the King of the Renaissance Faire is deposed and hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit on ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', he immediately reverts from YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe to a thick Texas accent. Even funnier when you realize the voice actor in question is Creator/AlanRickman.
112	* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'':
113	** In his guise as Citizen V, Zemo is able to put on a flawless American accent, to better sell the ruse. When in private with the other Thunderbolts, he goes back to his normal German accented English, and stays that way once exposed.
114	** On a smaller scale, Songbird downplays her usual Deep South accent. It flares right back up as Screaming Mimi.
115	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'':
116	** In the episode "Code Red" , after Captain America discovers Dell Rusk, who spoke with an American accent (Steven Blum's voice), is actually Red Skull, he rips off his disguise. Once the mask comes off, the Skull's German accent is back on.
117	** Black Widow speaks in an American accent when among the good guys and a Russian accent when among the bad guys.
118	* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', [[spoiler:Thomas]] starts speaking with a thick accent after he is revealed to be a Russian spy.
119	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!", when the kids find Glomgold struck with amnesia, he speaks with a South African accent rather than the Scottish one they know him for. It is revealed via flashback that [[spoiler:he was born and raised in South Africa, but he pledged to outdo Scrooge [=McDuck=] in all aspects, including being Scottish.]]
120	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': During an especially tense argument with her estranged father, [[AcePilot Hera]] very briefly slips back into the Rylothian accent (represented as a French accent through the TranslationConvention) she had as a kid. [[ChekhovsGun Later on]], she deliberately relapses into it while posing as a maid during a stealth mission, which unfortunately fails because [[EvilGenius Grand Admiral Thrawn]] is attentive enough to notice that she is affecting an accent and thus has something to hide.
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Real Life]]
124	* Creator/JohnBarrowman normally speaks in a generic American accent but will immediately switch back to his native Scottish accent when he discusses being back home with his family in Scotland.
125	* Sandi Toksvig openly admits that the plummy RP accent she is normally heard speaking in is a put on and switch to her very strong American accent when talking about her childhood in New York.
126	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AccentRelapse