WATCH: Woman Gets Oral Surgery, Wakes Up With Irish Accent

When Karen Butler meets new people, they often ask her where she’s from. And the answer -- Newport, Oregon -- usually surprises them. Why? Butler speaks with what sounds like an Irish accent. But she didn’t acquire it from spending time across the Atlantic. She picked it up at the dentist’s office.

Speaking about her medical oddity on a “Today” show segment, Butler explained that she went in for a surgical procedure about a year and a half ago. The funny voice she was speaking with immediately after seemed to just be par for the course, right along with the swelling and soreness. But as time went on and she healed from the surgery, her body returned to normal and the voice didn’t go away.

The culprit may be an extremely rare condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome, which is triggered by a stroke or brain damage, Dr. Ted Lowenkopf, medical director of the Providence Stroke Center in Oregon, said on “Today." “It’s so rare -- less than 100 cases ever reported -- that the average neurologist, even a stroke neurologist, would not see a case in their lifetime."

Not much is understood about the condition, but the best known case is probably of 30-year-old Georg Herman Monrad-Krohn, who picked up a German accent after being hit by a shrapnel in Oslo from a German air raid in 1941, reports The Oregonian, who covered the story last week.

Some reports have indicated that the condition can clear up over time, NBC’s chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman said during the segment. But Butler, for one, doesn’t seem to be itching for a cure -- “It’s just like a new toy.”

Listen to her new voice (and a clip comparing it to her old one) below.

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Comments

[Nelle]

03:15 PM on 05/12/2011

I wonder if anyone overseas has suddenly gotten a permanent American accent!

[brainpower]

04:48 PM on 05/10/2011

I would think that to have an accent triggered in the brain, it would have to have been 'hard-wired' in there at some point, such as prolonged exposure to an accented babysitter at a very young age. This woman's accent seems erratic, so maybe her exposure was limited to bits and pieces.

[lauralux83]

12:32 PM on 05/08/2011

that is NOT an irish accent. that's a really terrible scottish accent.

[Lex10]

05:25 PM on 05/07/2011

'Tis a wee Scottish accent she speaks wi' ye daft gowks! It's a braw way o' speaking! It's nae Irish, and for god's sake, it's nae English.
Newport is a lovely toon, if ye dinna ken it.

[HufferDave87]

01:40 AM on 05/07/2011

nope. I don't buy it. she's a hoax. or else, she always wanted an irish accent and she's literally faking everyone out.

[MagicalPossibilities]

05:32 PM on 05/06/2011

She has a very interesting mix of accents. Sometimes it sounds Irish, sometimes French, sometimes South African or even German, with a bit of Canadian mixed in, LOL!
I had a Brazilian accent for a while when I came back from Brazil, but it was just because I spoke mainly Portuguese for many years.

[Lynne Diligent]

04:48 PM on 05/06/2011

This sounds more like a case of a "walk-in" to me. It would be interesting to compare before and after brainwaves in such a victim to see if they are really the same soul. I think maybe they are not. But before such an accident, there would be little need to get a brain-wave test, would there?

[Max Shaw]

04:00 PM on 05/06/2011

Someone let me know if they discover a Foreign Language Syndrome and cause for it...trying to land this job at our China office...lol.

[Bruce Forbes]

03:35 PM on 05/06/2011

I call fake.

[TMGTINA]

12:14 PM on 05/06/2011

Doctors say this "phenomenon" is caused by brain injury or stroke...did it happen during her oral surgery due to negligence? Was her dentist on probation or was the anesthesiologist on probation for harming other patients with negligent conduct? http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Pass-Tinas-Bill/

[lastpost]

09:03 AM on 05/06/2011

“She picked it up at the dentist’s office”.
Better that than a dental caries infection.

“the voice didn’t go away”.
I blame “the Little People”. Or as politicians call them, “the little people”.

“the best known case is probably of 30-year-old Georg Herman Monrad-Krohn, who picked up a German accent after being hit by a shrapnel in Oslo from a German air raid in 1941”
What about Hitler? Who talked ba**s, after allegedly receiving a bullet in that region during WW1.

“It’s just like a new toy.”
Sure, I’ve heard of a Shamrock. But a sham brogue?

[Jaczar]

08:31 AM on 05/06/2011

Could I get a voice like Sinatra?

[cartach]

08:23 AM on 05/06/2011

Too much Bushmills on a regular basis will do it to you. The dentist business is just a cover story.

[hackerblaster]

07:56 AM on 05/06/2011

Could have been a lot worse. She could have woken up to find out she has a Sarah Palin accent.

[Duane Burnett]

07:48 AM on 05/06/2011

So what happens if she goes to the OBGYN She comes out speaking Tamil ?