Gramer Girl here.

I'm Minyeon Fogarty and this week we'll talk about accents, espresso and idioms that

use the number 6.

First, GT Youngblood wrote a review on iTunes and in it asked a question that peaked my curiosity.

He said that whenever he's around people with accents, he unconsciously starts talking

with the same accent.

He picks up accents really fast and wants to know if it's some kind of condition or

malady.

Well, from what I could find GT, it's not a bad thing.

It's a good thing.

It's called phonetic accommodation and you do it when you're talking to people you like

or to people you want to like you.

It's considered a social skill, possibly related to empathy.

And it seems not that different from the way you talk to your buddies one way and to your

boss another way.

You're trying to minimize the social differences between you and your new friends.

There's a similar phenomenon called unintentional mirroring in which people mimic more than just

an accent.

They mimic gestures, body positions, voice modulation and so on, for the same reasons, essentially

to fit in and be likeable.

So don't worry about it.

There's nothing wrong with you and it probably makes it easier for you to make friends in

...