Some people will go to great lengths to impress others… or simply to gain attention.
Some might suggest that they are more accomplished in a skill or area than they actually are, crossing their fingers that this is never put to the test.
Others might need to literally show off by either dressing or presenting themselves in a manner that is not at all reflective of who they actually are.
Redditor AusAccentThrowaway was excited to see his sister again after living in another country and to meet her boyfriend.
However, the original poster (OP) was a bit surprised by how his sister was presenting herself, eventually calling her out in front of her boyfriend.
Resulting in the OP’s sister effectively cutting off contact with him.
Wondering if they were out of line, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for revealing my sister was faking her accent?”
The OP explained why his sister was so angry when he exposed the truth about her in front of her boyfriend:
“I (23 M[ale]) am from Canada.”
“I lived in Newfoundland until I was about 5, and then my family moved to Alberta.”
“My sister (now 21 F[emale]) was 3 when we moved.”
“Newfoundland has a lot of variation in accents, but where my dad was from in particular has a very distinct, pretty difficult to understand accent.”
“A lot of people would assume he’s Irish when first meeting him.”
“Alberta, in comparison, is pretty much identical to a General American accent except for a few tells if you know what to look for.”
“My sister and I both sound like any other Albertan, although we can both imitate our dad’s accent really well.”
“Through our mother, my sister and I both have Australian citizenship.”
“My sister moved there to be with her long-distance boyfriend two years ago, while I stayed in Canada.”
“Last month, I decided to fly over and visit family and wanted to come see her in the process.”
“She seemed hesitant and tried to discourage me initially but eventually agreed.”
“When I went up to her apartment to visit her, she greeted me in a Newfoundland accent.”
“I laughed and asked her why she was using that voice, thinking she was just joking.”
“Her boyfriend was standing behind her and looked confused, and she got upset and told me to go away, still in the accent.”
“I had no clue what was going on at this point, so I just left and went to my car.”
“30 minutes later, I got a text from her.”
“She said she had spoken in this accent for as long as she had been in Australia because she was tired of having to correct people assuming she was American, and her friends and boyfriend all didn’t know it wasn’t her natural accent (this is confusing to me because I’m certain she called her boyfriend before going to Australia, so she’d presumably been lying about the accent before anyone would ask her if she was American?)”
“She said her boyfriend was pissed about her lying and I should have just gone along with it.”
“I asked how I was supposed to know what she wanted from me and wouldn’t he be confused as to why we have two different accents anyways, and she just blocked me.”
“We haven’t talked since. I’m so confused and I’ve been feeling awful about potentially breaking up her relationship, but I don’t know how else I should have responded to her randomly talking to me in that accent.”
“AITA?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
The Reddit community unanimously agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for exposing that his sister was speaking with a fake accent.
Everyone agreed that the OP’s sister was being naive if she thought the truth wouldn’t get out, and also shouldn’t have been so surprised by the OP’s reaction to her speaking in an accent that he’d never heard her speak in before, with many pointing out that if anyone ruined this relationship, it was her:
“NTA.”
“She should’ve clued you in before you even visited, and then you could’ve had the discussion privately instead of being confronted with the fake accent at her door.”
“Without being forewarned, how could you have possibly known what she wanted you to do?”
“This is all on her.”- wordsmythy
“NTA.”
“Your sister made an a** out of herself faking an accent.”
“I live in the northern US. I don’t mimic a southern accent.”
“Your sister tried to ‘reinvent’ herself in Australia and failed spectacularly.”
“If it was one of my siblings, I would laugh too and ask what they were playing at by changing their accent.”- Peony-Pony
“NTA.”
“She said her boyfriend was pissed about her lying’.”
“Write that sentence down and ask her to circle the part of the sentence that involves you.”
“Why is it your responsibility to take accountability for the words that come out of her mouth?”
“Is she an infant?”
“Does she need constant supervision?”
“Maybe suggest some options for long-term care facilities that might be able to find a caretaker to speak on her behalf since she is unable to.”
“Tell her you’re really sorry she has this problem, as living as a person with no control over their words and actions is and will continue to be a long-term, difficult battle.”- Silly-Concentrate685
“NTA.”
“What a weird thing to lie about.”
“She just assumed Australians would know that accent?”
“And since she had to correct people thinking she was American, that meant she had to be speaking without the accent at some point, right?”- FuzzyMom2005
“NTA.”
“Your sister sounds insane.”
“I have a cousin who moved to England a few years ago and now he speaks with a fake English accent.”
“Not sure why people are so pitiful.”- kookymungi
“NTA.”
“She’s been actively lying to her boyfriend for 2 years.”
“Of course he’s pissed.”
“If she can lie about her accent for that long, he’s probably wondering what else she’s capable of lying about.”
“Did she expect to never speak to anyone from home ever again?”
“It’s not your job to perpetuate her lies.”- Visual-Lobster6625
“It’s not like you purposely outed her accent but reacted to it.”
“How were you supposed to know?”
“NTA but this is a weird lie to keep up for 2 years.”- PhilosophyMajestic28
“NTA.”
“What did she expect your reaction was going to be?”
“She could have easily told you to play along.”- WeirdnessWalking
“Wait, your sister is mad at you because she lied to her boyfriend?”
“NTA.”- finalgirlsam
“NTA.”
“Any relationship started on lies is already broken.”
“That’s something she did herself.”- wlfwrtr
“As a Newfoundlander myself, my accent comes and goes depending on what part of the province the person I’m talking to is from.”
“I wasn’t aware of it myself until my mainlander bf (now husband) told me way back in the early days of our relationship that anytime we went around the bay, I got harder to understand the further from St John’s I got.”
“lol.”
“NTA tho.”
“Sis admitted to faking/embellishing her accent.”
“Newfinese translation: Yes now, I ‘low I’d be the arse here.”- FrigOffLuh
“NTA.”
“What did she expect?”
“That you would magically know she had been lying about her accent?”
“Man I mean she has some dedication in her lie if she didn’t slip once in those two years especially in front of her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to feel bad about anything here. She shouldn’t have lied in the first place and even then she should have warned you before you visited her.”- SuperOrange2430
“NTA.”
“My Newfoundland/Bay accent is stronger when I talk to my Mom/relatives than when I talk to people on the mainland now, but I lived in NL for 30+ years before I moved to the mainland.”
“Adaptive speech is a lot different than putting on the accent.”
“It’s not your fault she made poor choices and based part of her identity on a lie.”
“Also, your sister is really weird, and with the wrong person, her actions could lump her in with the group of mainlanders who still think ‘Stupid Newfies’ are a thing.”
“Ie thinking that no one actually from there would notice.”- legoladydoc
There were a select few, however, who felt that the OP’s sister had every right to speak in whatever accent she wanted to, but agreed the OP did nothing wrong, as she should have given him a bit of a warning:
“NAH.”
“People are allowed to change their accent for whatever reason, if she decided that she wants to speak differently that’s her right.”
“But she should have given you a heads up first to avoid any confusion.”- tangerine_panda
One can’t help but wonder how long the OP’s sister really thought she would be able to get away with this ruse.
Especially when she started introducing her boyfriend to her friends and family without giving them any sort of warning.
Even so, she should have known that relationships built on lies and deceit seldom, if ever, work out.
Not to mention, if a fake accent is all it would take for this guy to dump her, then she might want to keep looking…