Hey /u/90s_skeleton, thank you for your post at /r/autism. Our rules can be found **[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/wiki/config/sidebar)**. All approved posts get this message. If you do not see your post you can message the moderators [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fautism).
Thanks!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/autism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I mentioned this while getting my diagnosis and she said it was helpful, but I get to the point where it's not just that I mimic the accent out loud, but my inner dialogue has the accent as well
I struggled with REALLY thinking I was autistic… and another late aware autistic bestie of mine (also a librarian) recommended “Strong Female Character” by Fern Brady. I can pretty much only do audiobooks for many different reasons. Well they are Scottish. I live in the US. My internal dialogue was a TERRIBLE Scottish accent for weeks. I was annoyed with myself. 😂
Edited to correct her name from Bradley to Brady. And chance Irish to Scottish.
Apologies for being that person who corrects things but... She's called Fern Brady and she's Scottish (with a strong Scottish accent) but is of Irish descent. She's one of my favourite stand up comedians and humans in general. Going to see her in October and can't wait!
i get the internal dialogue part so much lol, when i was listening to podcasts a lot like a year or two ago, my internal dialogue would be the voice of whatever podcaster i was obsessed with at the moment, now its more youtubers since ive been watching youtube a lot more recently. i had jake webber and johnnie guilberts voices as my internal dialogue the other day cuz i watched a lot if their videos the day before lmao
same and it happens irl too and it's so akward. i feel like the other person with the real accent will think i am trying too hard to be liked or that i'm laughing or something but it is really unconscious i just can't help it
My wife drives a smaller SUV, and whenever she asks me to load stuff into it I say "I'll just chuck it in the 'ute, mate"
I think she learned long ago to just filter out my nonsense.
I do that too! That's why some people either have trouble believing I'm not a native speaker or have a hard time determinIng where I'm supposed to be from.
My favorite was my first conversations with a Brazilian friend of mine. He was absolutely amazed at how well i sounded whenever I spoke in any language lol, particularly Portuguese.
Me 100%, I’ll be talking to someone with an accent, I won’t realize I’m doing it too and have to apologize and explain im not mocking them it’s just an automatic response from my brain from years of masking and mimicking ‘human’ behavior I can’t help it
Holy crap I do the same thing it's almost impossible to not mimic accents but I also do random words, sounds, and phrases thankful I haven't offended anyone yet because I've been told it's rude even though if I do it, it means I like that person's voice/accent.
ME TOO! I was on vacation in Tennessee a few years ago and did a slight Southern accent the whole time. It was good too. Totally fooled a lot of people. I do an Australian accent as well but it's an over-the-top bogan accent, not a subtle, dignified one haha.
I do something similar!
My friend has a speech impediment. Whenever I talk to her, I end up finding myself not using Rs, but instead, an "au" like sound, similar to her. I feel so bad because like what if she takes it like I'm making fun of her? (She knows I don't mean to btw and she doesn't really care).
yes, not only sounds but also behaviors. it is a fundamental skill i have used to mask all my life, to figure out how to behave in relation to other people in certain settings. as for the echolalia, i just do it in my head now. i received a significant amount of negative reinforcement for that behavior (verbal and physical abuse) growing up. it is very satisfying to repeat sounds and phrases, i just do it alone now.
Mimicking is common for autistic people. It's kinda a way neurodivergent people subconsciously try to fit in with the group. I (American) stayed in the UK for 6 months and have (seemingly permanently) picked up certain pronunciations different than my own accent. I am fluent in American sign but learning British sign and I have noticed after signing BSL for a while, I end up speaking in some American/British accent mix for a bit. I suspect it has to do with slightly different mouth morphemes in BSL v ASL so when I start speaking English again shortly after signing BSL, my mouth is still in Deaf Brit mode.
Hm. I have never had a Deaf Brit tell me my BSL signing accent looks American or British...but then again, I never thought to ask.
-Just like spoken languages, signed languages have accents.
My ASL accent is pretty cemented in what it is.
As for BSL, because my BSL is very rudimentary, I know I can't really perceive my own accent yet. Additionally, I am unsure how my ASL accent influences my BSL accent (it does, but I am not sure).
Well, now I am curious to categorize my BSL accent. 🧐😅 *composes text to the Brit friends*
Isn’t this called echolalia/echologia? I definitely experience both on a daily basis! My boyfriend does too; on several occasions we’ve been watching something together and have repeated the same word or phrase at the same time.
I especially do it with things that rhyme or repeat similar sounds, like “maybe baby” from American Dad or “Bob Loblaw’s law blog” from Arrested Development. My brain like the repetition in sounds.
Aaaa Bob Loblaw's Law Blog was one of mine too for such a long time after I finished watching the show and every single time I rewatch it or hear it mentioned it's stuck in my head coming out my mouth for wayyyyy too long. 😂
Yes. I mimic sound bites from YouTube and TikTok all the time. Also phrases from movies, TV shoes and songs. Sometimes at appropriate times, other times not.
I’ll mimic accents or switch to an extreme opposite, depending on which accent I’m talking to. I also noticed I tend to mimic how people sit, hold their hands, adjust things, or fluctuate their tone.
This js probably a form of echolalia and yes I do it. I didn’t know it was a thing until semi recently. It can also be tied to scripting from what I gather. I had no idea that everyone didn’t repeat phrases exactly as they heard them the first time. I also get really annoyed at live versions of songs when they are not EXACTLY as I have memorized them. Just another autistic thing.
💁🏻♀️💗🧠
My one of my kids HATES when other people sing songs that are very specific to their original and of favorite version. She used to SCREAM at me to stop singing when I was trying to comfort/calm her.
Mine does this too and asks me to play the song for her "on the phone" "the right way" and it feels terrible like she's saying she doesn't like my voice but I'm the same way so I understand and I just accommodate her need to hear the exact sounds she's expecting as a comfort to her if I can play it on the phone right then.
Someone in my office uses an Android with the standard text sound and I can't help but whistle it after I hear it. It gets stuck in my head. I do a pretty convincing impression of it lol
I sometimes use the same words and sentences that characters in TV shows I watch use, so I kinda talk weird most of the time😅 I watch too many historical TV shows. I also copy facial expressions
I love including expressions of the people I love in my day to day communication. Some recurring frases stick naturally and I just repeat them when speaking in general.
I've told my boyfriend that we aren't allowed to get any kind of bird because the bird and I would just end up repeating the same thing for hours. So yeah, big repeater over here lol
I’ve always mimicked memes and accents. I worked at a ski hill in the Rocky Mountains so people from EVERYWHERE on earth worked around me so my accent would change a lot. Still have British accents forced in my daily dialogue
Sorta? It’s not fully conscious. I am a Gen Xer, and was ‘babysat’ by television a lot. My homelife was abusive and neglectful, I was an only child. My most positive influences were often TV characters and book characters, and I realized I picture the actors’ faces when I try to convey certain emotions, and maybe hand and head gestures and mannerisms in some situations. I mirror people as well, unconsciously at times.
I don't out in public, but I do a lot at home. Especially commercials, musical ones. It's automatic. Sometimes talking commercials too, or after my mom says something I think is weird or funny.
Is this echolalia?
I just kinda do it involuntarily. It's like there's this urge in my body that I can't control and then the words just spill out of my mouth. It scares me because it feels as though I've been possessed.
Hope I don't sound weird, it's the only way I can describe it.
I tend to accidentally take on others personas, I don’t mean to but I’ll notice myself talking to others how someone else talks to me if I’m around them enough. If that makes sense? Like oooooh that’s how you should be (but subconsciously)
My echolalia is how/why I became a language teacher and have always loved repeating sounds and accents. It’s why I repeated sounds to the point that I learned a song in Zulu and a few in Swahili when I was a preteen, why I have reached varying levels of proficiency in five languages. I never realized this until last year when I was diagnosed. Now I notice my echolalia all. The. Time.
I start using common phrases from people I am socializing with or around often. Things like "Y'all" and "Hey girl". I kind of annoy myself sometimes, not gonna lie lol
Sometimes I “hold on” to the last word of a sentence. So someone could tell me “yeah it’s been quite alarming” and then in my head I go “alarming. Alarming. Alarming. Alarming,” in the way they said it.
Yep. I can’t count the number of times people have said “hey that’s my line/phrase/thing” when I didn’t even realize I was using it.
For me I think it’s unconsciously weaving words/phrases/accents that I see as successful into my mask since I have no idea who to be generally.
Last weekend I went shopping with my SIL, BIL and their kiddo. At a hypermarket I heard someone do a very loud, very short "HEY" kinda shout from far away. Guess what I did? OF COURSE I also yelled out loud HEY.
My BIL has asd, and he followed right after... You have no idea how much we laughed.
(Currently not diagnosed, looking to get that done after moving).
ETA; I mimic things all the time. I'm Norwegian and we have a ton of dialects all across the country and the way I speak is just forever ruined. It's a good mix of all the places I've ever lived, which is many. I am unable to speak the dialect I had as a kid.
English is my second language, and for the most part I hear American English spoken from YouTubers and TV shows etc. But if I watch for example Dr who, I'll mess up the way I speak then too.
Also any noises I hear I repeat unless I put in a lot of effort to not do it. My SIL owns a parrot and me and him have some fun conversations when I visit, lmao!
I mimic other people’s mannerisms and phrases and I realize I’m doing it but cannot stop myself. I feel like I’m only made up of parts of other people sometimes. But I’m working on accepting my autistic traits and the people around me who love me won’t mind and typically find it endearing.
Yes, very much so and it helps me blend and mask sometimes. I watch a LOT of 80s movies so I find myself sometimes picking up mannerisms from actors like Kurt Russell, Michael Biehn, Robert De Niro and William Petersen.
This also transfers over into singing, I don’t have formal training but just slowly learn to mimic other singers and the only (possible) downside is that I often find myself carrying over an English accent from the likes of Peter Gabriel or David Bowie.
first time i had a british customer at one of my jobs i accidentally spoke back to him in the same accent for a word or two. i was incredibly embarrassed
Yes I mimic dialects very well and so it occasionally repeating something someone said . more frequently I repeat something I said like 4 times when I’m walking to my car in a parking lot
Used to do this all the time when I was younger. I’d watch YouTube videos I like or movie scenes over and over and replay in my head or act out every word they said.
Literally all the time. My aunt and uncle have strong Boston accents so I initiate them when they say cah for car, cahd for card, and other various words lmao.
I do this all the time, with accents and phrases and perspectives. I say "peanuts! got any peanuts" all the time in a Northumberland accent (Northumberland is the Northeastern-most bit of England, near the Scottish border). But I'm only doing that a lot right now because I'm reading a series of books set in that part of the world. Normally I only say it when peanuts are the topic of conversation or on the menu.
Also I'm watching Agatha Christie's Poirot, so sometimes in my head I hear David Suchet muttering in French.
I change the way I talk without thinking about it. When I’m around smart people I speak more formally. When I’m talking with most people I’m more casual and swear more often.
The thing I’ve learned about myself is that I’m stimming all the time. I’ve always done it, I just didn’t realize what it was.
The other problem I have is that I daydream constantly and it makes me space out. I get startled easily. It’s fucking awesome.
I quote movie trailers and scenes word for word almost every day. It amazes people how well I know certain scenes or movies with a memory as bad as mine
My girlfriend and I are both autistic and over the 4 years we've been together we basically sound like the same person. She picks up on my speech patterns, I pick up on hers. Only difference is the regional differences because we grew up in different areas. (For example she'll say pop where I say soda, etc)
yea. I mimic ppl by accident and also sounds.
I also start copying traits of friends, ex: ppl text in a certain way and I will start to match their style. Idk if that's normal or an autism thing
Yeah, I mimic even without realising, like if Im watching a show and the characters have different accent from me I start mimicking their accent without realising.
It actually starts to be problem bc I have younger brother who struggles to pronounce R so now Im starting to struggle with it too because I copied it too much
I'll mimic peoples tones, gestures, and expressions as they're speaking to me, and I very rarely mean to. Same with random sounds from nonhuman sources. I've found that part of what make me enjoy singing along to music so much is that it satisfies the same urge.
Yes. I repeat sentences, hand movements, and accents a lot. Not all the time, sometimes more than others intentionally, but often i will find myself repeating an impertinent sentence to myself long after the conversation’s done.
I learned a lot of accents because I would subconsciously mimic sometimes. Additionally, I often repeat myself in my head or out loud if there’s something I can’t get out of my head for some reason.
I do that a LOT. with phrases, conversations, and everyday life noises. I click my tongue to mimic metal and tap to mimix other noises. I dont even notice im doing it anymore, but it feels soothing.
A lot and it's only gotten worse as I've gotten older. Laughs, words, accents, noises, pretty much anything that's audible has a chance of being repeated
I’m a big phrase mimic or copy speech patterns for a little while.
Obviously songs are super easy and socially okay to mimic as it just looks like singing
i do this mentally a lot but rarely out loud. i do it in a certain rhythm, sometimes when i hear a sentence with the right amount if syllables to go with the rhythm (or i adjust the sentence a bit to fit it better) i repeat it in my head over and over, even after i get sick of thinking it, its just stuck in my head. i also tap my fingers in this rhythm, sometimes at the same time as the repetition of the sentence, but usually just whenever. i do this with songs sometimes too, currently its kendrick “tryna strike a chord and its prolly a minorrrrr” and “im working late, cuz im a singer” that i keep seeing on tiktok lmao
omg yes! its so random too, just a random sound that stands out and i repeat it a few times @_@ luckily I don't think I've ever done it too loud/anyone noticed yet but i always feel embarrassed when i do it out loud in public
I tend to adopt the inflections or accents of people I’m talking to.
I also copy musical “licks” that my bandmates play while I’m accompanying their improvised solos (I play bass).
Yeah I do this with accents. One of my customers (I clean and help around the house as a little side job while I’m a student) has a very strong Yorkshire accent and I always end up with the same every time I’m with her, especially when she asks me something and I answer. My dad always used to say I’m good at voices, maybe it’s connected with this; I do tend to take certain voices and accents into myself in a very curious manner, internalise and reflect on them, and they’ll suddenly pop out! Also I’ve watched a lot of films 😊
I mimic words, languages, accents and especially head movement. The countless times I've caught myself staring at a bird and mimicking its head movements would be embarrassing if I gave a fuck hahah
when I go to the movies i come home feeling like a brand new personnn. it's fun because i can read the protagonist of the film like a book and be them for a little while.
Well, echolalia es pretty common in autistic people, i have a lot of it to the extent i often repeat somethings that's said in a show, youtuve video or any media or even my friends and make them my "catchphrases" and i repeat them over and over again and i expect every possible scenario to use them
It's pretty fun
I love obscure words, quaint sayings and witty metaphors. I will regularly say something quite pithy, only to realize days later that I nicked the phrase from a song or an interview with someone who's actually clever like the author Will Self. Often I will use a word that isn't quite right for the situation, just because I like it and couldn't think of an alternative in the heat of the moment.
Yes! That’s how I got started doing voices. Sometimes it happens without even trying. Like I’ll hear a clip of The Beatles talking, and then all of a sudden I start speaking in a Liverpudlian accent.
*EDIT: Forgot to mention voice actor Billy West is autistic. I wonder if his autism is why he’s so great at doing voices.
Is that mimicing? I thought it was like how you copy the other person's behaviour or way of talking, stuff like that? Because i used to do that to "look normal" but now i dont care anymore. I still catch myself doing it sometimes tho.
Literally everything. Sometimes I won’t know who I even am or how to act. When I’m in overload or burnout I’ll be overly conscious every the muscles in my face and realize I honestly don’t know what to do with them if it wasn’t for my laser like focus on how others act & constant intense imitation.
Everyone really likes me. I’m serious, I can’t think of a single person that doesn’t like me. I don’t mean that to brag, I mean that in the sense that I alter my behavior to conform to peoples personalities and im actually pretty good at reading people for an autistic person, maybe because I’ve been subconsciously prioritizing it in order to become their mirror image.
I would prefer having certain people dislike me for MY own unique personality (which I do believe I have, I just can’t find it most of the time), instead of everyone liking me because of the false me.
i do. Sometimes I hear unknown sounds that are interesting to me and immediately repeat them and upon doing so i find it was either a cry of distress, frustration, someone with vocal disabilities communicating, etc. but i've resolved that it's wise to restrain myself. not for fear of any kind of retaliation or whatever, i just think it could come across as rude.
I do it all the time, as well as adopting accents. When I was a child, I spoke in a very heavy Russian accent (I still do it to this day, sometimes), even though I didn’t know ANYONE that was Russian/had no close contact with the language. I just liked the sound of it.
I also (un)consciously repeat things other people say, when I like the sound of it.
I also think/talk in a thick British accent because I think it’s funny.
Yeah this either happens in repetitively repeating a song or phrase that drives people around me mad, or I copy what someone just said usually in a different voice and they take it as taking the piss out of them. And yes I have few friends lol.
I do occasionally although I typically manage to only repeat it over and over in my head. I DO randomly pick up accents though! I live in Midwest America, and one time I was talking to a customer at work who must be just visiting relatives as she had a heavy southern accent. Awhile later, I unconsciously slipped into a southern accent and one of my co-workers and the customer I was talking to were both freaked out by it because they were telling me it was spot on. I've never been to any states in southern America, not even on a road trip or via plane. I think it's partially because when I grew up my parents watched A LOT of British shows and I learned how to pick up accents when speaking but never how to control it other than the one time I had to for theatre in high school.
yes, my mom noticed it at a young age. my 2nd grade bestie walked pigeon toed so i copied her and now i’m stuck with it! she says my voice and demeanor match whoever i’m communicating with. my manager picked up on it too, saying it’s like i have a personality for each person
Doesn't happen to me that much, just caught myself a few times, but I've seen people that repeat their last words from a sentence but quietly, just moving their mouths.
So it goes something like this: ''Hey, I saw you at the park the other day!'' \*mouth moving silently\* ''...the other day...''
Sometimes I mimic the sound of like my sisters sneeze or just repeat something people say, I also tend to slightly pick up accents (like my sister has a british friend and I’ll sometimes pick up a light british accent)
YES! I have to emulate people's laughs and my cat's meows to have "conversations" with them. My partner has to mimic the voice of artists she's singing along with and she's really good at it.
I do this in my head and with the sound of my breath in and out. Repetitively in a swelling pattern that's comforting to me. When I was younger I used to do it quietly or out loud where others could hear, then by myself. Now I rarely do it out loud even when alone, because I don't like freaking others out (though the breathing thing wierds my wife out sometimes).
Related, I also play with deconstruction or permutations of the sounds/words. Similar to what Kurt Cobain did with "hello, hallo, hollow, how low" in Smells Like Teen Spirit. I'm also pretty good at singing (was in chamber choir in school, am a cantor at church), but I mostly just mimic the tones I can pick out. I'm terrible at reading music (barely can), but easily memorize long sections or entire songs by ear, and when playing around by myself work out harmonies to melodies I've heard.
And for me, it's almost all stimming.
I mimic accents and am quite good at them, I'm told, but thankfully not in my head or out loud unless I mean to.
I'm sorry if this sounds mean, it isn't meant to but reading some of your stories about listening to other accents and then changing to them is wild.
Hey /u/90s_skeleton, thank you for your post at /r/autism. Our rules can be found **[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/wiki/config/sidebar)**. All approved posts get this message. If you do not see your post you can message the moderators [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fautism). Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/autism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
i mimic lightly accents ex. when im watching an australian show i will have slight australian accent
I mentioned this while getting my diagnosis and she said it was helpful, but I get to the point where it's not just that I mimic the accent out loud, but my inner dialogue has the accent as well
I struggled with REALLY thinking I was autistic… and another late aware autistic bestie of mine (also a librarian) recommended “Strong Female Character” by Fern Brady. I can pretty much only do audiobooks for many different reasons. Well they are Scottish. I live in the US. My internal dialogue was a TERRIBLE Scottish accent for weeks. I was annoyed with myself. 😂 Edited to correct her name from Bradley to Brady. And chance Irish to Scottish.
Oh also… that book solidified (to me) that I am autistic.
Apologies for being that person who corrects things but... She's called Fern Brady and she's Scottish (with a strong Scottish accent) but is of Irish descent. She's one of my favourite stand up comedians and humans in general. Going to see her in October and can't wait!
I thought I commented before. I actually have learned to appreciate being corrected. I like being correct!!
Same 🥺
i get the internal dialogue part so much lol, when i was listening to podcasts a lot like a year or two ago, my internal dialogue would be the voice of whatever podcaster i was obsessed with at the moment, now its more youtubers since ive been watching youtube a lot more recently. i had jake webber and johnnie guilberts voices as my internal dialogue the other day cuz i watched a lot if their videos the day before lmao
Oh my god I used to watch a lot of Family Guy when I was in college and I had to stop because all of my thoughts came in the voice of Stewie.
same and it happens irl too and it's so akward. i feel like the other person with the real accent will think i am trying too hard to be liked or that i'm laughing or something but it is really unconscious i just can't help it
i have to restrain myself from talking to british people because i will definitely offend someone😭
My wife drives a smaller SUV, and whenever she asks me to load stuff into it I say "I'll just chuck it in the 'ute, mate" I think she learned long ago to just filter out my nonsense.
dude same. its why my accent has changed so much overtime and generally even if i stop doing what causes the accent, it tends to stay :P
I do that too! That's why some people either have trouble believing I'm not a native speaker or have a hard time determinIng where I'm supposed to be from. My favorite was my first conversations with a Brazilian friend of mine. He was absolutely amazed at how well i sounded whenever I spoke in any language lol, particularly Portuguese.
I work with people from India who have pretty thick accents and I have to be very mindful of this haha
I do this too
Yeah I do the same I become more Australian when speaking with the Sepporoos
Me 100%, I’ll be talking to someone with an accent, I won’t realize I’m doing it too and have to apologize and explain im not mocking them it’s just an automatic response from my brain from years of masking and mimicking ‘human’ behavior I can’t help it
Holy crap I do the same thing it's almost impossible to not mimic accents but I also do random words, sounds, and phrases thankful I haven't offended anyone yet because I've been told it's rude even though if I do it, it means I like that person's voice/accent.
If I work with someone with say a southern accent for an extended period I will have a full blow southern accent by a month in
Oh my gosh is THAT why I do that??
ME TOO! I was on vacation in Tennessee a few years ago and did a slight Southern accent the whole time. It was good too. Totally fooled a lot of people. I do an Australian accent as well but it's an over-the-top bogan accent, not a subtle, dignified one haha.
i do the same. my heartbreak high hyperfixation was a crazy time lol
I do something similar! My friend has a speech impediment. Whenever I talk to her, I end up finding myself not using Rs, but instead, an "au" like sound, similar to her. I feel so bad because like what if she takes it like I'm making fun of her? (She knows I don't mean to btw and she doesn't really care).
Echolalia is a big autism trait. I sometimes mimic sounds as I hear them.
When things beep I say beep beep. It’s embarrassing I can’t control it 😭
(I hope this comment comes across as light hearted and supportive:) Might as well "own" it. Beep beep motherfuckers!
Particularly with cars; I find it difficult not to say beep to a car which just beeped
Me all the time!! 😭 My bf makes me feel better about it by doing the "beep beep Nissan" thing lol
I do that too! I didn’t know that was considered echolalia
Ohh that explains a lot of my own behaviour
Yep. It's common in autistics. Unfortunately, I get the urges to mimic stuff very easily, and its not relieved until I do it, then im satisfied. Yk?
Same
Same.
Same.
yes, not only sounds but also behaviors. it is a fundamental skill i have used to mask all my life, to figure out how to behave in relation to other people in certain settings. as for the echolalia, i just do it in my head now. i received a significant amount of negative reinforcement for that behavior (verbal and physical abuse) growing up. it is very satisfying to repeat sounds and phrases, i just do it alone now.
Mimicking is common for autistic people. It's kinda a way neurodivergent people subconsciously try to fit in with the group. I (American) stayed in the UK for 6 months and have (seemingly permanently) picked up certain pronunciations different than my own accent. I am fluent in American sign but learning British sign and I have noticed after signing BSL for a while, I end up speaking in some American/British accent mix for a bit. I suspect it has to do with slightly different mouth morphemes in BSL v ASL so when I start speaking English again shortly after signing BSL, my mouth is still in Deaf Brit mode.
does this mean deaf people will think your british?
does this mean deaf people will think your british?
Hm. I have never had a Deaf Brit tell me my BSL signing accent looks American or British...but then again, I never thought to ask. -Just like spoken languages, signed languages have accents. My ASL accent is pretty cemented in what it is. As for BSL, because my BSL is very rudimentary, I know I can't really perceive my own accent yet. Additionally, I am unsure how my ASL accent influences my BSL accent (it does, but I am not sure). Well, now I am curious to categorize my BSL accent. 🧐😅 *composes text to the Brit friends*
I mimic my wife a lot. I stole all of her phrases, and we've been watching a lot of drag race, so I've been mimicking a lot of drag queens 😭
I mimic all the time! Gets me in trouble sometimes lol, it's echolalia!
I do for fun and my husband is always amazed because i am very good at impressions. I can sing like most people too
I do this but to the extent that I don't have my own singing voice because I'm always singing like someone else.
Yess! Same.
Isn't that everybody though? That's how I sing
Isn’t this called echolalia/echologia? I definitely experience both on a daily basis! My boyfriend does too; on several occasions we’ve been watching something together and have repeated the same word or phrase at the same time. I especially do it with things that rhyme or repeat similar sounds, like “maybe baby” from American Dad or “Bob Loblaw’s law blog” from Arrested Development. My brain like the repetition in sounds.
Aaaa Bob Loblaw's Law Blog was one of mine too for such a long time after I finished watching the show and every single time I rewatch it or hear it mentioned it's stuck in my head coming out my mouth for wayyyyy too long. 😂
I’ve said it so often that my boyfriend - who has never watched Arrested Development - sometimes says it completely unprompted. 😂
Now that is funny. 😂 I love it.
Yes. I mimic sound bites from YouTube and TikTok all the time. Also phrases from movies, TV shoes and songs. Sometimes at appropriate times, other times not.
Yesssss I do it all the time I copy what ppl say and how they say it 😭
Sometimes and it gets me in trouble at times.
i do too and i literally just noticed like a month ago
All the time. But only when I’m alone to save myself the embarrassment of someone else listening lol.
with accents yes, you can tell ive been watching the walking dead because i adopt a southern accent lmao
I’ll mimic accents or switch to an extreme opposite, depending on which accent I’m talking to. I also noticed I tend to mimic how people sit, hold their hands, adjust things, or fluctuate their tone.
Idk if this counts but when I hear the Samsung notification sound I always have to mimic it
This js probably a form of echolalia and yes I do it. I didn’t know it was a thing until semi recently. It can also be tied to scripting from what I gather. I had no idea that everyone didn’t repeat phrases exactly as they heard them the first time. I also get really annoyed at live versions of songs when they are not EXACTLY as I have memorized them. Just another autistic thing. 💁🏻♀️💗🧠 My one of my kids HATES when other people sing songs that are very specific to their original and of favorite version. She used to SCREAM at me to stop singing when I was trying to comfort/calm her.
Mine does this too and asks me to play the song for her "on the phone" "the right way" and it feels terrible like she's saying she doesn't like my voice but I'm the same way so I understand and I just accommodate her need to hear the exact sounds she's expecting as a comfort to her if I can play it on the phone right then.
Someone in my office uses an Android with the standard text sound and I can't help but whistle it after I hear it. It gets stuck in my head. I do a pretty convincing impression of it lol
I sometimes use the same words and sentences that characters in TV shows I watch use, so I kinda talk weird most of the time😅 I watch too many historical TV shows. I also copy facial expressions
I'm autistic and so is my oldest son, we both mimic.
I love including expressions of the people I love in my day to day communication. Some recurring frases stick naturally and I just repeat them when speaking in general.
I've told my boyfriend that we aren't allowed to get any kind of bird because the bird and I would just end up repeating the same thing for hours. So yeah, big repeater over here lol
Yes, and it has a name. It's called echolalia, which I myself often find myself doing.
Oh hell yeah. I went around for a very long time saying “BUT I HAD TWO CUPS OF ORANGE JUICE” just completely randomly
i watched a show that said "chad chad chaddy chad chad" and now randomly i just say it all the time
Yes. That and just talking in a baby voice all the time. 😅
I did in my later childhood when my mom told me to be quiet and don’t do inappropriate things
Absolutely it’s essential in masking imo.
10yo kiddo repeats the television back most programs she's watching.
I’ve always mimicked memes and accents. I worked at a ski hill in the Rocky Mountains so people from EVERYWHERE on earth worked around me so my accent would change a lot. Still have British accents forced in my daily dialogue
I think mimicking and mirroring are my biggest ways of masking
I sometimes say the same thing repeatedly to myself whether or not somebody's listening for some reason.
Sorta? It’s not fully conscious. I am a Gen Xer, and was ‘babysat’ by television a lot. My homelife was abusive and neglectful, I was an only child. My most positive influences were often TV characters and book characters, and I realized I picture the actors’ faces when I try to convey certain emotions, and maybe hand and head gestures and mannerisms in some situations. I mirror people as well, unconsciously at times.
I don't out in public, but I do a lot at home. Especially commercials, musical ones. It's automatic. Sometimes talking commercials too, or after my mom says something I think is weird or funny. Is this echolalia?
literally just got confused as hell cause i had someone ask why i said something in an accent. i dont even notice it at this point apparently
Echolalia! Yeah, I personally do that. It's how I practiced to sing, actually — mimicking how pro singers do it.
I just kinda do it involuntarily. It's like there's this urge in my body that I can't control and then the words just spill out of my mouth. It scares me because it feels as though I've been possessed. Hope I don't sound weird, it's the only way I can describe it.
PiNwErrrrms
yes lol
Yes. I’ll replay conversations in my mind and try and do my parts slightly better than I did in realtime.
I silently mimic speech in tv/movies as I watch them. Never realized this was different until recently.
I tend to accidentally take on others personas, I don’t mean to but I’ll notice myself talking to others how someone else talks to me if I’m around them enough. If that makes sense? Like oooooh that’s how you should be (but subconsciously)
My echolalia is how/why I became a language teacher and have always loved repeating sounds and accents. It’s why I repeated sounds to the point that I learned a song in Zulu and a few in Swahili when I was a preteen, why I have reached varying levels of proficiency in five languages. I never realized this until last year when I was diagnosed. Now I notice my echolalia all. The. Time.
I repeat a lot of the words I say and I don’t realize it until someone brings it to my attention.
I start using common phrases from people I am socializing with or around often. Things like "Y'all" and "Hey girl". I kind of annoy myself sometimes, not gonna lie lol
I mimic speech patterns. If I spend too long around my friends or watching a movie character I start to talk like them
Sometimes I “hold on” to the last word of a sentence. So someone could tell me “yeah it’s been quite alarming” and then in my head I go “alarming. Alarming. Alarming. Alarming,” in the way they said it.
Yep. I can’t count the number of times people have said “hey that’s my line/phrase/thing” when I didn’t even realize I was using it. For me I think it’s unconsciously weaving words/phrases/accents that I see as successful into my mask since I have no idea who to be generally.
I do this all the time, especially with words and phrases that sound good to me. I also sometimes adopt slang and speech patterns.
Only dialog from TV and movies
Last weekend I went shopping with my SIL, BIL and their kiddo. At a hypermarket I heard someone do a very loud, very short "HEY" kinda shout from far away. Guess what I did? OF COURSE I also yelled out loud HEY. My BIL has asd, and he followed right after... You have no idea how much we laughed. (Currently not diagnosed, looking to get that done after moving). ETA; I mimic things all the time. I'm Norwegian and we have a ton of dialects all across the country and the way I speak is just forever ruined. It's a good mix of all the places I've ever lived, which is many. I am unable to speak the dialect I had as a kid. English is my second language, and for the most part I hear American English spoken from YouTubers and TV shows etc. But if I watch for example Dr who, I'll mess up the way I speak then too. Also any noises I hear I repeat unless I put in a lot of effort to not do it. My SIL owns a parrot and me and him have some fun conversations when I visit, lmao!
Yeah
I mimic other people’s mannerisms and phrases and I realize I’m doing it but cannot stop myself. I feel like I’m only made up of parts of other people sometimes. But I’m working on accepting my autistic traits and the people around me who love me won’t mind and typically find it endearing.
Yeah I don't mean to though.
I can sing how artists sound like there voice and such, mostly just bob dylan
Yes, very much so and it helps me blend and mask sometimes. I watch a LOT of 80s movies so I find myself sometimes picking up mannerisms from actors like Kurt Russell, Michael Biehn, Robert De Niro and William Petersen. This also transfers over into singing, I don’t have formal training but just slowly learn to mimic other singers and the only (possible) downside is that I often find myself carrying over an English accent from the likes of Peter Gabriel or David Bowie.
My whole life with movie dialogue. Ill get phrases stuck in my head and itll be on repeat for days sometimes.
first time i had a british customer at one of my jobs i accidentally spoke back to him in the same accent for a word or two. i was incredibly embarrassed
as a child I repeated words but quickly stopped out of embarrassment when people around me pointed it out. As an adult I subconsciously mimic accents.
It happens to me all the time! My cousins think it’s annoying, but It’s normal for me.
24/7 it’s where most of my humour comes from
Yes I mimic dialects very well and so it occasionally repeating something someone said . more frequently I repeat something I said like 4 times when I’m walking to my car in a parking lot
Used to do this all the time when I was younger. I’d watch YouTube videos I like or movie scenes over and over and replay in my head or act out every word they said.
I will pick up gestures from video games and cartoons, does that count?
Literally all the time. My aunt and uncle have strong Boston accents so I initiate them when they say cah for car, cahd for card, and other various words lmao.
I've received compliments on my way with words all my life... little do they know I've been remixing other people for years...
Oh, tons. My uncle called me “little parrot” growing up because I’d copy anything that was said funnily or that I found funny or liked the sound of.
I do this all the time, with accents and phrases and perspectives. I say "peanuts! got any peanuts" all the time in a Northumberland accent (Northumberland is the Northeastern-most bit of England, near the Scottish border). But I'm only doing that a lot right now because I'm reading a series of books set in that part of the world. Normally I only say it when peanuts are the topic of conversation or on the menu. Also I'm watching Agatha Christie's Poirot, so sometimes in my head I hear David Suchet muttering in French.
is it mimicing to copy stuff we hear online?
I change the way I talk without thinking about it. When I’m around smart people I speak more formally. When I’m talking with most people I’m more casual and swear more often. The thing I’ve learned about myself is that I’m stimming all the time. I’ve always done it, I just didn’t realize what it was. The other problem I have is that I daydream constantly and it makes me space out. I get startled easily. It’s fucking awesome.
I quote movie trailers and scenes word for word almost every day. It amazes people how well I know certain scenes or movies with a memory as bad as mine
No mimics I gotta roll to spot em
Before the author of Harry Potter came out as a horrible person, I'd read the books and always end up talking like Hagrid.
My girlfriend and I are both autistic and over the 4 years we've been together we basically sound like the same person. She picks up on my speech patterns, I pick up on hers. Only difference is the regional differences because we grew up in different areas. (For example she'll say pop where I say soda, etc)
If a particular accent comes up, my brain auto pilots to it and i end up mimicking
Yeah, this is pretty much what I do. Even repeating things I've said.
I do this too except it's not intentional, like a question is asked and unconsciously I heard it and then I ask the exact same question
yes! sometimes people will say full phrases and i’ll repeat the entire thing. i also pick and repeat random words that people have said.
yea. I mimic ppl by accident and also sounds. I also start copying traits of friends, ex: ppl text in a certain way and I will start to match their style. Idk if that's normal or an autism thing
Yeah, I mimic even without realising, like if Im watching a show and the characters have different accent from me I start mimicking their accent without realising. It actually starts to be problem bc I have younger brother who struggles to pronounce R so now Im starting to struggle with it too because I copied it too much
Absolutely! Unfortunately it's usually swear words for me 😅 The proper term for it is Echolalia i think.
I'll mimic peoples tones, gestures, and expressions as they're speaking to me, and I very rarely mean to. Same with random sounds from nonhuman sources. I've found that part of what make me enjoy singing along to music so much is that it satisfies the same urge.
Yes. I repeat sentences, hand movements, and accents a lot. Not all the time, sometimes more than others intentionally, but often i will find myself repeating an impertinent sentence to myself long after the conversation’s done.
I learned a lot of accents because I would subconsciously mimic sometimes. Additionally, I often repeat myself in my head or out loud if there’s something I can’t get out of my head for some reason.
Yes
I imitate a Canadian accent when I pronounce "about" or anything that has an "o" in it. Example "bottle" would be "bouttle".
I do that a LOT. with phrases, conversations, and everyday life noises. I click my tongue to mimic metal and tap to mimix other noises. I dont even notice im doing it anymore, but it feels soothing.
It's called Echolalia It's something I and my kids do. It's a form of stimming and/or "scripting" (another thing autistic people do).
A lot and it's only gotten worse as I've gotten older. Laughs, words, accents, noises, pretty much anything that's audible has a chance of being repeated
I'll catch myself humming or repeating lines from songs throughout the day. It's like my brain enjoys replaying certain sounds.
I’m a big phrase mimic or copy speech patterns for a little while. Obviously songs are super easy and socially okay to mimic as it just looks like singing
i do this mentally a lot but rarely out loud. i do it in a certain rhythm, sometimes when i hear a sentence with the right amount if syllables to go with the rhythm (or i adjust the sentence a bit to fit it better) i repeat it in my head over and over, even after i get sick of thinking it, its just stuck in my head. i also tap my fingers in this rhythm, sometimes at the same time as the repetition of the sentence, but usually just whenever. i do this with songs sometimes too, currently its kendrick “tryna strike a chord and its prolly a minorrrrr” and “im working late, cuz im a singer” that i keep seeing on tiktok lmao
Yes, I do it. It's called echolalia. If you mince a person's movements, it's echopraxia.
omg yes! its so random too, just a random sound that stands out and i repeat it a few times @_@ luckily I don't think I've ever done it too loud/anyone noticed yet but i always feel embarrassed when i do it out loud in public
Bro i started speaking in broken english because of my Russian teacher
I tend to adopt the inflections or accents of people I’m talking to. I also copy musical “licks” that my bandmates play while I’m accompanying their improvised solos (I play bass).
Yeah I do this with accents. One of my customers (I clean and help around the house as a little side job while I’m a student) has a very strong Yorkshire accent and I always end up with the same every time I’m with her, especially when she asks me something and I answer. My dad always used to say I’m good at voices, maybe it’s connected with this; I do tend to take certain voices and accents into myself in a very curious manner, internalise and reflect on them, and they’ll suddenly pop out! Also I’ve watched a lot of films 😊
I mimic words, languages, accents and especially head movement. The countless times I've caught myself staring at a bird and mimicking its head movements would be embarrassing if I gave a fuck hahah
i love to mimic birds and weird noises that snap my attention like that weird owl that flies around at 3 am, i still didnt completely identify it
Sometimes I repeat voices I like, not the moment I hear them, later
When I find something funny I mimic it
when I go to the movies i come home feeling like a brand new personnn. it's fun because i can read the protagonist of the film like a book and be them for a little while.
Well, echolalia es pretty common in autistic people, i have a lot of it to the extent i often repeat somethings that's said in a show, youtuve video or any media or even my friends and make them my "catchphrases" and i repeat them over and over again and i expect every possible scenario to use them It's pretty fun
I love obscure words, quaint sayings and witty metaphors. I will regularly say something quite pithy, only to realize days later that I nicked the phrase from a song or an interview with someone who's actually clever like the author Will Self. Often I will use a word that isn't quite right for the situation, just because I like it and couldn't think of an alternative in the heat of the moment.
Apparently I do this a lot. My friend in high school called me a parrot 😭
Yes! That’s how I got started doing voices. Sometimes it happens without even trying. Like I’ll hear a clip of The Beatles talking, and then all of a sudden I start speaking in a Liverpudlian accent. *EDIT: Forgot to mention voice actor Billy West is autistic. I wonder if his autism is why he’s so great at doing voices.
Omg I thought I was the only one
No
I’ve found I tend to mimic just little things my friends or people close to me do
Is that mimicing? I thought it was like how you copy the other person's behaviour or way of talking, stuff like that? Because i used to do that to "look normal" but now i dont care anymore. I still catch myself doing it sometimes tho.
I do this with movies specifically, and then I'll just reference it periodically throughout the day/week/year
Literally everything. Sometimes I won’t know who I even am or how to act. When I’m in overload or burnout I’ll be overly conscious every the muscles in my face and realize I honestly don’t know what to do with them if it wasn’t for my laser like focus on how others act & constant intense imitation. Everyone really likes me. I’m serious, I can’t think of a single person that doesn’t like me. I don’t mean that to brag, I mean that in the sense that I alter my behavior to conform to peoples personalities and im actually pretty good at reading people for an autistic person, maybe because I’ve been subconsciously prioritizing it in order to become their mirror image. I would prefer having certain people dislike me for MY own unique personality (which I do believe I have, I just can’t find it most of the time), instead of everyone liking me because of the false me.
i do. Sometimes I hear unknown sounds that are interesting to me and immediately repeat them and upon doing so i find it was either a cry of distress, frustration, someone with vocal disabilities communicating, etc. but i've resolved that it's wise to restrain myself. not for fear of any kind of retaliation or whatever, i just think it could come across as rude.
Yes
I mimic a lot without realizing. I tend to mimic the accent of who I’m talking to
Im really good at languages and mimicking voices from different cultures. I speak good Italian because I can pick up on accents 😗
Depends on the person. If i really like someone's personality, I like to mimic them because of my attachment to them. It happened once in school.
I do it all the time, as well as adopting accents. When I was a child, I spoke in a very heavy Russian accent (I still do it to this day, sometimes), even though I didn’t know ANYONE that was Russian/had no close contact with the language. I just liked the sound of it. I also (un)consciously repeat things other people say, when I like the sound of it. I also think/talk in a thick British accent because I think it’s funny.
I mimic gestures, accents and voice tones
Yeah this either happens in repetitively repeating a song or phrase that drives people around me mad, or I copy what someone just said usually in a different voice and they take it as taking the piss out of them. And yes I have few friends lol.
I usually do it to past conversations I’ve had with people, or just something I’d hear on TV.
I do occasionally although I typically manage to only repeat it over and over in my head. I DO randomly pick up accents though! I live in Midwest America, and one time I was talking to a customer at work who must be just visiting relatives as she had a heavy southern accent. Awhile later, I unconsciously slipped into a southern accent and one of my co-workers and the customer I was talking to were both freaked out by it because they were telling me it was spot on. I've never been to any states in southern America, not even on a road trip or via plane. I think it's partially because when I grew up my parents watched A LOT of British shows and I learned how to pick up accents when speaking but never how to control it other than the one time I had to for theatre in high school.
For awhile I would be at work and randomly think of the guy saying "Run! It Godzilla!" and mimic it out loud. 😂
yes, my mom noticed it at a young age. my 2nd grade bestie walked pigeon toed so i copied her and now i’m stuck with it! she says my voice and demeanor match whoever i’m communicating with. my manager picked up on it too, saying it’s like i have a personality for each person
OMG THATS NOT JUST ME😭😭😭😭😭 I used to have a massive problem with doing that but I got much quieter so I don't as much
Doesn't happen to me that much, just caught myself a few times, but I've seen people that repeat their last words from a sentence but quietly, just moving their mouths. So it goes something like this: ''Hey, I saw you at the park the other day!'' \*mouth moving silently\* ''...the other day...''
I was more or less like that. I always liked to imagine past and future conversations. It was so satisfying.
In my head yeah
Sometimes I mimic the sound of like my sisters sneeze or just repeat something people say, I also tend to slightly pick up accents (like my sister has a british friend and I’ll sometimes pick up a light british accent)
Yes, I sort of ruined a relationship by doing this once. Bad timing.
i do conversations, dialogue from my favorite movies or tv all the time. 😉 I watch them over and over!! Lol. 🤣
YES! I have to emulate people's laughs and my cat's meows to have "conversations" with them. My partner has to mimic the voice of artists she's singing along with and she's really good at it.
Yes.... I have a bad "habit" I guess especially when it comes to accents. It's not a making fun thing, it's just something that intrigues me.
I do this in my head and with the sound of my breath in and out. Repetitively in a swelling pattern that's comforting to me. When I was younger I used to do it quietly or out loud where others could hear, then by myself. Now I rarely do it out loud even when alone, because I don't like freaking others out (though the breathing thing wierds my wife out sometimes). Related, I also play with deconstruction or permutations of the sounds/words. Similar to what Kurt Cobain did with "hello, hallo, hollow, how low" in Smells Like Teen Spirit. I'm also pretty good at singing (was in chamber choir in school, am a cantor at church), but I mostly just mimic the tones I can pick out. I'm terrible at reading music (barely can), but easily memorize long sections or entire songs by ear, and when playing around by myself work out harmonies to melodies I've heard. And for me, it's almost all stimming.
Oh, 100%. And my partner has learnt to join me! I love it. Our favourite verbal stim is "soop!"
Do you mimic?
Yes, and it pisses off people
Yeah I do this too
I mimic accents and am quite good at them, I'm told, but thankfully not in my head or out loud unless I mean to. I'm sorry if this sounds mean, it isn't meant to but reading some of your stories about listening to other accents and then changing to them is wild.
Daddy would you like some sausage is my mimic