Selects: How Foreign Accent Syndrome Works

Summary

Stuff You Should Know - Episode: How Foreign Accent Syndrome Works

Hosts: Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant
Release Date: January 18, 2025
Production: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction to Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS)

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant delve into the intriguing and rare neurological condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). FAS causes individuals to suddenly speak with a perceived foreign accent, a phenomenon that captivates both medical professionals and the general public due to its mysterious nature and profound impact on personal identity.

Chuck Bryant opens the discussion by introducing the topic:

"Good afternoon, Gubner. It's Chuck here on a Saturday, and I'm going to pick a selection called How Foreign Accent Syndrome Works." ([01:09])

Understanding Foreign Accent Syndrome

Josh Clark provides a foundational understanding of FAS, distinguishing it from mere accent imitation or code-switching. He explains that FAS is an involuntary condition resulting from neurological damage, leading to changes in speech patterns that make individuals sound as though they have adopted a different, often foreign, accent.

"And what makes it different from somebody taking on the affect or dialect or accent of somebody else. This is where you can't stop. It's involuntary." ([09:16])

The hosts emphasize that FAS is not about someone choosing to adopt an accent but rather an involuntary change caused by damage to areas of the brain responsible for speech prosody—the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.

Case Studies of Foreign Accent Syndrome

To illustrate the complexities of FAS, Josh and Chuck discuss several notable cases:

1. Lisa Alamea
   Lisa underwent jaw surgery to correct an overbite. Upon awakening, she unexpectedly began speaking with a British accent despite never having lived in the UK.

   "She'd never been to England. I mean just straight up sounds Chinese and like broken." ([23:08])

   Remarkably, Lisa experienced an increase in sociability, as the new accent served as a conversation starter, shifting her previously shy demeanor.

2. Astrid - The Norwegian Case During WWII
   Perhaps the most historically significant case, Astrid, a Norwegian woman, suffered a brain injury from shrapnel during a German bombing raid. Post-injury, she began speaking with a German accent. This transformation had dire social consequences, as Norway was under German occupation, leading to her being unfairly labeled as a German spy.

   "She couldn't even speak German. But she had that accent and was obviously very distraught by this." ([12:18])

   Dr. Jorg Erman Monrad Krone first identified Astrid's condition, initially naming it "dysprosity" to describe the abnormal prosody.

3. Sarah Caldwell
   An English woman in her mid-30s, Sarah developed a Chinese accent following severe migraine attacks. Her condition worsened over time, leading to significant physical and psychological challenges, including mobility issues where her limbs did not respond despite being physically functional.

   "She said that she can't look in the mirror while she's speaking any longer. She just doesn't feel like herself anymore." ([23:08])

Types of Foreign Accent Syndrome

The hosts categorize FAS into three primary types based on its origins:

1. Neurogenic FAS
   The most common form, accounting for approximately 86% of cases, arises from neurological damage such as strokes, traumatic brain injuries, or multiple sclerosis. This type is characterized by irreversible changes in speech patterns, requiring extensive speech therapy for management.

   "With neurogenic, the only treatment that they can come up with is through speech therapy, where a speech language pathologist basically retrains you to talk the way you did before." ([20:14])

2. Psychogenic FAS
   Representing about 14% of cases, psychogenic FAS stems from psychological factors without any identifiable neurological damage. This form is often associated with mental health conditions like schizophrenia, anxiety, or personality disorders. Notably, psychogenic FAS tends to be transient, resolving as the underlying psychological condition improves.

   A notable case involves a woman with a family history of schizophrenia who, after attacking her mother's landlady under delusional beliefs, exhibited a British accent during the incident.

   "She had spoken with a British accent. And taking a family history, they found that, number one, she had schizophrenia in her family." ([21:53])

3. Mixed FAS
   This rare form combines elements of both neurogenic and psychogenic factors, where psychological issues may arise alongside physical brain lesions, compounding the syndrome's effects.

Diagnostic Criteria and Challenges

Dr. Harry Whitaker, a neurologist, coined the term "Foreign Accent Syndrome" in 1982 and established a four-point diagnostic criterion:

1. Perceived Foreign Accent: The accent must be considered foreign by the patient, their acquaintances, and researchers.
2. Change in Prosody: There must be a noticeable difference from the individual's original speech patterns.
3. Central Nervous System Damage: The condition should be linked to neurological damage.
4. No Pre-existing Foreign Language Proficiency: The individual should not have a background in the foreign language associated with the new accent.

However, these criteria have evolved as more cases emerge, particularly with the identification of psychogenic FAS, leading to debates within the medical community about the classification and understanding of the syndrome.

The Psychological Impact of FAS

FAS can lead to significant psychological distress, including identity crises and social isolation. Individuals may feel disconnected from their sense of self due to the involuntary nature of their altered speech.

"You couldn't stop. You're trapped in your body." ([36:18])

The distress is compounded by societal reactions, where misunderstandings about the condition can lead to stigma and misinterpretation of the individual's intentions.

Therapeutic Approaches and Prognosis

Neurogenic FAS: Treatment primarily involves speech therapy aimed at retraining the affected individual's speech patterns. However, recovery can be slow and incomplete, depending on the extent of neurological damage.

"With neurogenic, they have no cure whatsoever. And basically the only treatment that they can come up with is through speech therapy." ([20:14])

Psychogenic FAS: Often more hopeful in terms of recovery, as addressing the underlying psychological condition can alleviate the foreign accent.

Ethical and Social Considerations

The episode highlights the ethical complexity surrounding FAS, particularly in distinguishing between genuine neurological or psychological causes and instances where individuals might knowingly or unknowingly mimic accents for personal reasons.

"So you didn't actually adopt a Chinese accent. You're just creating sounds in the same way that somebody who was a native Chinese speaker would." ([32:03])

This distinction is crucial for both medical professionals and society to understand and appropriately support individuals affected by FAS.

Conclusion

Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant conclude by emphasizing the enigmatic nature of Foreign Accent Syndrome and the ongoing need for research to better understand its mechanisms and develop effective treatments. They also reflect on the human aspects of the condition, recognizing the profound personal struggles faced by those who experience sudden and involuntary changes in their speech.

"When you suffer foreign accent syndrome, your dialect, your brain is damaged so that you can't produce that anymore, and you just kind of haphazardly producing something else you don't actually follow." ([34:16])

The episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of FAS, blending scientific insight with empathetic storytelling to shed light on a rare but impactful condition.

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Notable Quotes:

• Chuck Bryant ([21:53]): "She believed the landlady was practicing voodoo on her, against her, and she attacked the woman."

• Josh Clark ([09:16]): "This is where you can't stop. It's involuntary."

• Chuck Bryant ([23:08]): "She can't look in the mirror while she's speaking any longer. She just doesn't feel like herself anymore."

• Josh Clark ([32:03]): "So you didn't actually adopt a Chinese accent. You're just creating sounds in the same way that somebody who was a native Chinese speaker would."

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For more insights and episodes, visit StuffYouShouldKnow.com or listen on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Jon Stewart]

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[Chuck Bryant]

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[Chuck Bryant]

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[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show, and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Chuck Bryant]

Good afternoon, Gubner. It's Chuck here on a Saturday, and I'm going to pick a selection called How Foreign Accent Syndrome Works. No idea what this is about, but it's from March 28 8, 2017, and I hope you enjoy it. Good day. Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. And Jerry's here, as always, so it's stuff you should know. Stuff you should know.

[Chuck Bryant]

You should have said that in a British accent.

[Josh Clark]

It's stuff you should know. Hey, how's that?

[Chuck Bryant]

It was great. You're a regular rich little.

[Josh Clark]

Remember the arrest development? Little subplot where Charlize Theron was thought to be a British spy?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

What was Four British Eyes Only.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, but what was the name of her character?

[Josh Clark]

Mr. F. Mr. F. That's right.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. I knew I had some, like. They said that every time, right?

[Josh Clark]

Mm.

[Chuck Bryant]

It was pretty funny. She's great.

[Josh Clark]

Yes, she was.

[Chuck Bryant]

Pretty lady.

[Josh Clark]

Mm.

[Chuck Bryant]

Funny, smart.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Good actor.

[Josh Clark]

What else?

[Chuck Bryant]

That's all I got on her.

[Josh Clark]

She can macrame.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, really?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know. I just assume.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay. This is off to a great start.

[Josh Clark]

It is. It's unusual. Odd, even. You could say that. You suggested I say the intro in a British accent. Because we're talking about Foreign accents today, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. It was koi.

[Josh Clark]

I see. Now it makes sense.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes. And we're specifically not talking about. There's a thing sometimes that certain people do when they meet someone with an accent different than their own, where they accidentally or sometimes purposely adopt it momentarily.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. It's called code switching.

[Chuck Bryant]

My mom's done this before that. I remember it happened when I was a kid. My brother and I thought it was so funny.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And it seems like it's usually a parent of an embarrassed child.

[Josh Clark]

Sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Is there explanation behind it?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Yeah. So this is. From what I understand, this is the point. Right. So our accents are extremely personal. They're part of, like, us individually, but they also signal our membership in different groups. Right. So, like, a farmer is going to talk different from a stockbroker, and a farmer from Georgia is going to talk a lot differently. And a stockbroker from Portland, Oregon. Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

Because that's the other stock market seat.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

You thought I was going to say New York.

[Chuck Bryant]

I did.

[Josh Clark]

Nope. So when we code switch, when we meet other people and take on their way of talking, it's called code switching. And I think it's a way of signaling, hey, we have something in common. I don't want you to be distracted by.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's a welcoming thing.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. My overalls with no shirt on are distracting enough. I don't want you to be distracted by my accent, too. So I think it is a way of saying, like, hey, we have something in common. The thing is, accents are such a part of group identity that if you do that in front of some other members of your group, whether it's your family or your friends or whatever, they're gonna tease. Are going to tease you, guaranteed. And one of the reasons why is because what they're doing, consciously or otherwise, is maintaining the borders of their own group's identity.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

They're saying, don't put on airs. Don't think you're fancy. Don't think you're just like that guy. You're one of us. And making fun of somebody who adopts someone else's accent is a way of doing that. It's a way of maintaining group divisions and borders where really, when you do kind of adopt someone else's accent, I think one of the things that you are doing is trying to make the foreigner, the stranger, feel more comfortable. And having met your mom, I guarantee that's what she was doing.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I just remember the only one I remember specifically. And, you know, you just have these random childhood Moments that sort of stick with you was we were in Florida and we were talking with an Irish woman. I believe she may have been from England, but I think she was Irish. And the other thing, too is, you know, I don't think my mom had probably talked to a lot of Irish people at that point. She's from West Tennessee. They moved to Georgia. We didn't have Irish people all over the place. She wasn't super well traveled back then, although she is much more now. So it was probably a bit novel to her. And I remember very specifically, the woman said something about going to Disney instead of Disney World. And my mom said she got kind of proper. And she says, you know, we haven't been to Disney yet. And I remember my brother and I just thought that was so funny. Instead of saying Disney World.

[Josh Clark]

Did you guys make fun of her in front of the woman?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I don't think so. We may have laughed a little under our breath, but, I mean, I don't think we. I don't think we even teased her. I'm teasing her now a bit, sure. But I don't think, like, we made fun of her, really. I think we just kind of like, my brother and I wanted to do very quietly looked at each other and in that way that brothers do.

[Josh Clark]

Right. And then talk to each other. Like the kids in Escape from Witch Mountain.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Were they telepathic? Yeah, but it's funny. I was listening to the great judge John Hodgman podcast with our pal John and class act Jesse Thorne, Bailiff Jesse. And they had an actual case a few weeks ago that was very funny where this mom does this on purpose. She's a trained actor and loves to put on accents when she goes to places. And the daughter was just. She took her to the Internet court and was just like, stop doing this. Like, you've got to stop doing this. And the mom's whole thing, she was very. Just fun and whimsical and having a lot of fun with it. So it was really hard to rule against her. But I think Hodgman ultimately did rule against her.

[Josh Clark]

He's tough but fair.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I think his whole thing was like, you know, I think he ruled partially in her favor. Like, you gotta let them know where you're from. And you can't do it to, like, waiters and service people because their job is to, like, take your dumb jokes and have a stiff upper lip about it. And it just kind of makes their job harder if they think maybe you're making fun of them and.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

You Know, like, you may not realize the unintended consequence of this is somebody may feel uncomfortable that they have to put up with this.

[Josh Clark]

Wow, that was a really serious turn at the end there.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, it did. I mean, you know, that's what's great about that show is it's. They're funny cases, but he adjudicates seriously, I think.

[Josh Clark]

And then Jesse always shoots his gun off at the end.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

So anyway, I just thought it was pretty weird that this article came up and then the. That episode had just aired. But that's different than what we were talking about.

[Josh Clark]

Totally.

[Chuck Bryant]

Like, I started saying, this is not that at all. This is a legitimate, super rare. This reminded me of alien hand syndrome and its rarity because I've seen different numbers, but the most I've seen is about 150 described official cases of foreign accent syndrome.

[Josh Clark]

Right. That's super rare, for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And what makes it different from somebody taking on the affect or dialect or accent of somebody else.

[Chuck Bryant]

Someone taking the piss.

[Josh Clark]

Right. This is where you can't stop. It's involuntary.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And, you know, it sounds weird. It's an exotic. And you just want to, like, poke the person who's doing that in the neck to be like, what are you doing there? But if you really start to dig into the actual cases, it's sad in a lot of cases.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Because again, your accent, what you sound like, makes up a part of your personality. So if you are. If it changes on you involuntarily, it can be quite traumatic for some people. You could have an identity crisis of sorts.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So I guess we should just go ahead and talk about a couple of cases so people know what we're talking about. The first one mentioned in our own article is really interesting for a few reasons. And it's the most recent case that's documented. Oh, I'm sorry. It's not the most recent, but it is fairly recent. A woman named Lisa Alamea, she had jaw surgery because of an overbite. And then when she came out of surgery, even though she was from Texas and had never been to England, she spoke with a British accent.

[Josh Clark]

And she's like, right, bloody hell.

[Chuck Bryant]

And wait, wait.

[Josh Clark]

I need our British listeners to write in and tell me how. How good my British accent is.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, well, I'm known on the show for doing the bad accent, so I'm glad you're taking up.

[Josh Clark]

No, yours are good. I don't know mine are.

[Chuck Bryant]

They verge on decent at times.

[Josh Clark]

Well, there's cartoonish and stereotypical but they're really, really good, cartoonish, stereotypical versions of accents.

[Chuck Bryant]

So she woke up, had that accent, and her husband and three kids thought it was a joke. She had only been outside the country to go to Mexico and it was a real thing called foreign accent syndrome.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. She'd never been to England. She apparently probably had seen British people on TV kind of thing. But her case actually is the opposite of what I was saying. She was apparently quite shy before and now she has something to talk about. A conversation opener, I guess. And she's a little more chatty than before.

[Chuck Bryant]

Interesting.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it is. It's the opposite of some other people who have really experienced a crisis as a result. She's like, well, I sound British now. I guess I should talk more than before.

[Chuck Bryant]

So she sounds like a drunk Cockney chimney sweep, pretty much.

[Josh Clark]

And she does sound cockney to me.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, really? I didn't hear. I didn't see this one on YouTube.

[Josh Clark]

So, yeah, we should say, you know, this is kind of like optical illusions. It's one thing to talk about it. You need to actually go see and hear these people talking. Yeah. If you just look up Lisa Alamia, A L A M I A and you will find plenty of interviews with her. She's, like you said, fairly recent. There's one that's quite a famous case, maybe the most famous because it was the one that put Foreign Accent Syndrome on the map, even though it was before the term was coined.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. This one had a much darker turn because it was during World War II. A Norwegian woman named Astrid suffered injury. And the ironies here are really sad. She suffered a brain injury from shrapnel from a German bomb and a bombing raid. And then when she came to, she had a German accent.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Very not fun for her.

[Josh Clark]

No. Because the Germans were occupying Norway at the time. Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

So people she didn't really know were like, oh, hey, German spy.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

You want some milk? No milk for you.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. She was shunned. She couldn't even speak German. But she had that accent and was obviously very distraught by this. And she went to a neurologist named Jorg Erman Monrad Krone.

[Josh Clark]

Nice job.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's a great name. And he coined the first term for this, which is dysprosity, which is prosody is like the tone and rhythm of your speech.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And the prefix dis, obviously, is like abnormal or ill. And that didn't catch on too well.

[Josh Clark]

It didn't. But as we'll see, he kind of nailed what the problem was. Yeah, because you know, the, the non grammatical parts of speech, the prosody are what is affected. When you have foreign accent syndrome, you, you have what appears to be a foreign accent, but your, usually your vocabulary, your syntax, your grammar remains unchanged. It's all the little nuances that make up your accent or your intonation or the rhythm of your speech that are affected and has changed. So dyspiracy is actually like the perfect name for the syndrome.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, but foreign accent syndrome is way more catchy and that.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, it's sexy.

[Chuck Bryant]

In 1982, a neurologist named Harry Whitaker came up with that. So Whitaker coined it in the 80s, I think 1982 was when he coined that official term.

[Josh Clark]

Right. And he was a neuro linguist who did some pretty serious research into foreign accent syndrome. He actually came up with a four point criteria for diagnosing it. And the number one is that the accent has to be considered by the patient, the people the patient knows, and the researcher, the doctor to be. To sound like a foreign accent. Right, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Foreign from what they are.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Well that's number. Number two, it has to be different from the patient's former prosody.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

Noticeably different. Number three, it has to be related to central nervous system damage. And this one has come under fire under the last few years. And then four, it can't be related to a patient's ability to speak a foreign language already. Right. So there's actually a condition, it's astounding to me, it's called bilingual aphasia, or there's also polyglot aphasia. And apparently if you suffer a stroke or brain injury or some other trauma or insult to your central nervous system and you know more than one language, you may completely lose the ability to speak one language and completely retain the ability to speak the other. That's how decentralized our language process is in the brain.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, yeah, because that's one of the factors in foreign accent syndrome is you could. It's not like in a case where you might have a stroke and lose the ability to speak. Like you still can speak in perfect dialect, whatever that dialect is, as far as being articulate and coherent.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, right, right, yeah, yeah. So you're. Yeah, exactly. You're not like slurring your speech, you just sound different and like a foreign person saying the same words would. Right, yes. Oh, gotcha. Okay, so there's this four point diagnosis criteria that's kind of been deconstructed over the years. The problem with foreign accent syndrome, it's like you said there's been 100, maybe 150 cases. So it's just totally up in the air as to, like, how to diagnose it, what qualifies as it. And we'll talk a little bit about how scientists have dug into it thus far. After his break.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show, and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Clark]

So, Chuck, foreign accent syndrome, it's kind of all over the place right now, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

You've got Lisa Alamia who woke up from jaw surgery with it. Apparently, people who have strokes can suffer from foreign accent syndrome. And I actually saw one case where your foreign accent syndrome and one patient who suffered a stroke was cured by a second stroke elsewhere in the brain.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wow.

[Josh Clark]

So we have, like, it's very tough to predict what's going to happen when foreign accent syndrome does come about. And, you know, there's been people from Japan who developed Korean accents or there have been people from Scotland who developed South African accents. It's kind of everywhere and all over.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. One of the other causes, it can be from the onset of Ms. From multiple sclerosis. This one woman that we'll talk about in more detail suffered from chronic migraines, but had a migraine attack so severe that it spurred this. And we'll get to her. But all of these in a bucket from some sort of trauma or an event are called neurogenic type. And for a long time they used to think that was the only way that you could get foreign accident syndrome.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Because remember that Harry Whitaker 1982 criteria specifically says it has to be related to central nervous system damage.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So there's another kind called psychogenic, also non organic or functional or psychosomatic. But one of the leading experts said that they prefer psychogenic. He said because, quote, this term has the advantage of stating positively, based on an exploration of its causes, that the disorder is a manifestation of psychological disequilibrium, like anxiety, depression, personality disorder or conversion reaction, end quote.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And you know, we're talking about could be bipolar disorder, it could be some other form of mental illness. And this really kind of rocked. I mean, it's not a huge community studying this, but the people that do are obviously super fascinated by it. And it kind of rocked their world when they found out that someone that had no head injury, no stroke or anything like that could have something like this.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So they developed. First was neurogenic, then they developed psychogenic, and then there's actually a third one. Now it's mixed. So apparently it can actually be from a psychological issue that possibly could arise from, say, a brain lesion. So it's both of them together working to create this foreign accent syndrome. And definitely the psychogenic version of foreign accent syndrome differs tremendously from the neurogenic in a lot of ways. And number one is the psychogenic tends to clear up. It accompanies, say, like a psychotic break or a manic episode or something like that. And as the episode wanes or goes away or clears up, so too does the foreign accent syndrome. That is not the case with neurogenic. With neurogenic, they have no cure whatsoever. And basically the only treatment that they can come up with is through speech therapy, where a speech language pathologist basically retrains you to talk the way you did before.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's also. The neurogenic is also much more common. Out of the cases, I think it's about 86% are from some sort of neurological damage.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

So what does that leave? 14% or unless I guess you're accounting for the. The new super Odd one that is could be both.

[Josh Clark]

One of the more famous cases that kind of demonstrated that psychogenic FAS was an actual thing happened here in America. There's a woman in her mid-30s who had a history of schizophrenia in her family, and she was brought to the ER after attacking her mom's landlady.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, this one's the most recent case, actually.

[Josh Clark]

And she. She. She believed the landlady was practicing voodoo on her, against her, and she attacked the woman. And throughout all this, during this episode, she had taken on a British accent. And taking a family history, they found that, number one, she had schizophrenia in her family. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a result of this incident, but that she had had similar instances before. And during these, she had spoken with a British accent.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I wonder. I didn't see anything in there about her. If she, like, had a. I mean, is it another personality? Is it multiple personality disorder?

[Josh Clark]

I don't believe so. That's not what I took from it.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, because that would make sense, you know, if you have a. Just a British Personality that came out that's violent maybe or something.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, well, I mean, remember we. I think we've done one on schizophrenia before, haven't we?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know.

[Josh Clark]

Have we? We definitely did one on dissociative personality disorder. Yeah. Which is just absolutely fascinating. But I was like you, I kind of noticed like, hey, what about multiple personalities? It doesn't. It seems like something that would be right up that alley.

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm sure they've looked into that.

[Josh Clark]

But apparently, apparently that's not part of it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Another case that I said we were going to get to those. This one is really weird and super sad. This woman named Sarah Caldwell in England, she was the one that had the migraine that set it off. And this one is super odd because she's an English woman who now has a Chinese accent.

[Josh Clark]

I mean just straight up sounds Chinese and like broken.

[Chuck Bryant]

English. Chinese.

[Josh Clark]

Right, Right. So she sounds like a native. I think Mandarin speaker is probably what we're thinking of who is speaking English and if you weren't looking like you would expect to see say maybe like a middle aged chines when you looked at the video.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And no, it's like, I don't know, late to mid-30s, Caucasian woman, native born, English speaker who. And she's who I was thinking of when I was saying for some people it's a really big problem because it's presented a big crisis for her identity. She said that she can't look in the mirror while she's speaking any longer. She just doesn't feel like herself anymore. And it's really hit her hard.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean her case is really sad. It was I think 2010 when she was diagnosed after this migraine incident and in 2015 she couldn't work anymore. And she has a lot more issues going on than just the speech. With these migraines that have come on, she's got a whole range of physical problems that she's had to stop work. She's in a wheelchair. Even though her limbs completely work, her brain basically can't tell her limbs to do what they should do.

[Josh Clark]

Good Lord. From migraines?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, from. I think these really extreme migraines. I think they even likened it to like having a stroke. They were so severe. So she's had to sell her house and I think her husband is afflicted with something too. It's just a really, really sad case. But you know, you can. There's all kinds of interviews with her and it's just so strange to hear that accent coming out of this White lady it is.

[Josh Clark]

And from what I gather, she'd be like, yeah, well, imagine how strange it feels coming out of you.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah. You know, and, you know, I saw videos where they would sit down and play her. And before I looked up further, that she was having even more troubled times, it seemed like she was getting a little better throughout the interview through therapy because they were playing her. One of the things they do is they play old recordings of herself and she would sit down and listen to them and try and mimic it. Which kind of brought up one of my questions is, can you even mimic an accent? Like, you know, people can fake an accent. Like, can you even do that? And I didn't get an answer on that. But then you're just mimicking an accent your entire life too, even if you could. So that's problematic on its own.

[Josh Clark]

Sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

But it seemed like she was getting a little bit better in that interview, but apparently not. It's really sad.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it is. I mean, like, it's bad enough you've got migraines and then to have a crisis of identity.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Not fair.

[Chuck Bryant]

So one of the other things that's really troubling is you can't just go to a neurologist and get it cleared up. There are a whole range of doctors that you'll probably see along the way, including a neurologist. You talked about, a speech language pathologist. You might go to a clinical psychologist to deal with the fallout from everything. Maybe a neuropsychologist, maybe a radiologist. You might see, you know, six and eight doctors and still not get anywhere.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Because can't do a lot for you. We don't know how to treat strokes very well. And once damage has. Has occurred in the brain, it can be pretty tough, if not impossible, to reverse that damage. Right. If it's permanently damaged. So, yeah, the idea that you've now gotten a foreign accent, they're probably like, that's kind of the least of your worries. You just had a massive stroke or a huge head injury or something like that. But what it's revealed to them is not that there's this huge mystery or we have kind of played into it a little bit by not revealing this from the outset. But you, as a patient with foreign accent syndrome, you didn't hit your head and wake up with the foreign accent. It's all in the ear of the beholder. The whole idea that there is a foreign accent syndrome, the way that it's stated, is false. And we'll talk about that. After this break.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show, and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports, and more. Joined by the sharp voices of of the show's correspondence and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, Chuck, we're back.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

So I thought I heard you drawing a breath right before we broke.

[Chuck Bryant]

I might have been.

[Josh Clark]

Did you have something to say?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know. Yeah, I think I have a little trouble wrapping my head around this whole idea that it's only in the ear of the person. Because if, you know that lady clearly has a Chinese accent, it's not. Oh, I'm just hearing it that way.

[Josh Clark]

So there have actually been studies where they've played a video clip of or audio clip of a person with foreign accent syndrome to different people.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And said, you know, where do you think this person's from? And the same person will get tens of different answers out of tens of different people.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, that makes sense in some cases, I think. But I don't see how anyone could hear this woman and say, she sounds British to me.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Well, no, no, no, she definitely doesn't sound British, but that's the point. She sounds Chinese, but she's not actually speaking in a Chinese accent. She didn't hit her head and wake up with a Chinese accent. What happened was she got these series of migraines, probably had some sort of stroke, and a region of her brain that controls the really intricate process of prosody, of making your tongue do certain things to intonate and accent certain words in certain ways that make up your accent and your dialect overall. That got damaged, and so now she can't control it in the way she used to before it comes out sounding differently. And to you, somebody who has heard people speak in a Chinese accent before, it sounds like a Chinese accent. That's the difference.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I still don't get that. What I do get, though, is we take second nature. Just when we open our mouth, we talk. We don't realize the complex series of events that's going on to make your voice come out the way it does. So, you know, well, in the brain, they think. And again, the mysteries of the brain, how you Create speech is really complex and involves all kind of areas of the brain, but specifically damage in the left hemisphere and the cerebral artery. They know a lot of times can cause foreign accent syndrome.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

But when you're speaking, you're using your tongue, you're using your lips, your jaw, your larynx. And the way all these things combine and who you are is going to make you have. And we should do one on accents, period. But agreed, it's gonna control how your speech comes out. So. And, you know, the one example they use in here is if, you know, you have a little too much to drink, those, you know, you might lose some of that muscle control and you might slur your words or talk funny or differently.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

So that's a pretty. Pretty basic way of understanding it. But I know vowels are sort of a big deal when it comes to foreign accent syndrome.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. If you say ah instead of a, or you substitute consonants like R for l. Right. So you're, you know, what's that? What were they singing Jingle Bells on? Oh, no. Deck the Halls on A Christmas Story.

[Chuck Bryant]

Christmas Story.

[Josh Clark]

Farara Rah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

So if you were a Caucasian English speaker and you damaged your brain in a way that the. The part of your brain responsible for forming L's now formed R's instead.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

To other English speakers who'd heard native Chinese speakers, you would sound like you had a Chinese accent, because that's what people who speak Chinese do when they're speaking English.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

So you didn't actually adopt a Chinese accent. You're just creating sounds in the same way that somebody who was a native Chinese speaker would.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, I see what they're getting at with all this. To me, it's a little bit splitting hairs. I think that's what I'm trying to say.

[Josh Clark]

I think the difference is this, Chuck, with your accent, your native accent, your native dialect is the result of your exposure to your environment. Right. Lifelong. All the people around you, all the stuff you've learned, all the things you've heard, it creates your dialect. Right. When you suffer foreign accent syndrome, your dialect, your brain is damaged so that you can't produce that anymore, and you just kind of haphazardly producing something else you don't actually follow. So, like, if you took Sarah Caldwell's language and had her read a passage from a book, and then you had a native Chinese speaker, typical accented Mandarin speaker, read that same passage, it would not be the exact same thing. There'd be all sorts of derivations and deviations from that Normal Mandarin accent because Sarah Caldwell's brain was damaged in a certain way. That makes it a totally unique accent.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I get that. But that happens within the Mandarin accent between people, too.

[Josh Clark]

You're not letting this one go, are you?

[Chuck Bryant]

Just don't get it. All right. One thing I do get is that there's no like. And this is probably what's so frustrating. Or one of the things so frustrating is it's not like they wake up with a new cultural identity either.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, this woman still wants to have her tea and biscuits every afternoon, but when she says that, she says it with. Chuck would call it a Chinese accent. A neurologist would say, well, you're just hearing that.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

So, you know, like you said, people suffer a bit from their own, like, sense of self.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

You know, because, see, here's what I wonder is in their. Do they hear it in their head as their own regular accent?

[Josh Clark]

I don't think so. No. I think it sounds off to them, and I think it's probably distressing because they're like, wait, let me say that again. And they still say it. What they perceive as the wrong way. Because apparently one of the hallmarks of foreign accent syndrome is the errors or the differences that they make in their prosody is predictable, which makes it like an accent. I mean, that's what an accent is. You're going to drop your T's or replace the th with a D just about every time. Or add that R when you say wash. Yeah, exactly. Like, that's. It's a predictable thing, and that's part of foreign accident syndrome. It starts to happen in predictable ways, too. So I would guess. Yeah, it sounds off to them as well.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, because the reason I say that is because when like. And I think I've talked about this. When my grandfather had a stroke, he still talked, but it just came out as gibberish. But in his head, he was saying the things that he was trying to say, which is, you know, one of the most frustrating things, I think, after a stroke victim is I remember seeing him talk and getting so frustrated.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

He would just, you know, say things out loud and it would come out as gibberish to us. But in his head, he's still saying, you know, his English words.

[Josh Clark]

Right. It's got to make you feel trapped in your body.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. However, FAS is a little all over the map because there have been other weird cases because we've been saying this whole time, there's not a new identity. It's the same. You're saying the same words and everything, but there have been cases where people do substitute out words. Like, you would say lift instead of an elevator.

[Josh Clark]

Right. That's like the psychogenic version.

[Chuck Bryant]

I know. And it's just so confusing.

[Josh Clark]

Well, it almost makes me think, like, so before there was nothing but neurogenic foreign accent syndrome. Right. Everything else was, you're just crazy. Now they. They recognize that they're psychogenic FAS as well. I think what's gonna happen with more and more study, they're gonna just diverge into two totally different syndromes now.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Josh Clark]

You know, I think they're gonna be like, that's actually not the same thing. That's something totally different. Neurogenic. F. Foreign accent syndrome is its own thing, and psychogenic is something else entirely.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, they'll just make up a new name.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

This one other case I thought was interesting about the Dutch woman.

[Josh Clark]

Which one?

[Chuck Bryant]

She was Dutch. Is Dutch. And she developed a French accent, but she spoke Dutch using French syntax and occasionally French words, as if she was a French person learning Dutch. And it turns out that she was a Dutch language teacher who taught French people to speak Dutch.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And I don't know, was her psychogenic or neurogenic?

[Josh Clark]

It would have to be psychogenic because neurogenic has basically that original Harry Whitaker.

[Chuck Bryant]

Criteria, like, you'd never use different words and things.

[Josh Clark]

Well, it has to not be related to the patient's ability to speak a foreign language.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay. Yeah, right.

[Josh Clark]

Like, she would be technically canceled out from neurogenic for that one. And it would also. It didn't have anything to do with central nervous system damage.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

Which is, again, that's why I think it's going to end up being its own thing, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

So interesting.

[Josh Clark]

It is.

[Chuck Bryant]

What else you got?

[Josh Clark]

That's all I've got, man. Isn't that enough?

[Chuck Bryant]

I think so, man.

[Josh Clark]

Any language stuff. Anytime we talk about language in the brain, I guess neuro, linguistics, I just. I turn to goo. It's so interesting to me. Yeah, that's what happens when something interests me. I turn to goo. If you want to turn to goo and learn more about foreign accent syndrome, you can type those words in the search [e-mail] and since I said that, it's time for Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

Administrative details. How was that?

[Josh Clark]

That was great, man. So, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

We've got some more people to thank for sending us some nice stuff.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. I'm gonna start off with Nathan Ferlazzo.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, that's Good.

[Chuck Bryant]

He sent us some really lovely hand drawn calendars and bookmarks. And you can find [e-mail] and that's M A R I N I F E R L a z z o.com au and it was really, really beautiful work. And it's, it's a cool thing because a portion of every sale is donated to a nonprofit wildlife organization.

[Josh Clark]

Very nice. I think you handle that foreign accent very well.

[Chuck Bryant]

Thank you.

[Josh Clark]

Want to say thanks big time to Robert Coombs or Combs from Whitetail Coffee for the amazing coffees especially like, seriously, this is a really good coffee, especially the Laderis and La Marella and that's White Tail T A L E Coffee. It's just an amazing coffee subscription service that you should check out.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I got a couple of more coffees. I'll just knock them both out. You have one sitting. Actually have two of them sitting on your desk right now, my friend.

[Josh Clark]

Can't wait to go grab them.

[Chuck Bryant]

Truestone coffee roasters from St. Paul, Minnesota sent us their medium blend. And I can't vouch for the taste yet because it just got here, but it smells good. And then Devin from True Coffee Roasters in Fitchburg, Wisconsin sent us dark roasted Sumatra and a Mexico alutra. I'm sorry. Altura.

[Josh Clark]

Nice. Thanks a lot, guys.

[Chuck Bryant]

Coffee coming out our ears.

[Josh Clark]

That's great. That's a good place to be. We're not going to have diabetes, my friend.

[Chuck Bryant]

No.

[Josh Clark]

Doug Fuchs sent us a beautiful illustrated card. Thanks for that, Doug. Thanks for saying hi.

[Chuck Bryant]

Meg from Seattle, she sent me a card about Lauren's passing. My cat, which I lost last year, which is very, very sweet. And while I'm on that, Buckley, my old boy passed away a couple of weeks ago. And everyone on Facebook was beyond supportive and sweet and that really helped out. So thanks for that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. From everybody listening to you, Chuck, we send our condolences.

[Chuck Bryant]

Thank you. It was very dark time.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, let's see. Preston Pope, he sent us some amazing chocolates. Chuck from V Chocolates. V. Just the letter v.chocolates.com. seriously, it's good stuff. I feel bad. I feel like I'm running around on little bit sweets.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, that's okay. We'll always come back to them. Okay. Our buddy Jeff Barney was kind enough. And I still haven't tried it. It's in my fridge. But you said it's the best. He sent us Kewpie Japanese mayo.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, it's so good.

[Chuck Bryant]

Because of my love for mayonnaise and.

[Josh Clark]

Chuck, you may never go back to American mayo again.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I'm finishing up a gallon of Duke's this afternoon. Yeah, I'm just gonna. Gonna shoot it down.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then I'm gonna dive into the Kewpie and see what's going on there. Got to see what the difference is.

[Josh Clark]

It's subtle, but you. You'll notice. You'll say, wow, this is actually really, really good mayonnaise.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, well, thanks, Jeff, Barney, for that.

[Josh Clark]

Thanks a lot to Tim and Joe from Primer Stories. I don't know if you remember, but our animal rights double parter tied into an essay I wrote on primerstories.com and they sent T shirts to say thanks for that. So thanks back for you guys. Support.

[Chuck Bryant]

Ian Newton of the Baltimore Whiskey Company sent us some ginger apple liqueur and gin.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. Thanks a lot, Don Kent, who last gave us some Pliny the Elder before, which was nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Also sent us a bunch of Soylent. And thank you also to Soylent itself, the company who heard our Soylent episode and said, you guys haven't tried Soylent. Here, here's some Soylent. And thank you for that. Soylent. That was very nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think they got what they wanted out of this, which is for us to say soylent 12 times.

[Josh Clark]

Soylent.

[Chuck Bryant]

This came in today. Thomas Kregel. K R E G E L. He sent me a friggin monocle.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, that's neat.

[Chuck Bryant]

And he heard me talking about my eyes going. And how I just need him to read things close up. And he said, buddy, here's what you need to do because you will one day embarrass your daughter like I embarrass my children. You need to rock a monocle.

[Josh Clark]

Mm.

[Chuck Bryant]

And it's a monocle.

[Josh Clark]

So is he like, a trained optometrist who can, like.

[Chuck Bryant]

No. No.

[Josh Clark]

So he just gave you a piece of glass that's gonna ruin your eye over time?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, I tried it, and it's, you know, it's kind of like a reader. It works about the same as my prescription, but he uses one. He sent a little picture of himself.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And I guess I should plug the company. It's Nearsights. Monocles is what he used.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

And yeah, I got a monocle now.

[Josh Clark]

Nice job, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm going to use it.

[Josh Clark]

Your new nickname is Pringles guy. Okay, I've got someone else Pringles guy. Janelle Samara sent us a copy of her book Our Only Hope. Thank you. And congratulations on writing a book.

[Chuck Bryant]

Bridget Massoth M A S S O T H Send us some really cute. Along with an extra large handwritten note. Sent us some really cute Josh and Chuck cutouts. Like kinda paper cut and paste cutouts.

[Josh Clark]

Nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

And yours is on your desk.

[Josh Clark]

Thank you.

[Chuck Bryant]

You gotta get out of this room and go over to your desk. You got a bounty.

[Josh Clark]

Francis de la Paz. So, you know, there's like a whole group of people out there who believe in writing letters, beautiful letters with fountain pens and all that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And Francis de la Paz is one of them. Sent us a beautiful handwritten letter. And you also apparently customarily send what's called a flat gift. And they sent a. A postcard. The Sad Life of Sag Clown. Which is great. I think sad clowns are great.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I got a few letters. Actually, I'll just knock those out because Sandra. Maybe this was because of International Correspondence Writing Month that we got these, because apparently that happened.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

But Sandra sent us a nice handwritten letter in honor of that specifically. And then Austin from Bakersfield sent us a very nice handwritten note. And then Kristen Cook sent us a Valentine's Day card to all of us, including Harry.

[Josh Clark]

Noel, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

Not Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, but our own Noel, who was just Harry.

[Josh Clark]

Right. We got some other ones, too, Chuck. We got a lighthouse postcard from Big Sable Point from Teresa. We got a couple of Christmas cards from the Johnson Alleman family and Tess Sullivan and her family. And I guess in part because of national. What is it? National Writing Month or Letter Writing Month?

[Chuck Bryant]

International Correspondence Writing Month.

[Josh Clark]

Exactly. Noel Veroza. Nope, sorry. Noel Versoza. Noel Verzosa. I got it.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's handwritten. You can't.

[Josh Clark]

You know, I got it that last time. Noel. Noel Verzosa wrote us a nice hand letter. Handwritten letter and fountain pen.

[Chuck Bryant]

I've got two more. Megan Moon Waltman. That's Megan with two G's. Oddly, she sent us a copy of this really cool thing she made. It's a book. It's called Songbook. A book of music for all levels, all ages. And it is 11 songs, kind of written out as chords and things and illustrated for different instruments. Like, there'll be a song for guitar, an intro song for banjo, one for cello. And it's got these cool pictures. And then you can download these songs and kind of. I figure it's. I mean, it says for all ages, but it seems like it'd be great to give a kid, right? So check that out. It's very worthwhile.

[Josh Clark]

I'VE got two more to finish than two One. Austin Doyle sent me an amazing oil crayon painting which I assume will inflate in value very rapidly once Austin dies.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hopefully that doesn't happen because Doyle is one of our oldest and I don't mean by age, but one of our longest time listeners.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, he's a great guy. I mean, like, when he dies of old age, I just plan to outlive him. That's.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Clark]

So I can catch in on the painting he made me. And then Ben and Aaron Gibson sent us the Japanese car magnets that signify an elderly driver or a teen driver, which we've talked about before.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember those.

[Josh Clark]

Thanks, dudes.

[Chuck Bryant]

I got one more. And this one. Boy, you have no idea what's waiting in there. You just came right into the recording studio for a change.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

On your desk right now, Josh.

[Josh Clark]

I can't wait.

[Chuck Bryant]

You have a handmade cutting board.

[Josh Clark]

Awesome.

[Chuck Bryant]

And it's really, really nice. This is from Christopher at the Timbered Wolf. And it's just, you know, it's gorgeous. He sent a couple of these in and they're really, really nice.

[Josh Clark]

Nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

So you gotta, you gotta take care of it, though. I left the instructions for you.

[Josh Clark]

I got a lot of stuff to carry out of here.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, you need a. Someone needs to send Josh a wheelbarrow.

[Josh Clark]

Or a Radio Flyer.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I got one of those for my kid. It's nice. Oh, yeah, yeah, the old red wagon.

[Josh Clark]

Like the real one, the Radio Flyer.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, they still make them.

[Josh Clark]

Nice. Well, thank you again to everybody who sent us so much great stuff. We appreciate it big time. And if you want to get in touch with us, you can send us both an email to stuff podcastowstuffworks.com and as always, join us at our home on the Web StuffYou Should Know.com Stuff.

[Chuck Bryant]

Youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.

[Jerry]

For more podcasts, My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show, and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts?

[Jerry]

Do you want to see into the future? Do you want to understand an invisible force that's shaping your life? Do you want to experience the frontiers of what makes us human? On tech stuff we travel from the mines of Congo to the surface of Mars, from conversations with Nobel Prize winners to the depths of TikTok to ask burning questions about technology. From high tech to low culture, and everywhere in between. Join us Listen to tech stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.