Fauxreigner: Difference between revisions

** An example of a character playing up their identity is 71-hour Ahmed in ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]'', who finds it convenient to be a stereotypical Klatchian who stepped straight from [[Arabian Nights]], but can actually speak Morpokian with barely a trace of an accent (which he could do because he was, like so many, schooled in Ankh-Morpork as a youth), and even takes on Ankh-Morpork mannerisms when in Klatch. As he explains, "Always be a little bit foreign wherever you are, because everyone knows foreigners are a little bit stupid." Incidentally, he tipped his hand about the [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] quite early on, seeing something of a kindred spirit in Sam Vimes, yet still managed to surprise him with his mastery of the language.

** Then there's [[Discworld/The Truth|Otto von Chriek]], the mostly-harmless vampire photographer, who dresses silly and speaks with a thick accent and is generally a nice guy, even though if he wanted to he could rip your limbs out of their sockets and beat you to death with them. He explains that being so silly, no one takes a second glance...even when you're taking pictures of an anti-vampire demonstration.

** In the TV version Twoflower admits he only pretends not to know the language because it's all part of the image.

** In ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]'', Ptraci speaks Ephebian with a ptrace of her Djelibeybi accent, because it sounds more exotic. Pteppic understands: "An assassin is supposed to be a little bit foreign wherever he goes. [[Stranger in a Familiar Land|I'm good at that part]]".

== El Boxo di Soundo ==

* From an episode of ''[[The Goon Show]]'' featuring the characters of Justin Eidelburger and Yakamoto:

'''Yakamoto''' ([[Spike Milligan]]): Please, ah -- second phony accent would like to speak... }}

 

 

== El Theatro ==

* In the operetta ''[[Die Fledermaus]]'', several of the characters attend Prince Orlovsky's ball incognito as foreign noblemen and -women. Lindy Hume's English-language adaptation, first produced by Opera Australia in the 1990s, goes one better by revealing at the very end that Orlovsky himself is not really a foreign nobleman either.

* Adolfo Pirelli, the self-proclaimed 'King of the Barbers and the Barber of Kings' who claims to have shaved the King of Naples and the Pope and who is all the rage in London, in ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]''. It turns out he is really Daniel O'Higgens, an Irishman who was Todd's assistant as a boy.

* Mata Hari, the wife of a diplomat, come back from Borneo claiming to be an adopted priestess inducted in the native (read: fictional) practices of Indonesia. She became an international sex symbol in Europe. Unfortunately for her, the [[Moral Guardians]] of the time (World War I) had her executed as a German spy.

* A significant of the Republic of Ireland's national football side in the Eighties and Nineties, due to the qualification rules. They're still in place, and similar situations can and do happen with other national sides, extending to other sports as well...

* Benjamin Franklin did this while asking for help with the American Revolution while in France. An upper crust British-born gentleman wearing a coon skin cap?

* 19th-century courtesan Lola Montez, born in Ireland as Eliza Gilbert but spent most of her career passing herself off as a Spanish noblewoman.