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Two first-years experiment with alternative identities

September 17, 2010

by Julia Stewart 

 

For some, it is refreshing to move to a new place where no one knows your name, your hometown, or your idiosyncrasies. The transition from high school to college is one of these rare opportunities—a chance, if you so choose, to create a new identity and abandon the old. For two first year boys, who requested that for this article they be referred to by their chosen names, “Peter Canterbury” (’14) and “Nick Winkle” (’14), the first three weeks of school have been an unexpected experiment in what it feels like to adopt a new persona. 

 

Since New Student Orientation, “Peter” and “Nick” have been talking in accents almost non-stop and creating stories to match. “Peter Canterbury” speaks in an Australian accent and if you ask him where he is from, he will most likely tell you a town called Messina, four hours east of Sydney. In an interview with “Peter”, he willingly admitted his uncertainty about whether a place called Messina even exists. I followed up by looking on a map of Australia, and Messina is nowhere to be found. Moreover, “Peter’s” description of the city’s location puts you far out amongst the waves of the South Pacific Ocean. 

 

“Apparently people have no idea where Sydney is geographically located,” said “Peter,” “because it has been three weeks and no one has ever questioned me.” 

 

“Peter’s” good friend and partner in crime, “Nick Winkle”, claims to be from Auckland, New Zealand. 

 

When asked why they chose Australia and New Zealand, Nick responded, “We’re too lazy to talk in English accents, and we watch a lot of episodes of “Flight of the Conchords”, a Grammy award winning series on HBO featuring two New Zealand-based comedians, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. 

 

While “Peter” says that he really tries not to talk in his Australian accent in class out of respect for the teacher, “Nick” has been having a hard time getting out of the accent even when he wants to. 

 

“It’s awful,” said “Nick,” “because two of my classes are Spanish and Greek, so I’m stuck trying to overlap a Spanish accent on top of my New Zealand one.” 

 

“The reactions from fellow classmates, RAs, and employees at Lewis & Clark have been mixed. People fall into one of three camps: camp number one are the true believers, camp number two are those who know their accents are fake and think that it’s stupid and annoying, and camp number three are those that know it’s fake but think it’s hilarious,” said Olivia Ragan, a good friend of “Peter” and “Nick’s,” who has been a witness to the development of these fake identities from their inception.  

 

“Nick” described a situation in which an LC student had excitedly approached him in Maggie’s after having overheard his accent. 

 

The student, according to “Nick” said, “Oh my gosh, I’m studying abroad in Australia during spring semester! Do you have any recommendations for where I should go?” 

 

 Without a pause, “Nick” proceeded to tell her about a particular dance club she should go to in Sydney called Ivy, which he described in detail as being a hollowed out building with plants that grow in its interior. As you can probably guess by now, the jungle-themed dance club called Ivy does not exist. 

 

It seems that both “Peter” and “Nick” possess the creativity and quick thinking required to have maintained this act for three weeks and counting. Yet, changing their identities upon arriving at college was not something either of them had considered. 

 

“It just happened,” said “Peter.” “The third day of NSO we were hanging out at South Campus telling dirty Harry Potter jokes and speaking in accents. It wasn’t something we discussed, we both just kept talking that way.”

 

As of now, neither “Peter” nor “Nick” have any plans of returning to their true American identities, despite the fact that the word is starting to spread, and more people are beginning to question them. For “Nick,” he likes the challenge.

 

 “It means I have to make up more elaborate background information and include more details to sound believable.” 

 

Interestingly, “Nick’s” observation is that people believe him less because he is convincing and more because they want to believe him. He imagines them calling home: “I just met a guy from New Zealand, Mom. College is amazing!” 

 

The fact that “Peter” and “Nick” allowed this article to be published, knowing that it may blow their cover, speaks to the fact that their intention is less about tricking people with lies, and more about the fun of talking in an accent. 

 

As “Peter” says, “What’s good about it is that we don’t have to change our personalities, we just have to change the way we speak.”