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Lots of us have wondered what it would be like to speak with a Southern twang or a cut-glass British accent (and even pretended to be foreign on a particularly drunk occasion or two). But maybe we need to be careful what we wish for.

Kay Russell, a 49-year-old grandmother from Gloucestershire, England, woke up one morning with a French accent after going to bed with a migraine. She suffers from Foreign Accent Syndrome, a rare condition that damages the part of the brain which controls speech and word construction. It can last for days, months or even years, and there is no known cure for the disorder.

Since Jan. 4 of this year, Russell has been mistaken for someone of French or Eastern European extraction and claims that it's not just her voice that has gone Gallic.

"My facial muscle movements are different, the inclination is different and the pronunciation," Russell told the Daily Mail. "It also affects my hands and makes me write with a foreign accent. For example, I say 'peoples' not 'people,' and that is how I would write it."

Russell lost her job as a sales executive as a result of the syndrome (although we're not quite sure why accented English would be a problem), and feels she's lost "her identity" as well.

So, sounding like Vanessa Paradis is a disease? As far as neurological disorders go, we'll take it (especially if it means we get Johnny Depp as well).