Foreign accent, vocal cords and puberty

On chairlifts, Americans are much more social than Europeans; they engage into small talk or if you do they generally respond, making the five to ten minute ride that much shorter. Only a small percentage of folks won’t have a conversation, and trust me, I ski a lot so I know it! This brings me to my topic for the day which I find some time to be a major aggravation, when the person sitting next to me asks: “Where are you from?” I generally make these people work for the answer. I just give them three tries; about half flunk it, saying that I must be from Croatia, Germany or the Republic of Georgia. The rest get it after three or two attempts and the smartest minority deducts right away that I must be from France. That’s for the easy part; because often time a smart-aleck will ask after finding out that I’ve lived for over 30 years in America: “How come do you still have your accent?” I proceed then to “teach them a lesson” stating that if a foreign language is learned past puberty, chances are that the accent of origin - however mild - will stay forever. This is because, past the end of adolescence, the vocal cords lose their adaptability, become set in their ways and thus unable to adapt as they do for children who have an uncanny ability to take a perfect accent as they learn a new language. After listening to that impressive lecture, my fellow passengers nod their helmeted heads in agreement (at least, that's what I think) and seem thankful for a very informative ride…