I’m pretty sure you need some recent immigrant blood if you’re hoping to become a peasant, but in case that’s not an option, I’ll give you a quick tip on how to become more peasant-like: Start imitating people. That’s right! Observe everything a peasant person says and does, and then incorporate those new mannerisms into your shtick.
It worked for my peasant-brother and me when we were kids, I’ll tell you that. And just the other day, I was talking to a friend whose parents immigrated from South Africa and it turns out she and her sister did the same thing when they were little. Imitated their parents’ accents and mannerisms until it became an inside joke, a fun game to pull out on a gray day.
I think it has something to do with having parents who come from a different country, and who speak and act differently from the norm. Growing up, this can be both wonderful and terrible at the same time–wonderful because you have a rich, new culture at your disposal, and terrible because there are still plenty of people out there who will give your parents shit for their different ways. So one of the ways you make sense of these contradictory messages is by figuring out which accents and mannerisms work in any given situation. Because, truly, accents can open and shut many a door.
