Do you emulate the people you spend lots of time around?

I do, which fills me with a desire to surround myself with amazing people.

If only I could find them…

Not so much the people I spend the most time with or who are in close proximity but I have this little routine of, “what would so and so do?” for different scenarios and I call to mind particular people with strengths and talents greater than mine and try to focus in on what I’ve learned from them or how I guess they’d take action. I love my peops!

I believe I do, and it is embarrassing to me, because I’m afraid it might seem mocking.

I do. It is said that many great interview journalists emulate the person they’re interviewing to make the person comfortable talking with them.

I don’t think so, no. I tend not to pick up expressions either. But some unconscious habits do get folded into my repertoire, I’m sure.

how interesting, @SpatzieLover!

I do, for sure. I remember, one trip I went on with lots of other people, a guy on the trip said, “I’m not disagreeing with you,” a lot, and I picked up on it. I still use it, to this day.

Also, I tend to act the maturity level of the people I’m around; when I’m around adults, I’m much more mature then when I’m around, say, highschoolers.

I would imagine it’s partly a defense mechanism: if you seem like the people you are around, then you won’t stick out, and because sticking out is dangerous (especially with animals), well, you can see where I’m going with this.

After all, humans are social creatures—we have somewhat of a herd mentality.

“I am a zebra. Although I am striped white and black, everyone else in my herd is also striped white and black, and therefore, none of us stick out, even though our coloring is a bit odd.”

Yes, I do to a certain extent.

i do, and when i notice that i do it annoys me.

I tend to “return” to accents and cadence when I spend a lot of time with some people. I pick up South African and British accents very easily – but I lived in those places when younger and once had those accents naturally. Aside from that, no. I don’t tend to use idiom and do not like most modern expressions and so do not pick those up.

Most of my friends are Republican so I have stayed true to myself in that respect.
My mother used to say (when I was a teenager) “I can only judge your friends by the way you are when you’re around them.”
So at least then, that must have been true.

Not on purpose, but if you spend enough time around one person it’s hard not to involuntarily pick up some of their quirks.

my boyfriends friend talks in lol cats form i.e ‘I can has cookie’ and after spending for hours with her I start to talk like that too and it kind of frustrates me and my boyfriend finds that fact funny so he speaks like that as well when she’s around . . . making the slip into broken English so easy.

Oh yes… It’s very natural for that to happen. It’s all just from our drive to fit in, so we’ll incorporate elements of peoples’ speech into our own. I’ve even done that with accents (although now when I try to slip back in it’s very painfully obviously “fake”).

I unintentionally pick up people’s accents very quickly. If I am talking to an old Jewish woman, I suddenly have her accent. Same thing with hispanics, french, or anyone else. It’s really weird.

i always pick up my friends’ little sayings, and they pick up mine

Yes!
I’ve always thought part of the reason, at least for me, is that I learned English as a second language, and couldn’t communicate fluently in English until I was around 10.

I believe it made me more keenly aware of things like diction, colloquialisms, and accents. I’ve seen it happen to me in my writing as well, picking up phrases and grammar structures certain people I correspond with reguarly use.

Working around people who cuss a lot has affected me as well, although I make a conscious effort not to go around swearing… profanity doesn’t bother me though, and I know sometimes that surprises some of my older friends.

I spend the most of my time around my parents, unfortunately. I don’t strive to be like them at all.

I spend alot of time with my children Girls i do not poop my pants nappy or scream the house down , i do play with toys and eat with my hands sometimes i make a mess. And no i do not do girlie things , like wear frocks and makeup .

I most certainly do! I have had many roommates in my life and living with different people you tend to pick up on the way they speak and little physical things they do, like twirling their hair or tapping their foot. I think it’s actually very interesting when you sit down and think about your little habits and the things you say; you start to realize that a lot of it was influenced by the people around you and hearing or seeing habits on a daily basis.

I’m one of those that does pick up expressions, not by choice or consciousness. However I don’t change my personality as some people have a tendancy to do. And I certainly don’t change my values etc.. to be similar to those i’m around.

Whenever I spend a lot of time around a friend, we always pick up some of each others’ mannerisms and expressions. A lot of the people I hang out with are pretty creative or goofy, so we say weird things sometimes…

No, but I do start to act a lot like them.

This question could not have been asked by a more aptly named person.

If it’s something really really funny then I would definitely imitate them! Sometimes I do it in front of them and sometimes I keep it to myself and just laugh out loud! :)

Just today, the guys at work kept calling me “Scott” (a friend of ours) because of my mannerisms that I picked up from him unconsciously.

Impersonation is the finest form of flattery.