Do you feel it’s always bad to mimic someone’s accent?

What if it’s your own relatives?

Comedians do this a lot, they take on the voice of the person. Sometimes it’s about a family member, but not always. Everyday people do it too when recanting a story.

When Rosie O’Donnell did it on The View mimicking an Asian accent she caught hell for it. I thought she was funny. A few Asian people in the audience the next day said they weren’t offended and thought it was funny, but the overall consensus seemed to be she was a horrible person for doing it.

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Diana Nyad, the swimmer, and she told a story about being a child and what her father told her growing up. When she did his part she used his Greek accent.

Does the context matter? If it’s a story about something that we value then it’s ok to use their accent or broken English?

It’s been said it’s human nature to mimic and mirror when talking with someone. It supposedly builds rapport.