I use a fake accent in awkward situations...

 I can completely understand why the OP would do this!

 Sometimes it is tiresome being the odd one out, so I don't see a problem if it makes her more comfortable. Sometimes you just want to blend in!

 I, unfortunately, get country sounding when I'm tired, upset, nervous,or drunk. I usually have a mostly non-regional accent ...but sometimes the Gravel Ridge, Arkansas comes out to play and it's kind of embarassing.  I can't seem to drop the word "ya'll" from my vocabulary.
 

I know exactly what Rynn means, and am surprised at so many people turning it into something malicious! Like you say PB, if it makes us feel better in an uncomfortable situation, then why judge?

Thank you for saying what I was thinking!
Lighten up people!

I, unfortunately, get country sounding when I'm tired, upset, nervous,or drunk. I usually have a mostly non-regional accent ...but sometimes the Gravel Ridge, Arkansas comes out to play and it's kind of embarassing.  I can't seem to drop the word "ya'll" from my vocabulary.

I find that absolutely hilarious dangerface   I don't use 'yall' but when I'm referring to it in spoken language, I call it the 'you-all contraction.'  

I have seen people completely falsify their identity. The person I'm referring to did look like a fool. If you asked this person where he was from he would have said "England," even though he had never been before in his life. If someone asks me where I'm from, I'll tell them that I am American without hesitation.

Some British slur has seeped in my speech. It's subtle, but it is most definitely there. I call it 'fake' because I know it sounds different to me even though it is not forced. Sometimes, I make a conscious effort to empathize my American accent, especially when talking to friends who know I'm American.

Sometimes I go with my mutated accent to just blend in. Sometimes I don't want to give random people the story of my life of why I'm in the UK. At school, they never let me forget that I'm a foreigner, which is why when I'm out doing errands I say as little as possible.

I have seen people completely falsify their identity. The person I'm referring to did look like a fool. If you asked this person where he was from he would have said "England," even though he had never been before in his life. If someone asks me where I'm from, I'll tell them that I am American without hesitation.

 Ha! I know someone like this!  This person visited England once for a week, and now they speak in the most over-the-top British slang at all times. This person suddenly supports one of the lesser-known football clubs, says "Happy Chrimbo",calls people "wankers","tossers", "nutters", etc. It is worse than you could imagine, but it IS highly entertaining:)

Ha! I know someone like this, too!  This person visited England once for a week, and now they speak in the most over-the-top British slang at all times. This person suddenly supports one of the lesser-known football clubs, says "Happy Chrimbo",calls people "wankers","tossers", "nutters", etc. It is worse than you could imagine, but it IS highly entertaining:)

Oh man, I knew someone like this, too! He studied in the UK for a couple months, and suddenly he used as many British slang words as he could remember. And would talk in a horrible British accent for fun, in normal conversation. Drove me crazy!

If I did this I would instantly turn into Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins and everyone would automatically assume I was making fun of them! Lol, no, I always speak the same, no matter what I am always proud and happy to be myself.

I think overall I have less of a hybrid accent now that we moved back then my uni days around large groups of english accents. My work place over here has more of a mixed of accents.

Well, I've only been here two years so there's no slipping in and out of anything even unconsciously.  Never in my wildest imaginings would I ever even *think* to fake an accent.  I will always be myself. 

This is how I feel. I sometimes wish I could just blend in, believe me, but I am who I am, and I would feel silly if I tried to fake an accent (not to mention, who on earth could fake the accent they have around here?!  ) I do say "HHHerb" instead of "'erb" and "tomahto" instead of "tomayto" and a few words like that and have adjusted to them, but that's really just in an effort to be understood better and not have to repeat myself. And I've picked up some slang, of course, and swapped a few terminologies like car park instead of parking lot. If my accent changes over time (I really do think my R's are softening a bit on their own, maybe) then that's ok, but I can't force it.
However, I think it's a matter of what is most comfortable for you. I doubt people can really tell you are faking an accent if you only said "thanks" or "cheers" or whatnot. It might not sound exactly right and they might realise you aren't from around there anyway, but if they don't know you, they will probably not know the difference.

Like some others here I have started using the colloquialisms, but the accent is all N California. I have lived all over the US, in places where there were some pretty strong accents and I've never picked them up so I really doubt I will suddenly start sounding like I am from the midlands any time soon. 

Most often I get asked if I am from Canada, but I tell them I am from the US and nobody ever gives me any grief for it. I've been challenged about GW when he was head clown but never about where I was from. And the political thing was easily handled as I was in agreement with them anyway.

I say be who you are, if you do pick it up (like my daughter has) then it will happen and nobody will say anything about it anyway.
Force it though and you'll sound like a muppet more often than not. It's got to be natural or it's obvious.

...but sometimes the Gravel Ridge, Arkansas comes out to play and it's kind of embarassing.  I can't seem to drop the word "ya'll" from my vocabulary.
 

Oh, I don't even try to shake the y'all; it's too useful!  But I do admit complete mortification when a bit of that good old Texas twaaang sneaks out.  But then, I felt the same way about the twaaang when I still lived back home in Texas too; I was generally amused to be mistaken for a Seattle-ite (for all I've never been there).

(I really do think my R's are softening a bit on their own, maybe) then that's ok, but I can't force it.

Aren't y suppose change from the 'r's to pronounce the er as an 'a' as in apple?
example= rubba for rubber. butta for butter. lawya for lawyer and so on?

Aren't y suppose change from the 'r's to pronounce the er as an 'a' as in apple?
example= rubba for rubber. butta for butter. lawya for lawyer and so on?

If you did that, you'd sound like a pantomime gangster. 

In Received Prononciation, Rs at the ends of words, particularly when preceded by an e, are pronounced as a schwa, whereas in standard American prononciation, the R is pronounced [r].  So the RP prononciation for lawyer is [ˈlɔːjə] or [ˈlɔɪə] with the schwa [ə] at the end.  The American prononciation is [lôyr].  In American English, the schwa is used slightly differently and less frequently than in RP, where it is the most common sound.  IMO, when Americans imitate British accents, the biggest mistake they make is not getting the schwa right.  It has a sort of non-sound all it's own that's impossible to transcribe, but it certainly doesn't sound like -ah, which is what people often use when they're putting on a British accent.  So lawyer becomes lawyah, mother mothah, etc.  Case in point: Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors.   

It's more of a mix between an 'uh' and an 'eh' sound, isn't it?

Sort of like the last syllable in "India"?

When Ross was in the States, I took a a dialects class.  The first accent was Standard English and I practiced it on him. He told me I sounded like I had some sort of a mental issue.    My *American* teacher gave me an A+.

I was mainly in a small village or in our local spots in Cambridge.  So everyone knew I was "the American girl."  People were really sweet to me, and I heard a lot of nice things about Americans.  I picked up a bit of British inflection (mirrajay had some great comments on this a while back) but no accent.  Ross and I tried to swap accents in a pub in London once as a joke, but the barman caught on immediately.

It's more of a mix between an 'uh' and an 'eh' sound, isn't it?

Sort of like the last syllable in "India"?

Yeah, sort of.  When I was training to teach English as a Foreign Language (in the UK, with British trainers and classmates), I was taught that it really is a sort of non-sound, because the mouth is held open and basically shapeless. 

I'm required to teach RP to some of my classes, and whilst I always point out the differences between American and British prononciation, I have to be fake-posh sometimes to help the students practise.  I feel like a knob doing it, but  I am now a crack fake-accent-spotter