Cheating is taboo, and most dread a scenario in which their wife or husband is caught cheating.
However, there is one reason that your spouse might choose to stray with someone else, and it has to do with their accent.
Ashley Madison, a married dating website which facilitates cheating, surveyed its members to find out the accent they found most sexy.
Cheaters are likely to pursue a relationship outside of their marriage with a French person – as the accent was deemed most attractive.
The website surveyed its members to find out what they felt was the most attractive global accent and whether or not they preferred someone who spoke a different language when it came to talking dirty.
They chose French (19 per cent) as their favourite foreign accent, closely followed by British and Irish which both got 15 per cent of the vote.
This may not be surprising, given that French is the language of love.
What is more, the French are stereotypical associated with more lax attitudes when it comes to affairs.
Most attractive accents according to cheaters
French – 19 per cent
British – 15 per cent
Irish – 15 per cent
English (North American) – 9 per cent
Russian – 8 per cent
Italian – 8 per cent
Scottish – 5 per cent
Spanish – 5 per cent
Australian – 3 per cent
African – 3 per cent
Middle Eastern – 3 per cent
“Our members are using AshleyMadison.com because they are looking for something they don’t have, whether it is a physical desire or an emotional necessity,” says Isabella Mise, Director of Communications for AshleyMadison.com.
“Although our members find foreign accents to be sexy, the second most popular reason why cheaters like the foreign accents is because it’s different than what they’re used to, which is suggestive of why they use our service.”
Nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of those who responded to the survey stated they like it when someone speaks with an accent rather than in their native language.
However, almost all (89 per cent) of survey respondents say that their spouse doesn’t have a foreign accent.
How can you tell if your partner is micro cheating?
Even if your partner is not one of the suspected one in five people who have kissed or slept with someone else, their cheating may take this newly coined form.
Micro cheating is defined by “seemingly small actions” that suggest a person is “emotionally or physically focussed” on someone other than their partner, said Melanie Schilling, a relationship expert.
It doesn’t have to mean the physical act of cheating, but rather the smaller acts which can express this focus on someone else.