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Saturday 21 April 2018

Stammering

Stammering and stuttering are not quite the same: a stammer is any speech-slowing defect, while a stutter is an involuntary repetition of one letter.

One percent of the world's population have the speech disorder of stammering.

Men are three or four times as likely as women to stammer.

October 22 was designated International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) in 1998.

The only book of the Bible to mention stammering is Isaiah: "Even the hotheads among them will be full of sense and understanding, and those who stammer in uncertainty will speak out plainly." (Isaiah 32:4),

Some say Moses was the first stammerer on the basis of Exodus 4:10 where he says to God: "I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

The Greek orator Demosthenes was an ancient stammerer who is said to have cured himself by learning to speak with pebbles in his mouth.

Bust of the Greek orator Demosthenes By Sting, 

The Roman emperor Claudius had a pronounced stammer and at times he was barely able to make himself understood. Despite his speech disorder, Claudius personally heard and judged cases in court.

Derek Jacobi, who played the title role in the acclaimed BBC series I, Claudius, has a International Stuttering Awareness Day birthday - he was born October 22, 1938.

The only Shakespeare play to mention stammering is As You Like It. Rosalind says in  Act 3, Scene 2: "I would thou couldst stammer, that thou might’st pour this concealed man out of thy mouth as wine comes out of a narrow-mouthed bottle."

Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, suffered from a stammer – a condition shared by most of his siblings. He was bullied mercilessly at Rugby School because of his speech disorder.

Lewis Carroll

Dodgson carried his stammer into adulthood. He referred to it as his "hesitation" and it continued to plague him throughout his entire life.

Because of his stammer, King George VI of the United Kingdom dreaded public speaking. He had speech therapy for the disorder, but never fully overcame it.

A favourite tongue-twister of Lionel Logue, who treated George VI, was: "She sifted seven thick stalked thistles through a strong, thick sieve."


After being confronted over his Fish Called Wanda character's speech impediment, Michael Palin founded the Centre for Stammering Children.

The actress Emily Blunt suffered from a bad stammer as a child but was encouraged by a teacher to act — and used various accents to help overcome her condition.

Source Daily Express

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