# Anyone with a speech impediment who gives public talks? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797 "2014-07-23T00:16:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/21 "2014-07-23T18:40:23Z")
TV station in Lincoln, Ne used to have a weatherman with a speech impediment. Story was part of his tongue was missing. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/22 "2014-07-23T19:10:06Z")
I was a member of a local school board for two years. The chairman of the board had a noticeable stutter. It didn’t interfere with his being chairman and even interviewing on radio. The absolute worst stutterer I ever knew spent his entire working life as a professor. I don’t know how he did it. I guess his students had to get used to him. But anyone can feel nervous over giving a talk. Although I spent my entire life as a professor, I got at least a bit nervous before giving a talk to a large audience. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/23 "2014-07-23T19:17:28Z")
I believe his name is Peter Overby, reporter on NPR. That’s pretty public talking since you’re known only for your voice. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/24 "2014-07-23T19:28:09Z")
Art Buchwald is dead now, but he had a speech impediment. I heard him speak at Harvard a long time ago - you could hear that the impediment but he was such a personality that it made no difference at all. In fact, it just added to the unique character of his presentation. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/25 "2014-07-23T20:24:13Z")
James Earl Jones had a stutter so bad that he was functionally mute for eight years. Guess he managed to overcome that. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/26 "2014-07-23T20:45:16Z")
My talk was a success! And I was able to say “superfluous” without skipping a beat! Thanks for all the support, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/27 "2014-07-24T03:38:16Z")
Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/28 "2014-07-24T12:42:55Z")
Nice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797/29 "2014-07-24T16:26:52Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > My talk was a success! And I was able to say “superfluous” without skipping a beat! Thanks for all the support, everyone! Great to hear! I have a lisp which I believe is pretty well hidden - but there’s no way I would use a word like superfluous if I had to give a speech, it would tip me over the edge and I’d be Sylvester the Cat-ting through to the end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-with-a-speech-impediment-who-gives-public-talks/693797.md?page=1)