# Barbara Walters' speech impediment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922 "2002-12-06T15:07:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/1 "2002-12-06T15:07:27Z")
She has a problem pronouncing her "r"s. Is this due to a physical problem, or is there another reason? I suppose it’s testimony to her prowess as a journalist that she’s gotten as far as she has with such a speech impediment. I wonder why she never sought to correct it? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/2 "2002-12-06T15:14:35Z")
I wonder if it _is_ coww—sorry, correctible. Marlene Dietrich and Kay Francis suffered from the same speech impediment, and if Paramount and MGM speech coaches couldn’t do anything, then _no_ one could! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/3 "2002-12-06T16:52:49Z")
Is it a physical thing, or something else? My daughter had a problem pronouncing her s’s and z’s, and she would also pronounce “crayon” like “crown.” Fortunately, it’s been corrected through therapy, but listening to Barbara eulogize Roone Arledge and how he gave her a chance despite being unable to pronounce r’s got me wondering about her speech impediment in specific and all SI’s in general… ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/4 "2002-12-07T17:58:10Z")
I got the call yesterday to work on the televising of Roone’s Memorial service. I ducked it. I can’t make a buck off of someone’s death that way, especially someone who I absolutely admired as an original, brillaint innovator. I’ve worked with Barbara a few times. My sense is that she crafts her words so very carefully to minimize it. I’ve no idea why she wasn’t given help as a child. Perhaps at that time, Speech Therapy simply wasn’t an option. Besides. She’s so damned focused and smart, who cares if she has an impediment? She’s tough as hell to work for but oh man, is she the sharpest knife in the drawer. I distorted my 'r’s as a child also. They came out as w’s. I had Speech Therapy for a few years in Elementary School, and pretty much licked the problem. At least I think I licked it. I know the solution involved my tongue, okay??? 😛 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/5 "2002-12-11T23:48:53Z")
forget focused and smart. she used to be a pwetty hot babe! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/6 "2002-12-12T03:56:59Z")
Between Barbara Walters & Tom Brokaw, I’m not sure it’s an impediment in broadcast journalism at all. (I say that with _my_ tongue firmly in cheek-- I bit the end of the cussed thing clear off when I was a kid and had an embarassing lisp for a few years…) ---
**Author:** ![alexandria2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@alexandria2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandria2000)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/7 "2002-12-12T11:22:42Z")
Actually, from what I’ve heard her say in interviews, she has a hearing impediment, and thus her pronunciation is slightly different from what’s expected. Now that I have a boss who’s near deaf and I’ve gotten used to how she pronounces things, I can hear it whenever Barbara speaks. ---
**Author:** ![Blueapple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blueapple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueapple)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/8 "2002-12-13T03:47:15Z")
Could it be that [she](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/barbara_walters_bio.html) was born in [Boston](http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:jh0hNkBAdRcC:www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20020512/LI_001.htm+speech+impediment+R&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) . (Sorry, orginal link not available) I once had a teacher who was from Boston and couldn’t pronounce his R’s either, saying things like idear (idea) or wadah (water) [Here](http://www.princeton.edu/~asnyder/HTMLdocs/accent.html) is another link. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/9 "2002-12-13T04:36:50Z")
Cartooniverse wrote: “… She’s so damned focused and smart …” The last thing Barbara Walters is is “focused.” Pretty soon they’ll put so much Vaseline on the lens it will seem like her interviews are being conducted by a pink, talking cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/10 "2002-12-13T05:24:50Z")
I had not noticed Tom Brokaw’s speech impediment until the last couple of years. Has he always had that? (I also did not pick up on Barbara’s problem until Saturday Night Live made it a point.) Have you ever noticed that people with lisps cannot pronounce the speech impediment they have? I would also like to understand the reason for difficulties with “r’s.” Two friends of mine carried their SI into adulthood. Their brother never had a problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/11 "2002-12-13T06:38:46Z")
I had a problem with my “r’s” as a child. It was “sweata” and “thuteen”. Speech therapy corrected that, although sometimes when I’m tired or stressed I revert a little. StG ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/12 "2002-12-14T03:34:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stuyguy \* > \*\*Cartooniverse wrote: > > “… She’s so damned focused and smart …” > > The last thing Barbara Walters is is “focused.” Pretty soon they’ll put so much Vaseline on the lens it will seem like her interviews are being conducted by a pink, talking cloud. \*\* Thankfully, this isn’t the Pit. So I have to use less foul language here. Fine. Listen here, you uneducated person. **I’ve** loaded the filter pack in front of the lens, AND behind it- when shooting her. I see nothing out of line with wanting to soften her close-ups a bit. As the man operating the camera, and therefore responsible for whether or not my assistant HAD HER IN FOCUS, I am here to TELL you that ( your cheap ignorant shots notwithstanding\_, my remark was solely aimed at her intellect. Her shots are in focus, they are softened with a combination of nets and filters to take off the edge of her wrinkles. She’s by far not the only person in front of a camera to make use of such devices. Nobody uses Vaseline. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barbara-walters-speech-impediment/140922/13 "2002-12-14T03:45:07Z")
um, i think that stuyguy was being ironic, cartooniverse…