# Cartoon Ducks--Speech. **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732 **Category:** Cafe Society **Created:** [August 22, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732 "2006-08-22T12:16:23Z") **Posts on this page:** 18 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/1 "2006-08-22T12:16:23Z")
Why do all Cartoon Ducks have speech impediments? 😕😕 ---
### Author: ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/2 "2006-08-22T12:29:54Z")
Do non-English-speaking ducks also evince impediments? Do ducks have impediments in duckspeak? Or only in human languages? Why do English-speaking humans say “quack quack” to ducks? This sounds nothing like a duck and seems at least as linguistically impaired as, say, “Stthhhufferin’ stthhhhucotashthh!” ---
### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/3 "2006-08-22T12:30:13Z")
Isn’t it obvious? The voice people are trying to suggest the ducks’ quacking. That’s how Clarence “Ducky” Nash got hisd job – by doing a “quacking” voice. Some other cartoon ducks also have such voices. Daffy, on the other hand, had a voice that, in some measure, spoofed that of Leon chlesinger (the producer whose name is on the opening credits of the Warner Brothers carytoons). Sylvester the cat does so, as well. According to things I’ve read, Sclesinger rarely came down to the trenches where they were making the cartoons, but his voice was distinctive. And he always said the same few phrases. It was hard for Mel Blanc _not_ to parody him. Or for his voice to end up attached to characters. And not all ducks have speech impediments. Daisy Duck never had one. In fact, in one Disney cartoon, Donald takes a pill that gives him a “handsome” voice to appeal to the quackless Daisy. ---
### Author: ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/4 "2006-08-22T13:34:35Z")
I don’t think Duckman had a speech impediment. ---
### Author: ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/5 "2006-08-22T13:39:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Donald takes a pill that gives him a “handsome” voice to appeal to the quackless Daisy. Hen is fickle. ---
### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/6 "2006-08-22T13:52:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think Duckman had a speech impediment. Of course he does – he sounds like Jason Alexander. I can’t recall exactly which other cartoon ducks have “sopeech impediments”, but there are others. IIRC, “Dinky Duck” did. ---
### Author: ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/7 "2006-08-22T13:54:21Z")
Fer cryin’ out loud! You’d think it would be enough to train the damn birds to talk at all, but noooooo, Bosda demands perfect diction! Sheesh! 😃 ---
### Author: ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/8 "2006-08-22T14:43:52Z")
I don’t see Daffy as having any speech impediment. Sylvester has a lisp (that’s the only real difference in the voices), but Daffy speaks just fine. ---
### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/9 "2006-08-22T15:07:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t see Daffy as having any speech impediment. Sylvester has a lisp (that’s the only real difference in the voices), but Daffy speaks just fine. > > * * * “That’th the latht time I work with thomebody with a Thpeech impediment!” – Daffy Duck in **Who Framed Roger Rabbit** It’s not always strong, and it’s not always there, but Daffy’s got ther same lisp as Sylvester (albeit in a slightly different way.) ---
### Author: ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/10 "2006-08-22T16:03:41Z")
Maybe if they didn’t have the impediment they wouldn’t echo. ---
### Author: ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/11 "2006-08-22T17:32:12Z")
“Quack, damn you!” ---
### Author: ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/12 "2006-08-22T18:06:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “That’th the latht time I work with thomebody with a Thpeech impediment!” > > – Daffy Duck in **Who Framed Roger Rabbit** > It’s not always strong, and it’s not always there, but Daffy’s got ther same lisp as Sylvester (albeit in a slightly different way.) I’m pretty sure that I heard in a DVD commentary that Mel Blanc used the same voice for Daffy and Sylvester – the difference was in the way they were played back …wish I could remember more… ---
### Author: ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/13 "2006-08-22T18:17:07Z")
Daisy has no speech impediment. Questionable taste in men, but no speech impediment. Neither does Unca Scrooge – unless a Scottish brogue counts as a speech defect, that is. ---
### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/14 "2006-08-22T18:25:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Daisy has no speech impediment. Questionable taste in men, but no speech impediment. Look up to post #3 ---
### Author: ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/15 "2006-08-22T19:55:32Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “That’th the latht time I work with thomebody with a Thpeech impediment!” > > – Daffy Duck in **Who Framed Roger Rabbit** > It’s not always strong, and it’s not always there, but Daffy’s got ther same lisp as Sylvester (albeit in a slightly different way.) If you consider WFRR cannon, then this is the first time, I believe, that one cartoon duck has implied that another cartoon duck has a speech impediment. ---
### Author: ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn) #### Post date: [August 22, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/16 "2006-08-22T23:23:10Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > I’m pretty sure that I heard in a DVD commentary that Mel Blanc used the same voice for Daffy and Sylvester – the difference was in the way they were played back …wish I could remember more… According to Mel Blanc’s autobiography, IIRC, Daffy is sped up about 30 percent, and has leth thpray than Sylvester. ---
### Author: ![shizaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@shizaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shizaru) #### Post date: [August 23, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/17 "2006-08-23T05:40:13Z")
I don’t think Count Duckula had an impediment did he? ---
### Author: ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu) #### Post date: [August 23, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartoon-ducks-speech/369732/18 "2006-08-23T05:55:12Z")
In _Duck Tales_, it’s made clear in the 5-part pilot (and in subsequent episodes) that Donald’s speech impediment is unique. Plucky Duck from _Tiny Toons_ also has a pretty normal voice.