# The Elmer Fud "Accent" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118 "2001-11-08T03:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/61 "2020-06-07T13:58:08Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Fudd suffers from a cartoon version of [rhotacism.](http://https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotacism_(speech_impediment)) As noted, it was once a feigned accent among some British regiments, perhaps in imitation of some worthy. Oddly, I have never encountered it in the wild. Not sure how your link got corrupted, but perhaps [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotacism) is what you meant to post. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/62 "2020-06-07T14:07:47Z")
I had that problem growing up, and had a lot of speech therapy to overcome it (I think it worked). British people have told me that I sound like I spent a few years in Great Britain (I haven’t) - which I take to mean that the vestiges of my problem leave me with something that sounds like a slight British accent. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/63 "2020-06-07T14:34:58Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Not sure how your link got corrupted, but perhaps [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotacism) is what you meant to post. Thank you. “Whoatacism.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/64 "2020-06-07T15:31:31Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > And that’s exactly how I took it. No harm, no foul. Thank you. ---
**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:** [June 7, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/65 "2020-06-07T18:33:02Z")
> [@YPOD](#): > > I had a college professor who lived through the Russian revolution and eventually came to the US. When he first saw and heard an Elmer Fudd cartoon, he thought it was some sort of capitalist joke. To him, Elmer Fudd sounded exactly like Vladimir Lenin. Good lord. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/66 "2020-06-07T19:09:14Z")
Roy’s dog Rover runs all over Rover runs, Roy’s dog Rover runs all over Rover runs. [mike drop] Rover races, Rover chases, Rover chews on Roy’s shoelaces. Oh yes, Rover runs all over Rover runs. (Mic drop) ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/67 "2020-06-07T19:23:37Z")
I had to had speech therapy to even learn how to pronounce an ‘r’. I never thought I was pronouncing it wrong until I was told exactly what I had to do with my tongue and I made the sound for the first time. It took me many weeks of work with the speec therapist reading through passages with lots of 'r’s to be completely comfortable with it. I particularly remember that “drawer” was really difficult. It’s clear that difficulty with sounds made with the tongue high in the mouth are a problem for a lot people, which is why Elmer Fudd’s speech patterns aren’t compwetwy nonsensical. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/68 "2020-06-07T19:35:54Z")
> [@Frank\_O.Pinion](#): > > No, no, no! That was Daffy Duck! His voice was based on Leon Schlesinger, the guy in charge of the Warner Brothers cartoons at the time. The cartoonists didn’t think about what they’d done until he came to see the new cartoon. Turns out, though, he didn’t even get it, but he loved the voice. He was quoted as saying after viewing the first Daffy cartoon, “Jethuth Chrith, That’th a funny voith! Where’d you get the voith?” > [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > That’s odd. He appears in two cartoons which combined live action with animation, and he doesn’t sound like Daffy at all. > [@Frank\_O.Pinion](#): > > Well, that’s the story I’ve read in several places. I guess the idea of the lisp came from Schlesinger’s voice. I’ve heard that Mel Blanc’s real voice is basically the same as Sylvester’s voice, and Sylvester’s voice is about the same as Daffy’s. Daffy’s is just a little bit higher and faster than Sylvester’s, so Daffy could be a combination of Mel Blanc’s voice and Leon Schlesinger’s combined. I don’t have the inside information, I’m just repeating what I’ve read. I know this is old, and I never noticed this thread, but the answer is interesting, IIRC in the book by movie critic and historian Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, reported that in those shorts, Mel Blanc dubbed almost all the voices. Yes, even the human ones. AFAIK, it was easier then to record the live footage with little to no audio as the animators had the freedom to not mix effects and music with bad audio, although I would not had put that as an excuse coming from those Termite Terrace animators so as to hide what they did, how they pulled off making fun of the boss’ voice and not getting fired for it. (It helped that in the short Leon Sleshinger was made to sound very manly and with none of the reported impediments he had) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/69 "2020-06-07T19:43:22Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Fudd suffers from a cartoon version of [rhotacism.](http://https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotacism_(speech_impediment)) As noted, it was once a feigned accent among some British regiments, perhaps in imitation of some worthy. Oddly, I have never encountered it in the wild. Like other children mentioned, my daughter had that problem – it took three or four years for her to master the ‘r’ sound. When I was stationed on the tender, we had to gather every Wednesday morning for Captain’s Call – the CO and other officers would make announcements, present awards, &c, over the ship’s CCTV system. One of these officers was the safety officer. The man in that billet when I reported aboard was born in one of the Arab countries and had a strong accent; his relief talked like Elmer Fudd. A year or so after he arrived, the messenger of the watch (a submariner, of course :D) called away reveille: “Weveiwwe, weveiwwe! Aww hands heave out and twice up. The smoking wamp is wighted in aww authowised spaces. Bweakfast fow the cwew.” The chain of command were not happy… ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/70 "2020-06-07T21:23:32Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > The English R is one of the most difficult sounds to make, according to the vast majority of my friends who have had to learn English as a second language. This got me thinking. R is hard. Every kid I know who was learning to talk starts out substituting the “w” sound. I don’t ever remember teaching my kids how to make the “r” sound. eventually they just did. How do people learn how to make difficult sounds? I can’t figure out how they work out how to get the tongue and teeth situated right without being taught. For example, I can make all the English sounds including “r”, but I can’t roll my "r"s for like in German or Spanish. how do kids do it? ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/71 "2020-06-07T23:28:38Z")
> [@Padmaraga](#): > > I have another speech-impediment question. Some relatives on my mom’s side of the family have this funny way of saying their "s"s, whereby it sounds as if they have a cheekful of spit while they’re talking (it’s hard to describe, but easy to imitate: accumulate your saliva in your cheeks for a moment, stretch your mouth into a closed-jawed grimace, and force air out through your teeth. Hear that bubbly hissing sound? Ok, now do that every time you say a word with an “s” sound in it). My brother & I used to like to make fun of it when we were kids (not to their faces, only behind their backs). Sorry, but it’s funny. OK, maybe it’s just us. > > Anyway, I wonder if anyone else knows people who talk like that? Anyone know **why** they talk like that? that’s called a lateral lisp. It results from speaking with the tongue too far back in the mouth, which allows air to escape past the sides of the tongue and causes slushy-sounding S’s and Z’s. I do voiceover work and had an audition for a character who spoke that way, so I had to practice doing it. (didn’t get the part, darn it, although I did get a different, smaller one.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/72 "2020-06-07T23:28:51Z")
I occasionally tutor kids who have this syndrome. Isn’t the “r” sound essentially the same as going “rrrr” like a lion? I will often try that, ask the kid to make the “lion” sound, and sometimes it works. “Rrrrock!” I don’t grasp how someone can confuse the two sounds, R arises from the back of my throat, I don’t actually have to move my lips, at all. “W” requires me to squeeze my lips together, then open them, a completely different motion. Try saying “Whale” vs. “Rail”… What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/73 "2020-06-08T04:58:49Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I had to had speech therapy to even learn how to pronounce an ‘r’. I never thought I was pronouncing it wrong until I was told exactly what I had to do with my tongue and I made the sound for the first time. It took me many weeks of work with the speec therapist reading through passages with lots of 'r’s to be completely comfortable with it. I particularly remember that “drawer” was really difficult. > > It’s clear that difficulty with sounds made with the tongue high in the mouth are a problem for a lot people, which is why Elmer Fudd’s speech patterns aren’t compwetwy nonsensical. “Rural” is the one that always drives me nuts, and I’ve never had an issue with “r”s otherwise l. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/74 "2020-06-08T08:31:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Rural” is the one that always drives me nuts, and I’ve never had an issue with “r”s otherwise l. I have trouble with “rural” and “Rory”. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/75 "2020-06-08T12:19:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Rural” is the one that always drives me nuts, and I’ve never had an issue with “r”s otherwise l. Have you ever seen the movie, “The Rural Juror”? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/76 "2020-06-08T13:48:57Z")
Sherlock Holmes actor Jeremy Brett had rhotacism. My Yankee ears didn’t pick up on it because I thought he was speaking with “A propah English accent”. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/77 "2020-06-08T17:10:23Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I had to had speech therapy to even learn how to pronounce an ‘r’. I never thought I was pronouncing it wrong until I was told exactly what I had to do with my tongue and I made the sound for the first time. It took me many weeks of work with the speec therapist reading through passages with lots of 'r’s to be completely comfortable with it. I particularly remember that “drawer” was really difficult. You just need to find a [speech therapist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95S1lKLElG0&feature=youtu.be&t=156) you can connect with. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/78 "2020-06-08T17:53:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Hi **Heatherlynn2020**. Your reply would have been timely if you had been **Heatherlynn2001** , or even **Heatherlynn2003** , but you’re the first person to post to this thread in 17 years. I, for one, am glad this post was brought back from the dead. Oh, some of these older posts are _so_ good…I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. Vewwy well. Welease Wojah! ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/79 "2020-06-22T17:53:23Z")
I’m a native Slavic speaker and I don’t think English “r” is difficult. Cultures worldwide are exposed to the English media, and English “r” is one of the most prominent features of English language, in my opinion. In fact, I know a handful of people with speech impediment; they can’t pronounce rhotic r, but use “English r”. On the other hand, “th” in any shape of form could be a nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118/80 "2020-06-23T16:10:51Z")
I think it’s just to make Elmer look and sound more childlike. I have this thesis in my head which I call “The Psychology and Symbology of Animated Cartoons”, one feature of which is that one main category of antagonist is the “pseudo-adult”: an entity that is accorded the status and privileges of an adult but almost entirely undeservedly, in sharp contrast to the protagonist who is a symbolic child figure (e.g. Bugs Bunny keeps being told that he’s “just a rabbit” (substitute rabbit for child)). This is usually highlighted by making the pseudo-adult childish in stature and behavior. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam are both midgets, Elmer speaks with a child’s speech impediment and is often naive and bewildered, while Sam suffers from temper tantrums. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elmer-fud-accent/92118.md?page=5)