# What Causes the "Elmer Fudd" accent?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 29, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338 "2006-03-29T01:52:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ZeroZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f04885/32.png) [@ZeroZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZeroZero)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338/1 "2006-03-29T01:52:14Z")

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I will assume you all know who Emer Fudd is. Bugs Bunny’s rival…

In real life what causes a person to talk like Elmer? Is it similar to someone who lisps. And can it be corrected.

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**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338/2 "2006-03-29T02:24:32Z")

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I’ve heard it was [labiovelar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labiovelar).

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338/3 "2006-03-29T02:30:44Z")

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Bob Cousy disease.

Sorry.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338/4 "2006-03-29T02:31:29Z")

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There are various forms of Elmer Fuddism. I share one with Tom Brokaw – a “w” in place of “L” in the middle of a word. I received fairly intensive speech therapy for this when I was younger – exercises of repeated repetition to get my tongue to form the “La” sound rather than using my lips to form a “Wah”.

In my case, there’s nothing organically wrong with my ability to form sounds. It’s a “lazy tongue” and the treatment is continued drilling.

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**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-elmer-fudd-accent/350338/5 "2006-03-29T12:24:14Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> There are various forms of Elmer Fuddism. I share one with Tom Brokaw – a “w” in place of “L” in the middle of a word. I received fairly intensive speech therapy for this when I was younger – exercises of repeated repetition to get my tongue to form the “La” sound rather than using my lips to form a “Wah”.
> 
> In my case, there’s nothing organically wrong with my ability to form sounds. It’s a “lazy tongue” and the treatment is continued drilling.

Move to Pittsburgh. No one will notice a thing. 😉