Not sure if this is the right spot for this, but I shall place it here and see. I'm a bit confused about stuttering (brought to the fore because a neighbor kid was at my door shortly ago and was a victim of it - to the point where it was next to painful to communicate with him [but we finally did locate his cat that was trapped in my garage]). I could look it up, I suppose, but was wondering how this affliction - if that's the right word - is defined by people who might know or have dealt with it. Is it physiological? Stress-related? Honestly, I really don't know and I kept thinking: 'If this young man has such a difficulty telling me that his cat is stuck how will he express himself in the world as he goes?' Just one of those things I now wonder about so I'll ask...

It is an interesting condition. One person affected comes to mind, Gareth Gates, he was the runner-up in Pop Idol some years back. When he spoke he stuttered like crazy but he could sing with no trace in front of millions. Apparently this is quite normal, to be able to sing but not speak clearly. Four times more males are affected than females.

The last King of England had a stammer.

Here is an article on stuters

I stammered somewhat as a child. My brother had an acute problem with it, but somehow as we grew older we were both able to stop. My teachers, who back then had no formal speech pathology training - just horse sense - encouraged me basically to just slow down. And as those of you who have heard me over the phone can testify to - my speech is still slow and pronounced. I usually just tell people it's part of being southern, though.

The jury is probably still out on why people stutter despite extensive research. Personally, I think it's probably physiological but subject to a huge overlay of psychological and environmental factors.

Most children experience a period of what is sometimes referred to as "normal developmental non-fluency". In my 30 years' experience most children do emerge from this with very little problem. The trend in recent years however has been to see all these kids professionally to "treat their bumpy speech".

Some children do stutter from an early age and may then stutter all their lives. Intervention is usually in the form of coping mechanisms and many of today's therapies produce excellent results.

A guy I worked with some years ago had a serious stammer combined with a curious sort of lisp. it was necessary to listen very closely, and often have him repeat sentences in order to understand him. He was however, an excellent singer, and made a good part time living in clubs.
As Sue has said, the late king George VI had a bad stammer, but overcame it with speech therapy, and was able to make regular radio broadcasts and other public speeches.

I had a stutter too when I was at school. The first speech therapists, just made me try to speack in time to a metronome - it did no good at all. The second one I went to, although not using a metronome, was still using a rhythm technique - I certainly didn't notice ant difference.

Then I went to a Mrs. Erlank, in South Africa, who used a different method. She made me start each sentence with by dropping my jaw while taking a breath (as well as elongating my vowel sounds). She told me you can't stammer if you start the word with your mouth open. That worked for me anyway.

I suppose it was a similar way of speaking the Gordon Brown (British Chancellor) does. I've long lost my stammer now, so no longer intake my breath so obviously.

The words 'stutter' and 'stammer' seem to be being used interchageably here, but they are not the same thing.
A stutter is more of a problem with opening letters of combinations of letters. N-n-n-obody, would be a stutter, for example. A stammer is more of an issue with repeating beginning syllables or even entire words. Using the above example a stammer would be heard more like 'No-no-no-nobody'.

Actually, I had both a stammer and a stutter. When I was upset or excited I would either repeat a word two or three times or get hung up on the beginning sound. I remember thinking so many things at once that it was hard to slow down and actually utter a coherent sentence.

Later today (it's now 00.30) there's a programme on UK TV, Channel 4, called 'Teach me to Speak'. It's the first part of a two part programme produced over a one year period, and dealing with the lives and treatment of three children afflicted by stammering.
Channel 4 is available nationally in the UK, and anyone interested in this subject should find it informative. Might be worth recording too. The programme will be shown at 21.00.

I'm 35 years old and I still stutter some words. There are days when I wake up stuttering and I just know that it's going to be a bad day...stuttering wise.

I sometimes stutter on the R sound or the W sound. When I get nervous or excited my stuttering is exacerbated. I have to calm down and take a couple of deep breaths and then I can say what I need to say without stuttering.

My theory on why I stutter is that I want to say so many things at the same time, that my words get stuck.

I may have mentioned this but Prince Albert of Monaco stutters in French, but does not in English. The prevailing theory is that he was at home and comfortable with his mother's expectations on him and that his father's were weighing him down and making him anxious.
It's really an obvious thing once you've heard him speak both languages. I've just looked up the term on a few sites and he's listed, but honestly his English isn't anything at all like his French. I've heard him speak in person, so, it's really obvious then.

I'd be curious to hear what the Brits have to say about the accent of people like Bamber Gascoigne. I always thought that a stutter was part and parcel of a certain British accent as it was prevalent amongst the professors I had there. I'd say that if out of ten, five have this characteristic, it's not by chance.
Isn't this a typical thing?

No stutter for me, but with my speech problem (a hole in my palate) it is difficult sometimes to tell people what I want. But I always get there in the end!

I had a very bad stutter when I was 12-13 years old. There were no speech therapists at my school so a friend suggested that I slap myself in the face every time I stuttered, and believe it or not that cured me. I wonder what a speech pathologist would say about that therapy.