M-13 Why are people with speech impediments teased?

[mynameisrene]

I was just thinking about this and started to wonder. I have a friend who stutters, and she's always really stressed out. She only does it once in a while, but sometimes when we're having convos. I don't see anything to tease her about. She's a really cool person, and has a lot of friends. However, there are still these few "popular" guys in our grade who poke fun at her and imitate her. Why is that? Do they think it's cool? Are they intimidated by her (she's really smart)? I don't think it's a big deal. It shouldn't matter. Why do they do that?

[Benzo]

Here are my two cents on it...
It happens mainly during adolescence. I think there are many possibilities. It is an age where differences among people are not tolerated. Speech impediments is just one among many others; physical features, clothing, skills or lack of skills. Many teenagers are narrow-minded when it comes to what is acceptable or not. As they get maturity they realise that those little differences are nothing compared to the whole person.

I think it is not self-confident people who poke fun of people with differences. I mean what else could justify a behavior to make someone else feeling bad just to look cool among friends around? Often those guys if you take them one-by-one they are ok, but as soon as they are in gang they have to prove something, They are probably still building their self-identity that process includes some awkward behaviors.

[Aranel]

What Benzo just says makes perfect sense. Some people just try to humiliate others because it's some weird form of self-gratification, it makes them feel good about themselves and they can make others feel bad. Maybe they have some insecurites or whatever, I don't know.

My brother used to stutter. My grandmother stutters and two of my cousins do (not often though). My mum took my brother to a speech therapist at about the age of three to prevent him from stuttering anymore (they say it's easier to help fix it when people are younger) because she knew the effects it can have on some kids and their self-image. My grandmother who stutters doesn't seem to socialise much outside of the family and I have always wondered whether that was a result of her stutter and perhaps she doesn't have much confidence with socialising.

[hesdead-dealwithit]

Because people always want to feel superior to others. It's natural human behavior. So when someone is clearly different and "inferior," most people will put themselves above them. It's not just stutterers - it's any kid that is among other kids (ie not a blind kid who's in a school just for the blind) that they can make fun of.

[Zachary1993]

I was just thinking about this and started to wonder. I have a friend who stutters, and she's always really stressed out. She only does it once in a while, but sometimes when we're having convos. I don't see anything to tease her about. She's a really cool person, and has a lot of friends. However, there are still these few "popular" guys in our grade who poke fun at her and imitate her. Why is that? Do they think it's cool? Are they intimidated by her (she's really smart)? I don't think it's a big deal. It shouldn't matter. Why do they do that?
Because they are just jerks and like to be mean to others. They are not happy and want others to feel bad so tease about something someone can't control. Your friend should ignore them.

[lanifiel]

Because people always want to feel superior to others. It's natural human behavior. So when someone is clearly different and "inferior," most people will put themselves above them. It's not just stutterers - it's any kid that is among other kids (ie not a blind kid who's in a school just for the blind) that they can make fun of.I totally agree, but it can go beyond that in some cases as well, like when some people are smarter than others they will also be ridiculed and insulted as well. I think it comes from people being afraid of anything that they dont see as normal. If someone is different in any way, be it a positive or negative aspect, then there will always be others who feel the need to make fun of them. People with speech impediments are just one kind of those that will be teased.

Another point is that sometimes some people just do not know how to act around a person with such a condition. Its not an excuse for what they do but it might be a reason. Some people need to comment on everything they see or hear, its like when you get people who point out the obvious they just need to say something but they're not sure what so they pick making fun of people as the outlet. Its not cool and it shouldnt be either.

[Kaonashi]

Because they are seriously silly people who feel better about themselves the more they put others down.

And no, it's not cool.

[Picko]

Obviously problems like this generally pop up during adolescence, a time where typically we are all attempting to conform to the norm so to speak. Unfortunately for your friend Irene is that anyone who doesn't or can not is punished unfairly. It's a great blemish on humanity that this happens but one that nobody has really found a way around.

[PhreneticInc]

I agree with everyone on pretty much everything, except for one thing...

I don't think that bullies or people that make fun of others are usually unhappy. Because I used to be a real jerk when I was about 10, and I was (honestly)perfectly happy, I just enjoyed making fun of people. But I grew up... so I guess the bullies are just immature. :shrug:

[Nick]

Because they're jerks, and that's putting it nicely.

[dumbleedore]

I don't remember who had this in their sig a long time ago, but it pretty much sums up what I think.

'You laugh because I'm different- I laugh because you're all the same'.

Teenagers seem to have a thing about conformity- if you don't fit the mould, you don't fit in. Every group of friends had their mould and there will always be someone who doesn't fit in. And whilst you fit in with one group, you don't with the other.

So your friend fits fine into your mould- you don't care about her stutter. You see her for what she is. But others don't- others can't see past the stutter and the teenage mantra sometimes is 'If it don't make sense, tease it'. Unfortunatly.

[Flobberworm]

Everyone pretty much summed up my feeling too. Many kids during adolescence feel they need to pick on other people in order for themselves to feel more self-confident or, in many cases, impress their friends. In my school, a lot of the "cool" girls think that making fun of people is the way to get friends, and my friends and I have been the target in some of their bullying. The best thing to do is just ingore them, and they'll ignore you eventually.

The guy that sits next to me in science class has a very bad stutter, and nobody ever said anything about it or ever made fun of him, which I thought was wonderful. Then one day, my teacher started picking on him about it. My entire class was shocked. I's one thing to be teased by your peers that are going through adolescence, but by an adult that should know better? I think that's a lot worse. :no: I'm truly sorry for your friend, mynameisrene. Nobody should ever be teased.

[mynameisrene]

I agree with a lot of what's being said here, but I still don't understand why anyone would pick on a girl as sweet as her. I mean, should it really matter that she gets stuck on some of her words? I mean, who is THAT cruel? Everyone has a fault, and hers is that she has a speech impediment.

[IrmoPimp]

It is human nature to ostracize those who are different. On the primitive, subconsciousness level, we ridicule those who have a defect like a speech impediment b/c that implies that they have undesirable genetics and it is our effort to prevent them from reproducing. This effort has developed with intelligence to become ridicule and ostracization (?)
At least, that's what I think :huh:

[HollywoodBob]

Ok, as a person who as a child had a speech impedement I'll tell y'all my thoughts.

When I was in school I had a sever stutter, and it seemed to just get worse if I thought about it. When I was around my friends (all 3 of them) it would go away completely.

When I was in primary school it wasn't such a big deal, I'd get the occasional jibe, but nothing too bad. In junior high hormones started raging and everyone started to clique up. It was then that my stutter became a target for mass ridicule. For most of my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade years, I just avoided talking all together. And when I would it would only be to a teacher, and only if I was out of earshot of everyone else. For several other reasons those years were hell on me, also.

When I got into High School my life had been so unpleasant that I was overwieght, constantly stuttered, and I was smarter then most everyone else. Down came the rain of malicious torment. Only driving my selfconfidence down and my stutter into new realms of bad, I developed a nervous tick, so I wasn't even safe with silence. I was the fat, twitchy, boy that paid attention in class. Then one day I was in computer class (my best subject) and one of my "attackers" politely asked me for help. Being the nice guy that I am, I agreed to help him. After about 20 minutes of teaching him to use Corel Draw, without stuttering or twitching once, I left him to his work and sat back at my computer and continued my work. After that, he was civil to me. We weren't really friends, but we were friendly. The same thing occured with several other people, I found that if they weren't with their clique, they were decent to me. It was just when they were in their pack, that they'd tease me. It took me until my senior year to realize that they weren't teasing me because they were mean. They were doing it because in their mind it was what they had to do to belong.

Sadly, I don't think they realized it.

But that was school, it's been ten years since I was there, and try not to dwell on it. My stutter is gone, so is the twitch, I'm not fat anymore, I live in a nice house, and have a beautiful woman who loves me dearly.

In the end kids will be kids, some will do stupid stuff because they think they have to in order to make themselves feel better. Some adults do too, which is really sad.

-HollywoodBob

[Rose Hunter]

I don't know why.

Some people will use any excuse, though, to pick on another and thusly achieve a false sense of superiority.

I used to have a stutter when I was in grade school.

My problem was that my thoughts went by so much more quickly than my mouth, and I had so much information to share, I'd get excited and trip over my own words.

I don't stutter as much now. Only when I'm tired or in a hurry.

I was my own speech therapist.

What I did to stop my stuttering was I forced myself to think about what I wanted to say before I said it. Slowed myself down so I wouldn't stumble trying to convey too much information at once.

Perhaps that will work for your friend.

[thinkpink38]

Because they are different, perhaps. People arent used to being around other people with that problem. Which, if thats the case, I think is just immaturity.

[Pansy]

I was just thinking about this and started to wonder. I have a friend who stutters, and she's always really stressed out. She only does it once in a while, but sometimes when we're having convos. I don't see anything to tease her about. She's a really cool person, and has a lot of friends. However, there are still these few "popular" guys in our grade who poke fun at her and imitate her. Why is that? Do they think it's cool? Are they intimidated by her (she's really smart)? I don't think it's a big deal. It shouldn't matter. Why do they do that?

My Father stutters, and at time it can take forever for him to complete a sentence. I am very patient with him and didn't realize it until a boyfriend who stutters commented that he loved how I waited until he finished what he was trying to say. I guess I just learned early to be more tolerant and understanding.

I think some people tend to tease or worse, interrupt the person speaking because they are insecure and impatient. I know that at times I'm so anxious for my Father to end a sentence that I find myself distracted and easily upset because I'm forced to be so patient. My guess is that sometimes the teasing is a direct reaction to anticipation of listening to the person speak... not that that should be an excuse for being rude.

Just my thoughts.

[thethirdman]

I had a bad stutter when I was in 6-8th grade, and caught a lot of teasing for it. Looking back, I think the teasing stems from the fact that junior high and early high school years are insecure years for young people whether they show their insecurities or not. Some deal with their insecurities by making fun of others. It takes the focus, both the group's and their own, off of them and puts it on someone else. That doesn't make it right. It doesn't make it esxcusable.

Some people never change. I suspect a few of those guys will carry that behavior into their college years and possible beyond.

[mynameisrene]

Though I see what you mean, and agree with all that people are saying, how could you DO that to a person when you knew that they couldn't help it? That is just so cruel... :no:

[Doggy]

A lot of it can have to do with embarrassment from the people who tease. They don’t always know how to act. Should they ignore it or should they mention it in passing? Sometimes people don’t know where to look or how to look when people start stuttering (or in other cases as well) and they therefore try to hide their embarrassment through teasing.

This makes it in no ways acceptable though.

[Tane]

Teasing someone who is different to you is sometimes due to being afraid of something they do not understand. As a result a person attempts humor to try and over come there discomfort from what is to them a difficult and confusing situation. Most of those that tease can not relate to what the person might be going through and it is only when they look beyond the difference and get to know that there is a human being just like them underneath that impediment, there opinions and treatment of someone changes.

I am afraid society has a habit of labeling people incorrectly and therefore triggering misconceptions within the populous.

[mynameisrene]

This all makes perfect sense, and yet I just can't understand how someone could gain pleasure, comfort, or piece of mind by teasing other people.

[TheFifthMarauder]

This all makes perfect sense, and yet I just can't understand how someone could gain pleasure, comfort, or piece of mind by teasing other people.

A lot of people are afraid of the "unknown", and anything/body that's different. It makes them feel powerful when they can make fun of somebody, and can cause them pain. I guess bullies think that if they can make fun of someone and make that person suffer, no one would make fun of them.

[Adalbert Waffling]

I have something of a speech impediment. I do think that hearing myself talk on the school news report as a reporter straightened it out...I heard myself and worked to fix it. I have a voice for pictures. :p

[Scabbers]

People tease people with speach imparments because they are different, and no other reason but to make themselves feel better.
It may also stem from instinct (but very vaguely) take for instance a flock of birds. If one bird is hurt, albino what ever it will get attacked and killed by the rest of its flock as it is causing attention to be drawn to the flock from predators. So what im say is maybe unconciously, because we are "civillised" now, people attack with words instead of physically.

[Revolution]

This is all very true.

But...

I have to admit I'm not the nicest person in the world. There used to be a girl in my class which no one liked. Not just my class, even other people just didn't like her. Mainly because she acted weird(she always overreacted and said annoying things), was being way to open about how much she weighed, and she had this horrible dry skin which made everybody distance from her. And...she had a stuttering problem. Communicating with her was really hard, and all these other problems she had just added up. And we all gossiped about her. Now I know she can't do anything about her stuttering, but I still don't like her.

Go ahead, rant at me, I know I deserve it.

[HarryPotter]

I really don't know why some people (unfortunately not just kids) seem to enjoy making others suffer, laughing at them and making them feel inferior...
When I was at school, I was the bullied guy, by both teachers and students, it was a real nightmare for me... that ended creating me some psychological problems, such as depression, extreme shyness, and inferiority complex...
The day I finally left school, I can say I've started a new life...

[Arminius]

People fear people who are different. They do not understand the problem, and to deal with the fact they dont understand, they make fun of it.

I have developed some speech problems after football, It can be really hard for me at times to say the word right. Some of my friends make fun of me for it, but a quick jab to their ribs gets them to stop. (I dont hurt them, just a slight punch to knock some sense into them, some of you might not want to do that, lol).

People seem to realize real power comes from knowing you can do something, but don't, that is control, and control is absolute power.

[Adalbert Waffling]

Yeah, people make fun of me. I'm a huge dork. :p But it's ok. It's not that bad. Me and my small group of friends hang out.

[SilverStar]

Arminius is right. I think it's just out of the ordinary and you know how people are Dursley-ish and don't like it.

I stutter bad sometimes, when I don't know exactly what I want to say.

[siriusgurl]

I have a speech impedement. I have to see somene for it (who immitates me more then anyone else which really makes me want to kill her) though since you can always understand what I say I don't really see the point in going, I get lots of compliments on my "accent" and I really don't see the problem in letting them assume what they wish. The thing that really annoys me is not the mocking its the fact of how people you'd expect to be okay with it act. My friends ask me about it, if I was born with it (which since we're not born already fluent in language makes it somewhat confusing trying to explain) if its a mental problem, or if where having an argument they'll use it to hurt my feelings. Also the fact that I always get a low mark on oral reports because of it is somewhat frustrating. So I think people make fun of it because they are as has been said before jerks or really don't understand it and can only see it as "different."

[mynameisrene]

That must be frustrating... I know that my friend has to see a speech therapist every once in a while, and she hates her. I'm not exactly sure why, though. I think she's a little...um...different.

[Bouncing_Ferret]

I've never had a speech impediment - I can imagine though how difficult it would be sometimes, especially in school situations where you have to talk for ages, like in oral presentations and such. I'm really self-conscious about my voice though - I speak 'properly', if you will, what some people think is 'posh' but really isn't, and throughout school people kept... er... reminding me of it. As they do. As a result, I get really nervous whenever I meet new people, and it takes me a few seconds to calm down before I can comfortably talk to anyone! Odd... :D

[Marie Lexis]

Most people who do that just do it to get more attention and/or make themselves feel better about themselves. It makes them feel like they have more power and in turn they can do anything they want. If she's smart then that probably makes them feel smarter in class because they feel like they are picking on someone mentaly weaker then them. I don't know why. It just makes them look childish.

[mynameisrene]

Hmmm... I guess that makes sense... the guy who teases her is kind of like Malfoy in HP, I guess you could say. He's really tall and skinny, and is really popular with the people that nobody really hangs out with a lot. He likes to party and pick on people... :(

[MnMbabe]

I think people with speech impediments are teased becuase the ones who do the teasing arent satisfied with themselves, and need to take it out on others. To them, the ones with speech impediments are 'different' and cant see past the way they talk.

[Queen of Wise]

The same reason Handi-capped people are teased...because people see someone who looks/talks different and they laugh at them for their differences. Like the old saying goes "You laugh at me cause' im different, I laugh cause' your all the same".

[Kirsten]

People tease other people for all sorts of reasons. Speech impediment, glasses, spots, red hair, weight problems, calipers, crooked teeth, unfashionable clothes... It's not nice and it can be very cruel, but it has always happened and it will probably always happen. You just have to remember that not everybody is that cruel, that everybody - and I mean everybody - has something about they they could be teased for - and school doesn't last for ever.

[red_fairy]

The reason is plain and simple. People can be real jerks. Not everyone teases people about things like their appearance or a speech impediment, but many are more than willing to.

[Ms Weasley]

Another speech impedimenta here! I've got problems pronouncing s-t-v and f correctly, though it has gotten better since I saw a speech therapist.

With me people didn't really make fun because I was different, but more that some words came out so funny. I automatically turned an s into a th, so go figure. Something like 'Sally said so-and-so was false' turned into 'Thally thaid tho-and-tho wath falth'. When I hear myself doing that on tapes I just burst out laughing.

[ComicBookWorm]

People are insensitive and they often treat anyone who is different cruelly.

[kaz]

Do you know, it really ticks me of! the first impression someone gets when they see me is good **** he stutters or the i feel sorry for him look, its awfull i hated school, girls that i fancied use to say your good looking but well you cant speak can you? well stuff you then you stuck up cow, and its even hard at work, dealing with customers, or the feeling that employees talk about you

[Virtuousdream]

It's human unkindness that leads to cruelty overc speech problems. I have noticed that there is a diminishment of it when you get older because people come more accepting when they know you for a long time.

I have never had a huge speech problem, due to the good speech therapy I had. When I was little, for some reason (persumed common ear infections when I was learning to talk affected my hearing) I couldn't talk a word of english, it was literally gobbledigook. It reached the stage when I was about 2/3 I was taken to speech theripy to have them teach me to speak. Anyway I can now speech perfectly fine, except sometimes when I get excited, you can hear a slight lisp, and my pronounciation of new words isn't very good straight away, but I have never had any bullying because of speech problems, because it was sorted out.

However, a slight twist on the subject is my accent. I am a southerner in heart, but live in the North of England. Anyway the apparent North/South divide made me get a lot of teasing for myt accent; "there goes the posh...". Anyway it was one of the few things that never bothered me because I wouldn't want another accent. Now peoplec never mention it because they have 'grown up'. In my views anyone who is unkind over speech isn't worth dealing with.

Anyway just my thoughts :)

[jasper]

Speech disorders can be quite frustrating for everyone - the speaker, the listeners- because verbal communication is so important, yet it is taken for granted. It's just expected that speaking is going to be smooth, understandable, and to flow at a certain rate.
I think some of the reason teasing may occur is that people are venting frustration. I'm not saying it's justified, but I do think that the frustration factor, the impatience, and similar emotions get people acting out. And this is more likely to happen with people who haven't mastered what to do with emotions of that sort- immature kids, or immature adults.

I teach hundreds of elementary kids, so I hear quite a lot of different speech difficulties. Younger kids really don't seem to comment on it in their peers, and in fact, they learn to interpret quite quickly. For an example, I taught a 6 year old who was really tough to understand because he seldom said the first consonant sound of any word. His classmates understood him and would tell me what he had said, and everyone got along without teasing. I expect that won't last when the kids get to the age where normality and conformity matter to them.


I agree with everyone on pretty much everything, except for one thing...

I don't think that bullies or people that make fun of others are usually unhappy. Because I used to be a real jerk when I was about 10, and I was (honestly)perfectly happy, I just enjoyed making fun of people. But I grew up... so I guess the bullies are just immature. :shrug:

I think that's really interesting because we're always being told bullies have no self esteem. Maybe that's it for some, maybe too much self esteem is it for others, maybe a lack of maturity for others.

[Alfonzo]

I guess at a very basic level it's all about being different. What I don't understand is why people have to mock others who are different, but I suppose we all do it sometimes in varying forms without even realising. Take, for example, talking about Ned's/Chav's (UK term)in a disdainful manner - or I suppose for the American equivalent, people from trailer parks. Is that right? :huh: We can all be so thoughtless without realising it, we just have to be careful not to put anyone down ever (What a tough task!). Imagine what a difference it would make if instead of putting people down, we built them up with encouragement... What a challenge!

[Stayce]

These are not my actions but my thoughts.

Now that you know I would never do it I will say that the reason they are teased is that speech to someone who has no problem with it is so basic that the fact that someone could have a problem with it is extremely hard to grasp. You can see a physical deformity of a limb or a body part so it is esier to sympathize with that immpairment. But You cannot see what is wrong with someone with a speech impairment. It is just like someone making fun of a retarded, psychotic, or deaf person. You cannot immagine what that would be like in most cases so because you have a fear of the unknown you make it into a joke to cope. It is very sad but true. My best friend studdered so bad as a kid it literally took minutes to say one sentence. Most everybody waited for him to finish but I started finishing sentences for him becuase I knew him well and knew what he was trying to say. Once he saw that I accepted him and was just trying to help him and that his ideas were out there and understood even thought he stuttered he relaxed, after a while he learned to talk completely normal, and most people don't even remember he ever had the problem. All you have to do is listen and don't make it an issue when you don't understand just ask them to repeat it.

[potter_chick]

i guess people reject the unfermiller. some people can be REALLY mean
my cousin who is 5 years old has a speech impediment, she mumbels and stutters and its kinda hard to understander her, well all the girls in her preeschool made fun of her cuz of it and never talked to her. i was shocked cuz kids that were 5 were doing this ! well my cousin took speech improvement classes and she talks much better !

[Wep]

I have just finished my degree in Speech Therapy....I think I should duck cause i can see some people have had bad experiences, and I can totally understand that there are some shocking ones out there.

I think people are teased b/c they don't understand. They think that cause you can't speak properly, you must be stupid, and that isn't the case

[morgiana]

When I started school I didn't say my R's properly. It was bad because alot of words including my name have R's. I was sent to speech therapy. It was fun and I got out of class. I liked to go so I never really got over my impediment.

People still will occasionally comment on it. When I was younger kids teased me. We all are uncomfortable with anything different so we make fun of it.

[AsKPeeVes]

Why are people with speech impediments teased?

Because there differant and are soicety really doesnt like things that are differant or unexpainable..So since the person is differant then the average person that everyone grows up seeing on the TV or anywhere they get teased.. i think thats just horrible people need to really just grow up.

[ts7200]

It boils down to any kind of bullying in general. I'd say the general consensus would be because they are making up for some sort of inadequacies in their life. In general though these sorts of people will end up with crappy lives, so you and your friend can take solice in the fact that most likely your life down the road will be better than theirs. In high school I hung out with a group of guys who for the most part were like this, and for the most part most of them are either unemployed or are working a meaningless job for crappy pay and wish they had been more serious in school.

And as an aside, askpeeves: is that picture from the movie labrynth in your signature?? I haven't seen that movie in AGES!

[AsKPeeVes]

It boils down to any kind of bullying in general. I'd say the general consensus would be because they are making up for some sort of inadequacies in their life. In general though these sorts of people will end up with crappy lives, so you and your friend can take solice in the fact that most likely your life down the road will be better than theirs. In high school I hung out with a group of guys who for the most part were like this, and for the most part most of them are either unemployed or are working a meaningless job for crappy pay and wish they had been more serious in school.

And as an aside, askpeeves: is that picture from the movie labrynth in your signature?? I haven't seen that movie in AGES!
True there really not happy with them selfs like if anyones read the book the outsiders One of the Soc Bob was really mean to everyone and and jumped greasers and stuff..but all he wanted was for his parent to show some punishment towards him he wanted his parents to act like parents so he would try to get in trouble and would try and bring other people down with him so he would try and ruin there lifes as well..

@ts7200::agree: Yeah its David bowie..

[ts7200]

Haha thats awesome! I just haven't seen that movies since I was younger! How old are you if you don't mind my asking? I seem to remember seing that movie when I was VERY young. Bring back good memories haha :)

Back on the topic though, that is what it was for a couple of my buddies.. they just werent happy with who they were I don't think, most of the meaner ones weren't very smart and not overly good at any sport or anything. The few of us in the group that weren't pricks were smart and star athletes so I guess we were happier with who we were :P

[AsKPeeVes]

Haha thats awesome! I just haven't seen that movies since I was younger! How old are you if you don't mind my asking? I seem to remember seing that movie when I was VERY young. Bring back good memories haha :)

Back on the topic though, that is what it was for a couple of my buddies.. they just werent happy with who they were I don't think, most of the meaner ones weren't very smart and not overly good at any sport or anything. The few of us in the group that weren't pricks were smart and star athletes so I guess we were happier with who we were :P
Yeah i think it really is just is a probelm with your self to make fun of those who have disablitys or are any bit differant then the steriotype for the perfect person people need to sick to reality...Its like making fun of an older person cause they cant take care of them selfs yet they/we might be in the same position one day.
@Ts7200: 15 i remeber seeing it when i was 7 or 8...

[PropayneBunnie]

Why are people with speech impediments teased?

Well, for the most part, when being teased the person with the speech impediment is usually being ridiculed by a group and/or an individual(s) within the group. Moving along with this information, would it be they are being teased because from those doing the teasing have singled them out as easy targets and are using them to forward themselves in the groups eyes, or trying to fit in by following an example set by some others in the group? I, through my own experiences would have to say it's a mob mentality where this is concerned, as sick as that mentality can get they do it because they are trying to feel more powerful. Now by more powerful they can either be afraid of it, confused by it, or anything along those lines and want so make themselves feel bigger than it by ridiculing it and by demeaning the ones that have no control over what they were given.

That's my rant for now. (Sorry to those of you who read it and thought it either didnt make any sense, or was just pointless, it made sense as i went on with it.)

[busy91]

When you say people I am assuming you are primarily talking about young kids/teens.

My thinking is, 1) People make fun of what they don't understand. Stutters, lispers, etc...sound different and for those who do not know why these impediments happen, they laugh, because these people are different from them.

2) People are teased by those who are insecure with themselves. As you said your friend is cool & has a lot of friends, except for those few guys who tease her. Sounds like part immaturity, part ignorance and part insecurity.

[Wep]

I think the lack of understanding is the key....I have had many clients that have been thought of as stupid, because they can't say what they want and they can't pronounce things how they want .

But I think the feeling powerful, cooler thing fits, as in any type of teasing. Speech is easier to tease cause it is most obvious. If you didn't talk in fear of being teased, you would be teased for that also.

On that note however, I have had many clients that have a great bunch of friends, and have never been teased for the way they sound

[genesis]

People are teased because they are different. Kids can be very cruel to nonconformists. If a kid appears to be different, they will do bad things to him. Some people with certain kinds of speech impediments will let other people think it is an accent instead of an impediment. People view you on the basis of little things. So many assumptions are made based off of how you speak. If you speak well, people will think well of you and vice versa.

[nerdypants]

People who tease others like that are stupid prats who deserve to be kicked! Maybe we should laugh at them for something they can't help... like having empty heads...

[Norbertha]

I have had many clients that have been thought of as stupid, because they can't say what they want and they can't pronounce things how they want .


Great point, Wep. It does not only apply to speech impediments, it also applies to people with a different accent.

People with a rural accent are often percieved as "nice, but simple". For example a speaker of a Scottish dialect interacting with an RP speaker. There's a lot of research on this, where they use a method called the Matched Guise technique. In Matched Guise, respondents listen to a tape, where several speakers say the same thing in different accents. Then they are asked questions about how intelligent the speakers sound and how likeable they sound. What the respondents don't know, is that the speakers on the tape are actually one person: an actor or a person who can speak in several accents. So any difference in scores will be due to their perception of the accents, and not of the actual intelligence or likeability of the speaker. Typically rural accents score high on likeability, but low on intelligence. They have low prestige, but high solidarity.

Another thing is speakers with a foreign accent. I have never felt discriminated against because of my foreign accent when I speak English, but again, I've read about experiments that show that foreign speakers are percieved as less intelligent than their native speaker counterparts.