If someone you met had a speech impediment, like I don't know, they were deaf, they repeated themselves alot, had a Southern drawl, talked gangsta, or had an Elmer Fudd accent, could you get past it and continue the relationship? Or do they need to go to speech class? Two things that happened to me: I once knew a girl that actually did talk like Elmer Fudd, She could not pronounce 'R's or 'L's. The other one I knew way over-used the phrase "You know," and she swore like a drunken sailor, or maybe she just has Tourette's Syndrome.

You consider a Southern Drawl a speech impediment??? LMAO

I have had a g/f who was deaf from birth and had a very hard time forming words because she couldn't hear herself say them. Wasn't a big deal to me.

I had another g/f who had a problem with her upper palate and couldn't form the letter r properly. Again, no big deal.

Wow, I'm sure Southerners and gangstas will be pleased to know they have a speech impediment.....

pfft...I sound like Ellie Mae Clampett

I have no problems with lisps or anything like that in a person

im not sure but i get a feeling in some ways your puting a person down by there speach disabilty...

well to let you know
i took speach classes in grade school through junior high for i would tend to talk way to fast.... as of now i had taught myself to slow down, but every now and then i will talk fast and i will stop myself..

and my son also has the same issue. but that has to do with his birthdefect

Ellie Mae was HOTT!!!!

I said I sounded like her...not looked like her

Wasn't she though?

You're hott too.

Everyone has a speech impediment, including me. I have that darned Midwestern accent, and I over use the word "actually." And I sometimes say the word "schnack" instead of snack. Everyone is different, I know that, but I would like to find out if there are people out there who are "put-off" by the way they some people talk. Call it a sociological experiment. Live long and prosper.

Where's Dan when you need him.

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Main Entry: im·ped·i·ment
Pronunciation: \im-ˈpe-də-mənt\
Function: noun
Date: 14th century

1 : something that impedes; especially : an impairment (as a stutter or a lisp) that interferes with the proper articulation of speech
2 : a bar or hindrance (as lack of sufficient age) to a lawful marriage

Therefore, by definition, an "impediment" is a barrier or a flaw. So you're saying everyone has a flaw in their speech? Um, I don't think so, I know many people who speak perfect English, including myself. I admit that there are various regional dialects, usage of slang, vast mispronunciations due to lack of education, pop culture, age, etc. and so forth, but to say that everyone's speech is guilty of this is a huge generalization.

my son had a hard time with certain letters and still occasionally does...he's 18

No kidding. Talk about a speech impediment...lmao

He's probably napping.

Yeah, well..it's not like I would have to close my eyes. Yer gorgeous too.

Another thing I'd like to reiterate about "speech impediments," this is a phrase not created by me, and tends to be interpreted somehow as a handicap. In reality it is nothing more than a curiosity or a habit from a learned behavior, and the inability to correct the behavior. Try getting a Frenchman to correctly pronounce any word starting with "th." Or a Latino to pronounce a word starting with "s" or "y." Or a Chinese to pronounce a word starting with "R." Or a Japanese pronouncing a word starting with "L." There seems to be cultural obstacles involved when learning a language. Whenever I learned a new language, I was taught that pronunciation and grammar are very important, but when our international guests come here, they take short-cuts, and we still get the gist of what they are trying to say.

Here I go and create a new topic for us to dicuss and you get all Merriam-Webster on me. I'm not holding a trial here, all I mean here is, if you met someone that spoke in a peculiar way, at least what you yourself defined as peculiar, would you hold it against them?

I'm born and raised in Alabama..that doesn't mean that I can't speak correctly..I just chose not to..lol.