Stuttering Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

It is estimated that 80% of stutterers are male. While various theories (peer pressure, stress, need to succeed, etc.) have been presented, no one really knows why stutterers are predominantly male.

Answer: True

In Europe, especially in Great Britain, the word 'stammering' is commonly used. In the U.S., the preferred word is 'stuttering'.

Answer: False

Trying to 'help' a stutterer only causes him or her to become even more aware of their difficulty in speaking. Filling in the troublesome word and telling a stutterer that your Uncle Harry stuttered as a child, but outgrew it, are also examples of what not to do. Just try to be patient; even if we turn red in the face, we'll eventually get the word out.

Answer: False

Moses is the biblical figure who most possibly stuttered. Exodus 4:10: "Moses said to the Lord: "Lord, I am not a man of words. I have never been. Even now since You spoke to Your servant, I still am not. For I am slow in talking and it is difficult for me to speak." (New Life Version, 1969)

Answer: True

As bizarre as this may seem, the Valsalva Control recommends tightening the anal and rectal muscles as a way of gaining control over all of the muscles leading up to the laryngeal muscle. This method was developed by Anton Maria Valsalva (1666-1723), an Italian anatomist. Notice how a weight lifter holds his breath as he strains to lift a heavy object over his head...he is doing the Valsalva maneuver.

Answer: False

Popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, self-hypnosis was based on the theory that stutterers could 'snap out of it', and that stuttering was all in the mind. However, post-hypnotic suggestions are unreliable and short-lived.

Answer: True

Studies have shown that stutterers have slightly less activity around the 'speech areas' of the brain, located in the left hemisphere. A majority of stutterers show evidence of 'bilateral speech', indicating activity on both sides of the brain.

Answer: False

Despite the fact that some of history's greatest thinkers and writers have stuttered - Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Lewis Carroll, and Winston Churchill among them - many researchers have found that, on an average, stutterers tend to do worse on intelligence tests.

The risk of stuttering is three times greater than average in the mentally retarded. This is not to imply that stuttering is a sign of low intelligence, but that persons of low intelligence are more prone to delays and disorders in speech development.

Answer: True

A stutterer having difficulty saying the word 'potato' ('puh-puh-puh-potato') is not stumbling over the 'p' sound, but experiencing problems in moving on to the vowel sound that follows the 'p'. When a stutterer makes no attempt to phonate (say a word out loud), but merely mouths the word silently, no stuttering is evident.

Answer: True

The voice of Darth Vader and "This is CNN..." learned to control his stutter by taking acting lessons. He openly admits that he is not 'cured', but that he has developed ways of speaking that give him mastery over his speech. Other prominent people who stutter are John Stossel ("20/20"), Nicholas Brendan of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer", singer Carly Simon, and Rowan (Mr. Bean) Atkinson.