Sep. 5, 2008 - I Am Speech Impaired...
It has recently become apparent that I am speech impaired... But only in some parts of the globe, mind you. I have always known that I cannot roll my R's. It's come up mostly when singing. But as long as I slipped in a little bit of a "D" sound, I could fake manageably well. I never saw it as any big deal.
Fast forward to this year when we as a homeschool family commence to learn the Spanish language. With a high schooler who is college-bound, foreign language is a necessary and needful subject. So yesterday we are listening to the CD with the examples of how to pronounce the Spanish alphabet sounds. Suffice it to say that the inability to roll my R's is a much larger issue when trying to speak Spanish!
We all had a great laugh imagining how it would have gone for me if I'd been born only a few hundred miles south! I would have found myself landing squarely in speech therapy I'm sure. We, with many a chuckle, concluded that Mom has a Mexican Lisp! I don't know which made them laugh more... the conversation at hand, or my pathetic failures at the Crash-Course for How to Roll Your R's? Both were quite humorous my children will assure you!
Incidentally, I have never for the life of me understood why the word "lisp" was chosen as a title for that affliction... A person suffering from this malady is in no way, shape, or form able to enunciate the very thing that he/she is diagnosed with! It seems to my way of thinking that "lisp" should have been the absolute last resort as a title for this particular condition.
In thinking through my particular circumstances, my high school son deduced that we should change the title of my apparent difficulties. It should more closely match the predicament that "American lisp" sufferers endure. So in keeping with that premise, I could say that I have a "Rarrrrrr." Make sure and roll those R's like crazy as you say it! And if I'm trying to say it, it will come out more like "Rdard."
So Mexican Lisp, or Rrarr, or Rdard... Any way you cut it, I have it!!! I guess it's kind of like the song "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." Just imagine it instead as, "You've Got a Speech Impediment Somewhere."
Comments
Sep. 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Patiecake
That's funny you say that. I often studder and I think it's cause my mind is talking faster than my mouth. LOL Thanks for stopping by. I have been out of the bloggy world for quite awhile
