h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As pointed out in the entry, this shows seriously poor judgement.

The people that do this in real life (and even online) probably think that they are just injecting a bit of humor. The worst case I've ever experienced happened to a friend of mine in college. We both had the same literature teacher and she was abominable. She showed obvious favoritism for athletic young men in class. This friend, a female, was struggling with her grade, something she'd never had a problem with in a literature class before. One day she asked the teacher in class for some clarification on a point. As she began to stammer, the teacher literally sneered back at her, "J- j- j- just sp- sp- spit it out." My friend ran crying from the class room as many in the class laughed.

I also have an occasional stutter, and I urged my friend to report this teacher to the dean. She didn't, sadly. I'm sure the experience was devastating and I'm also sure the teacher didn't think twice about it.

That's horrific, especially from a teacher. Pretty much gives a green light to everyone else to join in, too.....

It's bad enough at the best of times, but when it comes from an authority figure, it influences the behaviour of others too....

My problem is I had a stutter as a child which went away (I like to think it was the old marbles in the mouth by the seaside trick but it probably just went away). I have a colleague who has a severe stammer and I find myself hesitating when I talk with him. Not a full blown copy but a faint reflection. He's a very good fella and I feel awful when I do it but I hope he either doesn't notice or it's not as bad as I think since he hasn't said anything.

It's not uncommon for people who stammer to 'set each other off' like that. I don't know why this should be. But I'd be surprised if it came across to your colleague as if you were doing it deliberately and maliciously.....

That is a relief, thank you. We remain people who are glad to see each other (he works in the field and I work mostly indoors).

A friend has a notorious stammer, and I say notorious because I think occasionally he would lure out some unfortunate fool to say, "Spit it out!" and he would turn on them with a cobra's reflexes and say, "When I'm ready, I will, thank you...n-n-now wh-wh-where was I?"

He said he practiced one or two lines like that, just so that when the time came they came out reflexively without thought. He said he wasn't wasting his time preaching to anyone.