4 ms·

Terrence Tao also stutters.

• espeed 8y ago
  Stuttering is not the right word. I'm not a speech specialist, but stuttering and stammering are not the right words. It's something else.
• copperx 8y ago
  I disagree; his speech seems normal to me. However, I have been thinking about the unique speech patterns of some accomplished individuals. My uninformed guess is that some people develop neural connections differently depending on what they do in their formative years. Feynman, in a video [1], talks about how he was able to keep accurate time while reading but not talking, whereas his friend John Tukey could keep time while talking but not reading. If someone doesn't talk much as a kid because they spent most of their time reading or solving math problems, it might be reasonable to expect that their speech will be underdeveloped. I have nothing but anecdotal evidence. I, for instance, cannot talk and think (perform simple arithmetic or recall something from memory or even think about the next sentence) at the same time. If I'm talking, I have to pause shortly, think and structure what I'm going to say, and then say it, and after saying it I might notice I missed something and then I rephrase it. I've recorded myself and my speech pattern is almost the same as the one in Knuth's videos. I attribute the speech pattern to not having to talk much during my formative years. [1]: http://generallythinking.com/richard-feynman-on-thinking-processes-did-he-know-nothing-about-psychology-v/ http://generallythinking.com/richard-feynman-on-thinking-pro...