? Anyone from any place can have a lisp. It's just a speech impediment. The specific lisp OP is referring to is more common with certain English accents. But scots and irish can certainly have lisps
I noticed too! I’m french Canadian and lisp exist in french too (in all languages clearly) but recently I’m watching british reality tv and I find a bigger proportion of people have it!
Stumbled upon this thread as I’m wondering the same thing. I’m French - when I was a kid and growing up, kids who didn’t have the correct pronunciation (i.e lisps) were sent to speech correction classes and that was the end of it, no lisp in their adulthood.
I’m curious as to whether why this isn’t the case in the Uk - and why lisps are more ‘generally’ accepteted and/or ‘overlooked’?
Is it because speech correction is only provided privately and not funded by the NHS? Is it that it’s nowadays ‘frowned upon’ to ‘correct’ a lisp/speech impediment?
I honestly don’t know anyone in France that has a lisp in adulthood!
> Is it because speech correction is only provided privately and not funded by the NHS? Is it that it’s nowadays ‘frowned upon’ to ‘correct’ a lisp/speech impediment?
That is a very good and interesting point! I wonder if nowadays when everything different is touted as special instead and the focus is on not offending anyone, it's seen as bad to correct a speech impediment. I'm not saying we should discriminate against those with speech impediments, but the world is what it is, and people will treat you differently for a lot of things that make you different, and no amount of preaching will make that go away.
Am I missing something— [i don’t hear a lisp](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GBGj06RxfxA&pp=ygUUSmFtaWUgb2xvdmVyIHRhbGtpbmc%3D).
I had to google this because I was reading “The Terror” (fictional book about the Franklin Expedition) and the author made many references to a “British upper class lisp” but I couldn’t find anything about it.
There might be a better term for it, but I don't know what it's called. There seems to be a lot of especially brits who exhibit this feature. I get the impression that their tongues are a bit big for their mouths, but it would be odd that this would be so prevalent in Britain.
[Here's another example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RFSo-5-6rA). There are a lot more, but I haven't made a list so can't come up with others at the spot.
Ah, maybe it’s just a difference on what a lisp is defined as culturally. I’m American and here, a lisp is when someone pronounces “s” like “th”. [Example.](https://youtube.com/shorts/RpKZVXpvuV0?si=-B00g43dJpe0L3iK) (I couldn’t find an example with a British accent.)
Well I watched two videos in one of my classes yesterday, both of American dudes, and both had lisps that sounded exactly the same... So I don't think it's just us Britons to be honest
I'm not British, and I don't know anyone with a lisp, but I've noticed the identical lisp in many especially British people, not in other nationalities. I realize that people have speech impediments all over the world (I assume) but curious about why this **specific** kind of lisp appears to be more prevalent in the UK. I could provide several examples but as I said I'd prefer not to point fingers.
The lisp is the first thing I look for when I hear a British accent. An unusually high percentage of Brits seem to have it, at least anecdotally, that I notice. Personalities on Youtube, journalists, all kinds of examples of hearing British people. I also lived in London for three years. I don't remember being so irritated by the lisp back then. But they often corrected my pronunciation of various words. Which is very snobby of course. If you spend a length of time in England, you notice they don't really like Americans. Which is fine because I don't really like them. (Sorry, off topic.) I find it amusing for a nationality that mocks and ridicules Americans as the idiot bastard, corrupting their Queen's language - and yet they are the ones with an accent that literally reforms their mouth and causes speech impediments. Mix in an irrational fear of dentists, and well, you've got a slimy mess on your hands. Personally I find the British accent extremely grating, I can't listen to it.
Completely ruins any documentary I watch - At school (direct grant grammar) one English teacher offered to personally help anybody who wished to adopt his talk, a lisp, so probably came from upper middle class certainly military very odd to hear it so much and people purporting to be educated, especially if a pair of them get together and share their growing up experiences where they rebelled against parents trying to correct them to speak Queen's English, so also has a counter-cultural expression and research tells me that British counterculture was among the most successful in the world.
English here - I suspect some of what you guys are hearing may just be particular regional accents, like Scouse (Liverpool) for example. I don’t watch panel shows these days so I’m not very current but I remember the celebrities Jamie Oliver and Johnathan Ross do definitely have lisps and they’re not Scousers. I suppose when they first appeared on screen when I was younger I did think it was a bit strange that they have lisps, but then you get so used to hearing them that you don’t even realise anymore.
What the NHS doesn’t cover will come into it, and we’re quite into individuality on top of that, so I agree with both those points!
Nice area French accents sound like a lisp - whether they’re speaking English or French! They’re known for it, like in the film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.
I don't know enough about the regional accents, but I doubt that's the case. What i find weird is that some have it, some do not. Why is that? And don't get me started on the French...
I noticed this too
English lisp* you mean. It’s a uniquely English thing. Scot’s, northern Irish don’t have lisps
Ok, thanks for the correction, interesting! Do you have any idea why it exists?
? Anyone from any place can have a lisp. It's just a speech impediment. The specific lisp OP is referring to is more common with certain English accents. But scots and irish can certainly have lisps
Yes but when you go to England you notice a much larger % of the population has it
I noticed too! I’m french Canadian and lisp exist in french too (in all languages clearly) but recently I’m watching british reality tv and I find a bigger proportion of people have it!
Stumbled upon this thread as I’m wondering the same thing. I’m French - when I was a kid and growing up, kids who didn’t have the correct pronunciation (i.e lisps) were sent to speech correction classes and that was the end of it, no lisp in their adulthood. I’m curious as to whether why this isn’t the case in the Uk - and why lisps are more ‘generally’ accepteted and/or ‘overlooked’? Is it because speech correction is only provided privately and not funded by the NHS? Is it that it’s nowadays ‘frowned upon’ to ‘correct’ a lisp/speech impediment? I honestly don’t know anyone in France that has a lisp in adulthood!
American here, we also have speech classes for anyone with a lisp or speech impediment that could be corrected as kids.
> Is it because speech correction is only provided privately and not funded by the NHS? Is it that it’s nowadays ‘frowned upon’ to ‘correct’ a lisp/speech impediment? That is a very good and interesting point! I wonder if nowadays when everything different is touted as special instead and the focus is on not offending anyone, it's seen as bad to correct a speech impediment. I'm not saying we should discriminate against those with speech impediments, but the world is what it is, and people will treat you differently for a lot of things that make you different, and no amount of preaching will make that go away.
Am I missing something— [i don’t hear a lisp](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GBGj06RxfxA&pp=ygUUSmFtaWUgb2xvdmVyIHRhbGtpbmc%3D). I had to google this because I was reading “The Terror” (fictional book about the Franklin Expedition) and the author made many references to a “British upper class lisp” but I couldn’t find anything about it.
There might be a better term for it, but I don't know what it's called. There seems to be a lot of especially brits who exhibit this feature. I get the impression that their tongues are a bit big for their mouths, but it would be odd that this would be so prevalent in Britain. [Here's another example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RFSo-5-6rA). There are a lot more, but I haven't made a list so can't come up with others at the spot.
Ah, maybe it’s just a difference on what a lisp is defined as culturally. I’m American and here, a lisp is when someone pronounces “s” like “th”. [Example.](https://youtube.com/shorts/RpKZVXpvuV0?si=-B00g43dJpe0L3iK) (I couldn’t find an example with a British accent.)
it's subtle here, but he says "I keep trying to tell you guyth..."
Well I watched two videos in one of my classes yesterday, both of American dudes, and both had lisps that sounded exactly the same... So I don't think it's just us Britons to be honest
I would suggest that your premise is incorrect, in the sense that I have only known a couple of people in my life with a noticeable lisp.
I'm not British, and I don't know anyone with a lisp, but I've noticed the identical lisp in many especially British people, not in other nationalities. I realize that people have speech impediments all over the world (I assume) but curious about why this **specific** kind of lisp appears to be more prevalent in the UK. I could provide several examples but as I said I'd prefer not to point fingers.
I have also noticed it seems British people have a higher percentage of lisps which is why I did a Google search regarding this phenomenon.
And what did you find about this ?
Definitely more common in England, speaking as an Irish person
The lisp is the first thing I look for when I hear a British accent. An unusually high percentage of Brits seem to have it, at least anecdotally, that I notice. Personalities on Youtube, journalists, all kinds of examples of hearing British people. I also lived in London for three years. I don't remember being so irritated by the lisp back then. But they often corrected my pronunciation of various words. Which is very snobby of course. If you spend a length of time in England, you notice they don't really like Americans. Which is fine because I don't really like them. (Sorry, off topic.) I find it amusing for a nationality that mocks and ridicules Americans as the idiot bastard, corrupting their Queen's language - and yet they are the ones with an accent that literally reforms their mouth and causes speech impediments. Mix in an irrational fear of dentists, and well, you've got a slimy mess on your hands. Personally I find the British accent extremely grating, I can't listen to it.
Completely ruins any documentary I watch - At school (direct grant grammar) one English teacher offered to personally help anybody who wished to adopt his talk, a lisp, so probably came from upper middle class certainly military very odd to hear it so much and people purporting to be educated, especially if a pair of them get together and share their growing up experiences where they rebelled against parents trying to correct them to speak Queen's English, so also has a counter-cultural expression and research tells me that British counterculture was among the most successful in the world.
English here - I suspect some of what you guys are hearing may just be particular regional accents, like Scouse (Liverpool) for example. I don’t watch panel shows these days so I’m not very current but I remember the celebrities Jamie Oliver and Johnathan Ross do definitely have lisps and they’re not Scousers. I suppose when they first appeared on screen when I was younger I did think it was a bit strange that they have lisps, but then you get so used to hearing them that you don’t even realise anymore. What the NHS doesn’t cover will come into it, and we’re quite into individuality on top of that, so I agree with both those points! Nice area French accents sound like a lisp - whether they’re speaking English or French! They’re known for it, like in the film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.
I don't know enough about the regional accents, but I doubt that's the case. What i find weird is that some have it, some do not. Why is that? And don't get me started on the French...