Word Switching

[Perseverance]

I've been word switching for years

When you know your going to have trouble with a word you use a word with a similar meaning
Once i've got part of what i want say across, i'm able to say more accurate words
I think ' word switching ' has increased my vocabulary amd makes my speech more.....colourful.

[emily445455]

I hate word switching, but sometimes do it anyways. I feel like I'm hiding my stutter...which I do not like to do.

[grantM]

I guess as long as the switch still makes sense. Personally I try not to as I wish to conquer the word. Porky Pig used to do switching a lot back in the days

[happy7117]

Werid or geeky as it is.. I love reading the dictionary. I read it all the time. I just love to find new words. It's not for word switching reasons, or stuttering reasons either. It's just I love reading the dictionary.

Sometimes I use big words in conversation not for the sake of replacing or switching words. I think I just like to start smart. People often wonder where I get these big words from. I say or stutter "I love the dictionary".

I wonder if reading the dictionary has something to do with stuttering, or if it's just a weird think I enjoy doing.

If I didn't stutter, I wonder if I would still be reading a dictionary!

[grantM]

Hmm i guess switching can help you to sound more intelligent and worldy as long as the words are correct and in the right context lol

[cjm555]

i realy dont think there is a stutterer out there that can say they dont switch words... even if they dont want to... they do... i know i do quite a bit

[JDRow]

I'm finding that when I'm stuttering a lot I tend to not switch words very often, because I figure I'll probably have just as much trouble on whatever word I switch to, but I do go over what the easiest/shortest way to say something will be before I say it. It's not so much switching words as planning for what the easiest way to say something will be.

When I'm stuttering less, then I switch words more, because I'm more likely to just start talking instead of planning what I'm going to say first, and I can usually find a word I'll be able to say if I'm really stuck on something.

I don't feel bad about it or think it's a bad thing. As long as it's getting across what I want to say, I honestly don't see what's so bad about using a different word than the one you originally planned to use.

[emily2020]

Part of the reason I can talk well in conversation is that I'm good at word switching. I've done it for so long that I do it without thinking. I don't think there's anything so wrong with it- it's like adapting to your situation. What's hard is reading out loud to a class or another situation in which word switching is impossible.

[divisi]

I hate word switching, but sometimes do it anyways. I feel like I'm hiding my stutter...which I do not like to do.
What I dislike of word switching is that it doesn't have a 100% success rate. When I'm having hard blocks, word switching doesn't always work, although most of the times it helps me to maintain almost perfect fluency.

Btw, I don't dislike to hide my stutter, provided that it's successfully hidden. I say this because stuttering is physically exhausting... several minutes of non-fluent speaking makes you get really tired because of the force you do when blocking... no matter how "soft" or "gentle" you try to be at your blocks, you still get physically tired.

So, although it's politically incorrect to say this, I say "hide my stutter? yes, please!".

I must admit, however, that although word switching isn't physically exhausting, it's _mentally_exhausting_ because your mind is working very hard looking for words that doesn't change the meaning and that you can say fluently.

[Bill Hargis]

I developed a great vocabulary by switching words.

[grantM]

In my opinion we should avoid avoidance at all costs for it will leak beyond simple word switching

[Dustin89]

I word switch ALOT, I don't think it's a bad thing, it actually the most helpful thing I have ever used to help control my stuttering.

[Geoff]

I hate it, usually the word I pick doesn't make half as much sense as it originally would of.

[emily445455]

I hate it, usually the word I pick doesn't make half as much sense as it originally would of.

Yea!! I used to do that a lot too, I hate it! I sound like an idiot when I do that, lol.

[grantM]

Yea!! I used to do that a lot too, I hate it! I sound like an idiot when I do that, lol.

Then why do it? I would prefer to be heard in an eloquent stuttering fashion.

[supergeo]

I word switch a lot as well, which helps me get through a lot of sentences that I would otherwise have stuttered on. However, I think it makes me sound less intelligent a lot of the times due to the new words I have to settle on. A lot of words I stutter on are multi syllable ones, so I end up substituting it with a single syllable word instead. The sentence still makes sense, but not nearly as eloquent as the original one. Do you guys find the same compromise often when word switching?

[Sofie]

I think that one of the reasons why many stutterers find their own name so difficult to say, is that it cannot be switched. If my name is Mary, I cannot say "Hi, I'm Sandra", even if it would be easier.

Some say that switching words is like cheating, and one shouldnt try to hide stuttering. However, I think if it is makes your speech easier and more fluent, and by doing so makes you feel better, there is no reason to try to stop it.

[spine]

I wanted to post a question about this (how much has word switching improved your vocabulary?) but this thread seems good for it. First I wanted to say that I agree with Sofie's point, or at least it describes my own experience. When I started junior high (moving to a new school system with strangers) I decided to go by a shortened version of my first name, which I could say without stuttering, but within a month or so I couldn't say it quickly anymore. I wonder how many people who stutter tend to stutter more often on words that begin with the same sound as their first name?

Anyway I was curious about how many people who stutter, and who are sometimes able to hide it, feel that they are more eloquent (lol I know) on account of stuttering. I know I can think of a million different ways to say anything, and usually the first one that comes to mind is the most straightforward, but I've been so long in the habit of choosing a way to say something without stuttering that I often end up giving either a more descriptive statement or a really ridiculous one (you decide).

When I think of word switching I don't think of Porky Pig (I didn't even realize that was supposed to be a stutter until I was in my 20s), who tends to start one word and make it obvious what he's saying then picks another unrelated one. People who stutter certainly do that, and I do it too sometimes, but if I'm already stuttering in front of someone I'd rather not give up in front of them too, so I don't switch words in that scenario very often. I usually think of word switching as what goes on behind the scenes, and the way that I see my speech in front of me a bit like the text on a karaoke screen so that I might scan for potentially frustrating sounds.

I guess this topic has been discussed a lot, but I've never met anyone who stutters (who is willing to talk about it) and it amazes me how common this expert navigation of scary word oceans seems to be among people who stutter. I always sort of jokingly blamed by appreciation for and comfort with words on my stutter but there is some truth to the statement. I am very likely more obsessed with words due to stuttering than I would be otherwise.