Samuel L Jackson Uses Swearing To Fight Off His Stutter

It’s really fun to hear Samuel L. Jackson talk, no matter what the forum. The man has made a career out of speaking with an interesting cadence and colorful vocabulary, but it wasn’t always that way. Growing up, Jackson stuttered, tripping over different letters and words on different days. Recently, he explained what has helped him to (mostly) overcome the stuttering, and humorously the profanity will probably remind fans of Die Hard with a Vengeance and/ or Pulp Fiction. The secret word is: motherfucker.

I’m not the one to frequently drop an mf bomb, but Jackson has been known to use language of that ilk and he recently spoke out to relate his story about overcoming stuttering at the American Institute for Stuttering gala. While his stuttering has gotten a lot better since the days he had major troubles growing up in Tennessee in the 1950s, there are still days where stuttering is an issue for the 64-year-old actor.

The story seems as if it may be a little more anecdotal than something Jackson regularly practices, but thanks to some clever sleuthing by Vulture, it seems “motherfucker” is really and truly Jackson’s go-to word when he begins to stutter.

Using “motherfucker” as a stutter helper actually makes since. That word has a lot of annoyance and aggression wrapped up in it and if a person can relieve a little of those feelings with a word as goofy as that one, the situation probably becomes more amusing than annoying and can hopefully help a person to move forward. At least, that’s what I’m surmising. I’m just happy that Jackson gets to practice using that word on a regular basis so that it really pops when he gets to say it on film. He’s certainly the best motherfucker when it comes to saying motherfucker in film.