I connect deeply with what you say here. So many times I have used different words or phrases to avoid stuttering, only to feel a sense of "moral failure" afterwards--why didn't I say exactly what I meant? I used to beat myself up over it more, but I've come to feel that the more I forgive myself for it, the less it happens (substituting words or avoiding certain contexts, that is). As stutterers I know we would love to live by the ideology that the content of what we say matters much more than how we say it, but we all know that it's simply not true all the time. Yes, we are just as smart and articulate as anyone--but the secondary behaviors that manifest themselves with stuttering sometimes make it sound like we aren't. Not to mention, it can be hard to present our ideas effectively when we begin stuttering intensely and then all of our mental energy goes into thinking about that rather than how to frame our point...