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From Porky Pig to Mel Tillis, stuttering characters are a part of our pop culture. So are myths about stuttering

Off the top of your head, can you name a myth about stuttering? An easier task than you might think, since almost everything commonly known about the subject is mythical. Sure, we all know what stuttering itself is: it's a speech disorder characterized by repetitions, stoppages, and prolongations of speech.

What we don't know, exactly, is what causes it. Most common knowledge about stuttering is, in fact, misperception or just plain guessing. We here at Mythbusters thought it was about time to clear the lines of communication regarding some popular stuttering myths, so here's the truth about four.

Like all the things that mean a lot to us, we've accumulated a bumper crop of myths about language in our culture... let's talk about a few

Myths about language provide us with plenty of crazy ideas, like the concept that sign language isn't really a language at all, or that Chinese is almost impossible for an English speaker to learn. Of course, any deaf person or Sinophile would be happy to argue with you about these particular misconceptions.

And these are just a few of the simple myths; there are plenty of more persistent ones out there. Care to learn about a few? If so, read on, and we'll try to shine the light of knowledge on the dusty cobwebs of myth in four specific cases.

If you think smart kids have it easy in school, it's been way too long since you graduated. We challenge this and other myths about gifted children in this article.

One of the biggest myths about gifted children is that the term "gifted" is so broad as to be almost meaningless. But that's not true; it's actually an academic euphemism for "smart." It's a fact that smart kids generate their own collective myths, and those are what we'll look at today.

Myths about bullying are common, but some just aren't as true as we'd like to think. Here are a few examples.

Probably the single most common myth about bullying, one that's tested every single day, is the idea that once you're grown you're done with dealing with the bums. Daily experience will soon teach you better, whether you face an overbearing boss or a surly clerk at the DMV.

In Part I of this article, we covered a few other common misconceptions about bullying -- it's always physical, they're all cowards, that they pick on others because they're insecure. Somehow, people continue to believe these myths even when they're demonstrably untrue. Well, here are a few more like them.

Myth-quotations plague any language, but English seems to positively revel in them. Here are a few more for you to enjoy.

Although English is a robust written language, our spoken language is rife with errors -- especially myth-quotations, twisted versions of things others have said or written in the past. Sometimes the changes are minor and hard to notice; sometimes it's hard to recognize the original buried in the popular.

Whatever the case, it's instructive to take a look at how a statement, quip, or quote has evolved in the public consciousness over the years. Check out these famous examples, drawn from popular culture of the past few centuries.

Twice before we've featured popular "myth-quotations," quotes everyone knows that have never been said -- at least, not in the language we're used to hearing. Here are a few more to add to our ever growing list.

What we like to call "myth-quotations" are funny little occurrences. Most of the time, they're items and epigrams that people ought to have said, but didn't quite say in that manner. They achieved their common forms long after they were originally uttered. Sometimes they're even pure propaganda, and nothing like them was ever stated at all.

Whatever the case, they've entered the public consciousness -- and once there, they become hard to eradicate. Previously, we've presented ten such misquotations, from "Let them eat cake!" to "Spare the rod and spoil the child." Here are a few more examples we've all heard.

For some of us, math is scarier than a root canal -- but it doesn't have to be. Here are a few math myths that are easy to overcome.

Like the poor, math myths will always be with us -- in some cases because we don't want to face the reality of what mathematics is, or what it takes to handle it. Some say that math is the foundation of the universe, and that may be true.

But for most of us it's a tool -- and like all tools, anyone can learn to use it at least in a basic way. So let's set aside some of those myths about mathematics so we can get to work, shall we?

Even if you're a caviar fan, some of the caviar facts you think you know may actually be caviar myths. Well, here's a little more caviar truth.

Even caviar devotees are afflicted by caviar myths. In their attempts to enjoy their expensive treat to the utmost, they've wrapped it around with ceremony, and with ceremony comes mythology. True caviar buffs would pale at the thought of scooping caviar out of the tin on a cracker, for example.

There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but that's just a minor peccadillo, really. In Part I of this article, we revealed the truth behind some basic myths concerning caviar. Now we'll take a look at a few caviar myths that even those who think they know caviar often get wrong.

Sweet myths about dreams are made of these, and who are we to disagree? Mythbusters, of course!

In Part II of our scholarly treatise on myths about dreams, we took a look at ideas ranging from the superstitious (that dreams about death will seal your doom) to the reasonable (that you only dream when deeply asleep). Of course, we demolished all such myths in our Myths About Dreams, Part I. We provided you with the tasty truth instead.

This time we'll run a similar gamut, discussing myths on both sides of the scientific fence, starting with the least likely and working our way toward ideas that might seem true if not too closely examined. We'll begin with one of the oldest dream myths there is: the prophetic dream.

To sleep, perchance to dream? Aye, there's the rub -- and the abundance of myths about dreams proves it. Let's rub out a few of those myths together, shall we?

Why do myths about dreams persist, no matter how unreasonable they may be? One possibility for the existence of these myths is because dreams are such a vital part of the one-third of our lives that we spend asleep. The more vivid they are, the more likely they are to lodge in our memories and prey on our thoughts.

The best way we can understand dreams is that they are only random impulses in the brain. These impulses are shaped by events that we encounter or remember during the hours we are awake. Think of them as a way of clearing out your mental filing cabinets. While that may seem rather mundane, it's an attitude that can help you face the reality of dream myths.