Tongue-twister
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A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly. Tongue-twisters may rely on similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., s [s] and sh [ʃ]), unfamiliar constructs in loanwords, or other features of a language.
The hardest tongue-twister in the English language (according to Guinness World Records) is supposedly The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. William Poundstone claims that the hardest English tongue twister is "The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us."[1]
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[edit] Repetition
Many tongue-twisters use a combination of alliteration and rhyme. They have two or three sequences of sounds, then the same sequences of sounds with some sounds exchanged. One example is Betty Botter ( listen ):
Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.
The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter
And made her batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter
Makes batter better.
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,
Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better.
Some tongue-twisters are short words or phrases, which become tongue-twisters when repeated rapidly, often expressed as "Say this ten times fast!".
"Wet rain."
"Peggy Babcock"
"Thin Thing"
"red Leather, yellow Leather"
"Unique New York"
"Irish wristwatch"
"Toy Boat."
"Flammable Flanimal"
"Big whip" is another that is difficult for some people to say quickly, due to the lip movement required between the "g" and "wh" sounds.
Some well-known English tongue-twisters are:
Billy blew a blue bubble while bouncing on a bongo.
"Peter Piper":
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
But if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Were they pickled when he picked them from the vine?
Or was Peter Piper pickled when he picked the pickled peppers
Peppers picked from the pickled pepper vine?
"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?":
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood that he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
A woodchuck
would chuck
all the wood he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
"Sick hicks":
Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
"Sister Suzie":
Sister Suzie sewing shirts for soldiers
Such skill at sewing shirts
Our shy young sister Suzie shows
Some soldiers send epistles
Say they'd rather sleep in thistles
Than the saucy, soft short shirts for soldiers Sister Suzie sews
"She sells sea shells":
Sister Sue sells sea shells.
She sells sea shells on shore.
The shells she sells.
Are sea shells she sees.
Sure she sees shells she sells.
"Night light":
You've known me to light a night light
on a light night like tonight.
"Thistle sifter":
Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter,
in sifting thousands of unsifted thistles,
thrust thrice three thousand thistles
through the thick of his thumb.
"Jello":
Orange jello, lemon jello,
Orange jello, lemon jello,
Orange jello, lemon jello.
This next one won grand prize in a contest in Games Magazine in 1979[citation needed]: (Contest announced in issue of November/December 1979; results announced in issue of March/April 1980).
Shep Schwab shopped at Scott's Schnapps shop;
One shot of Scott's Schnapps stopped Schwab's watch.
[edit] Spoonerisms
Some tongue-twisters are specifically designed to cause the inadvertent pronunciation of a swearword if the speaker stumbles verbally (see spoonerism). An example in Polish is ząb, zupa zębowa, dąb, zupa dębowa (a tooth, tooth soup, an oak, oak soup). The word dąb forces an unsuspecting victim to further utter dupa dębowa (oak arse).
An English example of this sort:
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate,
And I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late.
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son,
And I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.
Or another:
I'm a sheet slitter
If sheets need slitting,
Sheets I slit.
[edit] Loanwords and other language elements
Certain loanwords contain unfamiliar constructs, which are used in tongue-twisters. For example, Finnish strutsin perhe (the family of an ostrich) has the consonant cluster "str", whereas such consonant clusters do not occur in native Finnish words. Repeated, this might be pronounced as "strutsin perse" ("ostrich's arse").
Other features of language can make for tongue-twisters; for instance, the Czech strč prst skrz krk (stick a finger through the throat) relies on the absence of vowels, although syllabic r is a normal Czech sound.
[edit] Non-English
There are tongue twisters in every language. An example of a trabalenguas (as it is called in Spanish) is "Rosa reza por la raza rusa pero para porque para pura risa por la rusa raza reza Rosa" which roughly means "Rose prays for the Russian race but stops because laughing is what Rose does when praying for the Russian race."
One Japanese twister (attempted by child genius Chiyo Mihama in the Anime series Azumanga Daioh) is Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu, Busu Basu Gaido, meaning "Bus Gas Explosion, Ugly Bus Guide." Another (as heard on Please Come Home... Mr. Bulbous) is Tonari No Kyaku Wa Yoku Kaki Kuu Kyaku Da, meaning "The customer next to me eats a lot of persimmons (or oysters)".
An example in Polish is "Król Karol kupił królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego" (King Charles bought Queen Caroline a coral colour necklace). And other like: "W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie" (In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed) or "Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami" (Table with legs broken out).
In Scouse, the dialect of the English city of Liverpool, it is common to say They do, though, don't they, though. In Scouse this is easy as all of the diagraphs 'th' are pronounced as a 'd', but saying it quickly in Standard RP or GA (hear GA) can be very difficult.
In the Philippines, popular tongue-twisters spread. These are: "Minikaniko ni Moniko ang makina ng minika ni Monika", "Botika, Bituka, Butiki" and the one word, "Nakakapagpabagabag".
In Czech is well known the: Tři sta třicet tři stříbrných stříkaček stříkalo přes tři sta třicet tři stříbrných střech. Which means 333 silver syringes squirted over 333 silver roofs.
The most famous French twister (called "virelangue") is certainly "Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien", meaning "a hunter who knows how to hunt knows how to hunt without his dog".
The sign language equivalent of a tongue twister is called a finger fumbler. According to Susan Fischer, the phrase Good blood, bad blood is a tongue-twister in English as well as a finger-fumbler in ASL.[2]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters – 2712 examples in 107 languages as of September 4, 2006
