Tongue twisters

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Tongue twisters

Here are a few I enjoyed from this site (but be careful because there is a lot of really, really, really naughty stuff on that site):

One smart feller, he felt smart.

Two smart fellers, they felt smart.

Three smart fellers, they all felt smart.

----

I SLIT A SHEET, A SHEET I SLIT

AND ON THIS SLITTED SHEET I SIT.

----

Betty Botta bought some butter but the butter Betty Botta bought was bitter,

so Betty Botta bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better,

but the bitter butter made the better butter bitter; however, Betty Botta

bought abundant more better butter hoping to make her bitter butter better

with this extra better butter she just bought.

----

Red leather, yellow leather.

Here is one I learned from childhood:

A skunk sat on a stump.

The stump thunk the skunk stunk.

The skunk thunk the stump stunk.

I got tickled and Googled this. Here is a site called The Tongue Twister Database. Here are a few others from that site:

Is this your sister's sixth zither, sir?

----

I am not the pheasant plucker,

I'm the pheasant plucker's mate.

I am only plucking pheasants

'cause the pheasant plucker's running late.

----

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

----

(Classic):

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck

if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,

and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would

if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

----

A tree toad loved a she-toad

Who lived up in a tree.

He was a two-toed tree toad

But a three-toed toad was she.

The two-toed tree toad tried to win

The three-toed she-toad's heart,

For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground

That the three-toed tree toad trod.

But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.

He couldn't please her whim.

From her tree toad bower

With her three-toed power

The she-toad vetoed him.

----

You've no need to light a night-light

On a light night like tonight,

For a night-light's light's a slight light,

And tonight's a night that's light.

When a night's light, like tonight's light,

It is really not quite right

To light night-lights with their slight lights

On a light night like tonight.

----

If one doctor doctors another doctor, does the doctor

who doctors the doctor doctor the doctor the way the

doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does he doctor

the doctor the way the doctor who doctors doctors?

----

Listen to the local yokel yodel.

----

Theophiles Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter,

in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,

thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.

Now.....if Theophiles Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter,

in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,

thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,

see that thou, in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,

thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.

Success to the successful thistle-sifter!

----

(Some for Dragonfly in Dutch):

Ik zag de zon zakken in de Zuiderzee.

Hoor de kleine klompjes klepperen op de klinkers.

To en Tom aten tomaten; To at en Tom vrat.

Soldatententententoonstelling.

I could go on with this all day, but it gets boring after a while. Still, some of them get me going and I can't stop laughing for a while. Here's a site for tongue twisters in 108 languages: 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters

Michael

[BAMF]

Thanks for that huge laugh, Michael!

I love words. :heart:

[Dragonfly]

Ik zag de zon zakken in de Zuiderzee.

That's not really a tongue twister, it's probably an exercise for people who can't pronounce the "z" (like people from Amsterdam who'd say "Ik sag de son sakken in de Suidersee" - "I saw the sun sink into the Zuiderzee")

Soldatententententoonstelling.

More familiar is: Hottentottententententoonstelling (exhibition of Hottentot tents).

An infallible test to detect foreigners (allegedly used in WW2 to unmask Germans) is: Mijn schele schoonmoeder woont in Scheveningen. (My squinting mother-in-law lives in Scheveningen), the "sch" can only be correctly pronounced by natives.

For a lot of consecutive consonants: angstschreeuw = cry of fear.

[Dragonfly]

And a lot of consecutive vowels: koeieuier = cow's udder. Unfortunately in the latest spelling (every few years we have a new spelling...) it should be "koeienuier". The same for "papegaaieëieren" = parrot eggs, or haaieëieren (shark eggs).

[Danneskjold]

Unique New York

Every time I try that one I either end up with newyeak new york or unique unork.

Edited March 1, 2007 by Jeff Kremer

[Fran]

This is one I remember from when I was a kid:

Red lorry, yellow lorry.

It's the yellow lorry bit that always gets me.

[BAMF]

Facetious fascist.