Tongue twisters are traditional word games, so some of them are difficult to
understand: but you don’t have to understand them to say them: and this is what you
should try to do.
Can you repeat red lorry, yellow lorry’ five times? Try it again, but this time repeat
it quickly as you can. Was it difficult? Word rhymes like this are difficult for everyone
– that’s why they are called ‘’tongue twisters”.
No one knows when the first tongue twister was invented because they were part of the
spoken language long before they were written down. However, records indicate that the
Romans were some of the people to recite them.
Usually they were invented and recited for enjoyment, but they had some practical uses as
well. If repeated with concentration, they helped establish clear speech. They also helped
to correct lisping< and other speech problems.
One of the oldest recorded tongue twisters is “The Drunken Sailor”. Unfortunately
historians do not know its origin or real meaning.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts,
With barest wrists and stoutest boasts,
He thrusts his first against the posts,
And still insists he see the ghosts.
Many people thought twisters, or “word cramps” as they are sometimes called in United States, could stop hiccoughs:
Hiccup, snickup, rise up rite up
Three drops in the cup are god for hiccups.
Other people believed that if they recited “Peter Piper” all the way through without taking a breath, their hiccoughs would go away:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper
Where is the peck of picked pepper Peter Piper picked?
Nowadays tongue twisters still have practical uses. Dentists ask patients to say these word rhymes in order to check new plates and sets of false teeth. A good one for this purpose is:
She sells seashells by the sea shore.
The shells that she sells are sea-shells,
I'm sure.
Television and film directors sometimes ask actors and actresses to recite a tongue to see how clear their speech is:
Pure food for poor mules.
Shave a cedar shingle thin.
Of course most of these rhymes are recited just for fun or to test concentration. A popular one for children is about Betty Botter and her butter:
Betty Botter bought some butter,
But she said, “This butter's bitter:
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter,
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better.
So ' twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
Another rhyme is about swimming:
Swim son, swim, show me you're a swimmer
Swim just how the swans swim
You know how the swans swim.
Six sharp sharks have come to swipe your limb,
So swim as swiftly as you can
Swim son swim
The most difficult tongue ever recorded is this one about sick sheep:
The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep’s sick.
And another one that looks very simple but, in fact, is very difficult is “toy boat,
toy boat”.
(Try it!)
The most important rule to remember when reciting tongue twisters is to say the remember
quickly and clearly – and as many times in succession as possible, without making a
mistake.
Try to create your own tongue twisters. It is more fun to practice your own original ones.
In the meantime here is a final (old – fashioned) rhyme which is certain to leave you in
a twist:
When a Twister a – twisting will twist him a twist,
For the twisting of his twist, he there doth intwst;
But if one of the twines of the twist doth untwist
The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist.
A tutor who tooted a flute
Tried to tutor two tutors to toot
Said the two to the tutor,
“Is it harder to toot or
To tutor two tutors to toot?”
Robert Rolley
Robert Rolley rolled a round roll around.
A round roll Robert Rolly rolled around.
Where's the round roll Robert Rolley rolled around?
Weather
Weather it rains or weather is snows,
We shall have weather, whether or no.
A nice song
The singers sang a nice song –
Ting-a-long, ting-a-long.
A nice song the singers sang –
Ting-a-long, ting-a-long.
The song they sang was very long –
Ting-a-long, ting-a-long.
Ting-a-ting-a-long.
Swan
Swan swam over the sea
Swim, swam, swim,
Swan swam back again
Well swum, swan.
Woodchuck
How much wood
Would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck
Would chuck wood?
Ice-cream
I scream,
You scream
We all scream
For ice-cream.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
If the woodchuck could chuck wjjd?