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OP Forgive me if this is a YART, but I'm new here. I really like tongue-twisters. What are your favorites? Hardest, silliest, rarest, strangest?
I like this one from Gilbert and Sullivan (actually a song, of course!):
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison with a life-long lock.
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block.
a bit difficult:
She makes a proper cup of coffee in a copper coffee pot.
I find this one quite difficult:
The sea ceaseth and sufficeth us.
(try to say it out loud a couple of times without looking)
and silly:
Odd birds always gobble green almonds in the autumn.
Shut the shutters and sit in the shop.
Red lorry, Yellow lorry. Try saying it several times very quickly...
She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore;
I'm sure that the shells that she sells are sea-shells
Because she sells them on the sea-shore.
Round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
Sara x
Basic :
Eight aesthetic artists sat eating apricots. (APE-ri-cots)
Intermediate :
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?
Advanced :
Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
We call them
scioglilingua.
Literally it means something that unties your tongue.
Just an Italian one:
Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa.
Over the bench the goat lives, under the bench the goat dies.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Some joke/riddle book that I read ages ago claimed that the hardest tongue twister was simply Peggy Babcock. However, I think your "the sea ceaseth" one is just as difficult, if not more so.
Thanks, squid! This give me an opportunity to reintroduce an old twongue-tister I uncovered in a 19th century book of fun and games called "The Girl's Own Book." I work as an historical interpreter as a one-room schoolmaster at Historic Cold Spring Village in Cape May, NJ,, and I love to call young ladies up to the front of the class and have them try this!It's on the same page as "Peter Piper" but didn't come down to us...I'd love to bring it back, and here's a chance for me to give it some new life! It's fun!
THE TWISTER TWISTING
When a twister twisting would twist him a twist,
For twisting his twist three twists he will twist;
But if one of his twists untwists from the twist,
The twist untwisting untwists the twist.
And some more modern offerings:
Toy boat. (3 x fast!)
Unique New York. (3 x fast!) ....of troy?
The soldier's shoulder was sore. (3 x fast)
Rubber baby buggy bumpers. (3 x fast)
The big black bug bled black blood. (3 x fast)
But the most formidable of all to my experience is the following...we used to have people going on this, trying to say it just once at normal speed, for hours...even though it's supposed to be said 3 x fast:
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer. Good luck!![]()
THE TWISTER TWISTING is also offered in the same book in French! (for anyone who speaks it):
LE CORDIER CORDANT
Quand un cordier cordant veut accorder sa corde
Pour sa corde accorder trois cordons il accorde,
Mais si l'un des cordons de la corde dècorde,
Le cordon décordant fait decorder la corde.
Please Note: "decorde" and "decordant" take annunciation marks above the prefix "de"...I don't know how to make that happen. But thanks to Max I found out and fixed it!
Dear Whitman O'Neill: I suspect I am only one of many ignorant about "annunciation marks". Please enlighten us.
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