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.

shameless self-promotion

Thanks, Max! Saw this chart yesterday morning when I was perusing your marvelous site! Meant to post my kudos for that, so let me take this opportunity! I still felt insecure about using the code, though...but I went for it and it worked! So now I know how to write HTML code!...my online knowledge grows thanks to your efforts!

annunciation

Oops!...My mistake, wwh...I meant to say "pronunciation"...I was in such a quandary about what to call those marks after getting clobbered for calling a dieresis an umlaut on the Neanderthal thread that I got my mords wixed ! I hope you and the multitudes you mentioned will accept my humble apology!

Dear Whitman O'Neill: Then the two pronunciation marks are the "accent grave" and "accent aigue" (sp?)

But I wouldn't have known which to use if you hadn't told me. Thanks for your courtesy. Bill

Emanuela, it was a long time ago, but I think the Guiness Book or Records at one time claimed that the world's hardest tongue twister was an Italian one. I don't remember what it was now, but something about the archbishop of Constantinople retiring? Does that ring any bells?

Bingley

The only Italian one I know I learned in Firenze when I was studying there (it was a while ago so correct me if I make any mistakes!)

Voglio una Coca-cola calda con una canuccia corta corta.
I want a hot coke with a short, short straw.

The funny thing about this tongue-twister is that you have to try to say it in the Florentine dialect. This means that the C's all become pronounced more like H: Voglio una hoha-hola halda hon una hanuccia horta horta!

the archbishop of Constantinople retiring? Does that ring any bells

It would only seem polite, would it not?

Apocryphally used by the police before breathalysers:

The Leith police dismisseth us

And descending into the gutter:

I'm not the pheasant plucker,
I'm the pheasant plucker's son,
And I'm only plucking pheasants
Till the pheasant pluckers come.

Rod

The most difficult one I have ever tried is:

The sixth sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

I can't even say it once, slowly!

EDIT: I also just remembered "red leather, yellow leather"

This one is funny for German speakers if misspoken:

Der Whiskymixer mixed den Whisky mit dem Whiskymixer. Mit dem Whiskymixer mixt der Whiskymixer den Whisky.

In my experience, by far the hardest lines to say fast are these:

Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut,
Und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid.

Yes, yes...I am trying to remember...
I have seen it in my childhood, and I don't know where to find it.

Good, squid! Just... cannuccia.
Who can desire an hot coke ?

I slit a sheet,
A sheet I slit,
And now upon a slitted sheet I sit.
(That always gets 6th graders giggling maniacally...)

The Gilbert & Sullivan one at the top of the thread makes for a great vocal warmup before going on stage, by the way!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood

Hey, Bill, here's the other half :
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Some of these here Twongue-tisters are just as hard to type as to say!

I have always loved the pleasant - ah, sorry the pheasant plucker tease. Now even more so, having noticed an etymological tidbit that traces the word pheasant to the river Phasis - seems like an emphatic enough extra reason to me [but I'm mad anyway, take no notice e]

Do you mean:
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son and I'm only plucking pheasants til the pheasant plucker comes?

How about:
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit. Upon the slitted sheet I sit.

but this is sliding quickly into the gutter...

Se l'arcivescovo di Costantinopoli si disarcivescovisconstantinopolizzasse tu ti disarcivescoviscostantinopolizzeresti come si è disarcivescoviscostantinopolizzato l' arcivescovo di Costantinopoli?

If the archbishop of Costantinople would like to un-archbishop-of-constantinopolize himself, would you un-archbishop-of-constantinopolize yourself, in the same way in which the archbishop of Costantinople un-archbishop-of-constantinopolized himself?

How funny, Emanuela! We have a very similar tongue-twister in Spanish!

"El arzobispo de Constantinopla, se quiere desarzobispoconstantinopolizar. El desarzobispoconstantinopolizador que lo desarzobispoconstantinopolizare, buen desarzobispoconstantinopolizador sera"

Something like "The archbishop of Constantinople wants to de-archbishop-of-constantinopolize himself. The de-archbishop-of-constantinopolizer to de-archbishop-of-constantinopolize him, will be a good de-archbishop-of-constantinopolizer"


Marianna