{"id":109,"date":"2012-07-04T16:51:09","date_gmt":"2012-07-04T15:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-232648-741634.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=109"},"modified":"2012-07-04T16:51:09","modified_gmt":"2012-07-04T15:51:09","slug":"smart-tongue-twisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/smart-tongue-twisters\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Tongue Twisters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nA tongue twister is a phrase, sentence, or rhyme that presents difficulties when spoken as it contains similar sounds\u2014Whistle for the thistle sifter<\/strong>, for example. To get the full effect of a tongue twister, you should try to repeat it several times as quickly as possible without stumbling or mispronouncing.
<\/p>\n\n\n

Tongue twisters have long been a popular form of wordplay, particularly for schoolchildren, but they also have a more serious side\u2014they are used in elocution teaching and in the treatment of some speech defects.
The collection of funny tongue twisters presented here, however, is purely for entertainment, and consists of many old favorites as well as some new ones\u2014try to tackle tricksy tongue twisters today!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n

Picky people pick Peter Pan Peanut Butter, ’tis the peanut butter picky people pick. 
\u2014from the Peter Pan Peanut Butter commercial
<\/em>
How many boards
Could the Mongols hoard
If the Mongol hordes got bored?
\u2014from the comic ‘Calvin & Hobbes’
<\/em>
Seventy-seven benevolent elephants
\u2014harder than it seems
<\/em>
Santa’s Short Suit Shrunk
\u2014name of a children’s book
<\/em>
I was born on a pirate ship
\u2014Hold your tongue while saying it
<\/em>
A big black bug bit a big black dog on his big black nose!
\u2014by Kitty Morrow
<\/em>
Rudder valve reversals
\u2014the cause of some plane crashes
<\/em>
Bobby Bippy bought a bat.
Bobby Bippy bought a ball.
With his bat Bob banged the ball,
Banged it bump against the wall,
But so boldly Bobby banged it
That he burst his rubber ball.
“Boo!” cried Bobby.
Bad luck ball,
Bad luck Bobby, bad luck ball.
Now to drown his many troubles
Bobby Bippy’s blowing bubbles.
\u2014from mid-Willamette Valley theater
<\/em>
Caution: Wide Right Turns
\u2014seen on semi-tractor trailers
<\/em>
Triple Dickle
\u2014a strong drink
<\/em>
Chester Cheetah chews a chunk of cheap cheddar cheese.
\u2014from a high school singing class
<\/em>
Double bubble gum, bubbles double.
\u2014children\u2019s tongue twister
<\/em>
East Fife Four, Forfar Five
\u2014an actual football result from the Scottish third division
<\/em>
11 was a racehorse,
22 was 12,
1111 race,
22112.
\u2014Wunwun was a racehorse, Tutu was one too. Wunwun won one race, Tutu won one too.
<\/em>
She stood on the balcony, inexplicably mimicking him hiccuping, and amicably welcoming him in.
\u2014an actor’s vocal warm-up for lips and tongue
<\/em>
Chukotko-Kamchatkan
\u2014pertaining to the Siberian people living in Kamchatka
<\/em>
Thirty-three thousand people think that Thursday is their thirtieth birthday.
\u2014by Julia Dicum
<\/em>
As he gobbled the cakes on his plate,
the greedy ape said as he ate,
the greener green grapes are,
the keener keen apes are
to gobble green grape cakes,
they’re great!
\u2014from Dr. Seuss’s <\/em>O Say Can You Say?<\/p>\n\n\n

But she as far surpasseth Sycorax,
As great’st does least.
\u2014Caliban describing Miranda’s beauty in <\/em>The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
<\/em>
Suzie, Suzie, working in a shoeshine shop.
All day long she sits and shines,
all day long she shines and sits,
and sits and shines, and shines and sits,
and sits and shines, and shines and sits.
Suzie, Suzie, working in a shoeshine shop.
Tommy, Tommy, toiling in a tailor’s shop.
All day long he fits and tucks,
all day long he tucks and fits,
and fits and tucks, and tucks and fits,
and fits and tucks, and tucks and fits.
Tommy, Tommy, toiling in a tailor’s shop.
\u2014sung by Ian Mackintosh
<\/em>
Two to two to Tooting too!
\u2014Announcement at Victoria Station, London
<\/em>
Extinct insects’ instincts, extant insects’ instincts.
\u2014by Pierre Abbat
<\/em>
Elmer Arnold, Courtney Dworkin, Robert Wayne Rutter
\u2014personal names
<\/em>
Mares eat oats and does eat oats, but little lambs eat ivy.
\u2014from a pre-war English music-hall song
<\/em>
Moses supposes his toeses are roses,
but Moses supposes erroneously.
For Moses, he knowses his toeses aren’t roses,
as Moses supposes his toeses to be.
\u2014Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly in<\/em> Singing in the Rain
To put a pipe in byte mode, type PIPE_TYPE_BYTE.
\u2014from the Visual C++ help file
<\/em>
I would if I could, and if I couldn’t, how could I?
You couldn’t, unless you could, could you?
\u2014common school kids nonsense, circa 1910<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

The little red lorry went down Limuru Road.
\u2014Limuru (Lee-moo-roo) road is in Kenya.
<\/em>
I wish to wish, I dream to dream, I try to try, and I live to live, and I’d die to die, and I cry to cry but I dont know why.
\u2014from a song by Soundgarden 
<\/em>
I bought a bit of baking powder and baked a batch of biscuits. I brought a big basket of biscuits back to the bakery and baked a basket of big biscuits. Then I took the big basket of biscuits and the basket of big biscuits and mixed the big biscuits with the basket of biscuits that was next to the big basket and put a bunch of biscuits from the basket into a biscuit mixer and brought the basket of biscuits and the box of mixed biscuits and the biscuit mixer to the bakery and opened a tin of sardines.
\u2014Said to be a diction test for would-be radio announcers: to be read clearly, without mistakes, in less than 20 seconds<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Hitchcock Hawk Watch Spots Record Raptors
\u2014title of an article in the Neola Gazette
<\/em>
We need a plan to fan a pan; find a pan to fan, then find a fan to fan the pan, then fan the pan.
\u2014Some Korean students find difficult the difference in pronunciation between ‘f’ and ‘p’.
<\/em>
Lady Luck dislikes losers.
\u2014for Japanese students of English
<\/em>
You’re behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons.
\u2014from <\/em>Harry Potter
In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen.
\u2014from<\/em> My Fair Lady, the musical based upon George Bernard Shaw’s<\/em> Pygmalion
Never trust
a sloppy crust,
a squally gust,
ships that rust,
or girls with lust.
But if you must,
you may trust
to go bust,
and back to dust,
which serves you just
\u2014on board a Victory Ship in the 1940s
<\/em>
Shine my city shoes!
\u2014repeat really fast<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Free Ritz wristwatch.
Try saying Ritz wristwatch 5 times fast!
\u2014from the back of a Ritz cracker box<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Did you know:<\/strong><\/em> Singers, actors, TV and radio presenters use these as training tools. It helps develop certain accents, exercises lips, and limbers up tongues before performances.
Did you<\/strong> manage to say them all?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tongue twister is a phrase, sentence, or rhyme that presents difficulties when spoken as it contains similar sounds\u2014Whistle for the thistle sifter, for example. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[300,301],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}