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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers..." is considered the classic tongue twister. But, it is particularly easy to say fast. Even easier is "Betty Botta bought a bit of butter..." But it is tempting to say these really fast, so you are on the verge of messing them up. Perhaps the easiest example in this vein is "tooka-tooka-tooka..." which the players of wind musical instruments use to double tongue.
The other class of tongue twister, the real tongue twister, is a phrase that is so difficult to say that you cannot say it fast (or maybe at normal speed). Say "bad blood" ten times, to see what I mean. When I do it, it comes out, "Bad blood blah bluh bluh bluh..." This one is not too bad, and some people probably can do very well with it. Change it to "mad blood" and I think it gets much more difficult. I have trouble with "chicken kitchen" ten times. I utterly fail the second iteration when I add "papa" to the end of it, for the nonsense "chicken kitchen papa" ten times. I originally had trouble with "get a ticket" ten times. Change it to "get ticket" ten times, and I cannot say it. "Speed zone" ten times is surprisingly difficult. I was surprised to find "earwig" ten times very difficult. Others that I have difficulty with are "three five" ten times, "yet yum" ten times, "sissy papa" ten times, "mamma papa" ten times, and "next left" ten times. Here is a list of the above tongue twisters, each of which I cannot say ten times (some I have trouble with once or twice):
"Proof" or "foot" ten times seem relatively easy to say, but sound funny.
Most of the above tongue twisters are original (except Peter Piper, Betty Botta, and bad blood). Most of these conform to the classic "ten times" pattern. I did not attempt to construct longer, one time only phrases. I tried out a few simple theories about which combinations of sounds might be difficult when made together.
Children often have trouble with words with two different, adjacent consonants. "Chimney" becomes "chimley," "wolf" becomes "woof," and "ask" becomes "aks." "Aks" seems to have become standard English among blacks, perhaps to commemorate the substandard education that our country has given them in the past (and present).
I was reminded that "She sells sea shells" is relatively difficult to say. My version: "She sells sea shells on the Seychelles."
Dean G. reminded me of "toy boat," which I cannot say twice, unless I do it really slowly. And he invented this great one: "unique New York." I told him that I didn't see what was so tough about :"neweek nyork."
Another one of mine: "a church."