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contains increasingly convoluted tongue twisters as the show progresses. The lines are often delivered by
Princess Carolyn, and a notable set involves the actress 'Courtney Portnoy', for example: "How would you enjoy joining Portnoy for a scorched soy porterhouse pork four-courser at Koi?" followed
559:
is a form of
Mandarin Chinese tongue twister, written in Classical Chinese. Due to Mandarin Chinese having only four tonal ranges (compared to nine in Cantonese, for example), these works sound like a work of one syllable in different tonal range when spoken in Mandarin, but are far more
42:. Additionally, they can be used as exercises to improve pronunciation and fluency. Some tongue twisters produce results that are humorous (or humorously vulgar) when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their amusement value.
78:
These deliberately difficult expressions were popular in the 19th century. The popular "she sells seashells" tongue twister was originally published in 1850 as a diction exercise. The term "tongue twister" was first applied to this kind of expression in 1895.
224:
Some tongue twisters take the form of words or short phrases which become tongue twisters when repeated rapidly (the game is often expressed in the form "Say this phrase three (or five, or ten, etc.) times as fast as you can!"). Examples include:
372:, and many more. These sounds are most likely to transform to a similar sound when placed in near vicinity of each other. Most of these mix-ups can be attributed to the two phonemes having similar areas of articulation in the mouth.
1442:
652:. The premise was Webb (as Sgt. Joe Friday) grilling Carson about "kleptomaniac Claude Cooper from Cleveland, who copped clean copper clappers kept in a closet." The sketch was regularly shown on anniversary specials.
422:
It is common for more difficult sounds to be replaced with strong consonants in tongue twisters. This is partially determinant of which sounds are most likely to transform to other sounds with linguistic confusion.
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vowels differ by length so tongue twisters exploit vowel length: "Akawala akaawa Kaawa kaawa akaawa ka wa?". Translation: "The girl who gave Kaawa bitter coffee, where is she from?"
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that require repositioning the tongue between syllables, then the same sounds are repeated in a different sequence. An example of this is the song "
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82:"She sells seashells" was turned into a popular song in 1908, with words by British songwriter Terry Sullivan and music by
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Based on the MIT confusion matrix of 1620 single phoneme errors, the phoneme with the greatest margin of speech error is
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1151:"Twisting tongues and memories: Explorations of the relationship between language production and verbal working memory"
90:, an early fossil collector. However, there is no evidence that Anning inspired either the tongue twister or the song.
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516:("stick a finger through the throat") is difficult for a non-native speaker due to the absence of vowels, although
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Other types of tongue twisters derive their humor from producing vulgar results only when performed incorrectly:
17:
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1101:"The limited use of distinctive features and markedness in speech production: evidence from speech error data"
661:, both Pinky and Brain go through a collage of tongue twisters that cover almost every category possible.
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on the
November/December 1979 issue and was announced the winner on the March/April 1980 issue:
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Pronunciation difficulty is also theorized to have an effect on tongue twisters. For example,
1397:"BoJack Horseman is famous for being emotionally wrenching. But it's also ridiculously funny"
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8:
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Wainaina, Michael. Peek, Philip; Yankah, Kwesi (eds.). "Tongue
Twisters in East Africa".
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by "Glorify your source, but don't make it feel forced, of course. And try the borscht!"
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Some twisters are amusing because they sound incorrect even when pronounced correctly:
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The complexity of tongue twisters varies from language to language. For example, in
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of that language to say might be regarded as a type of tongue-twist. An example is
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Tongue twisters are used to train pronunciation skills in non-native speakers:
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In 2013, MIT researchers claimed that this is the trickiest twister to date:
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1029:"MIT Researchers Say They Have Created The Trickiest Tongue Twister To Date"
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Betty Botter bought a bit of butter. "But," she said, "this butter's bitter!
86:. According to folklore, it was said to be inspired by the life and work of
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Some tongue twisters rely on rapid alternation between similar but distinct
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was created from a revision of this article dated 29 October 2023
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629:") into a song and dance number along with his best friend Cosmo Brown (
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980:"Tongue Twister, Students' Pronunciation Ability, and Learning Styles"
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Some tongue twisters are used for speech practice and vocal warmup:
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The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us.
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838:"She Sells Seashells and Mary Anning: Metafolklore with a Twist"
340:. Other phonemes that had a high level of speech error include
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is a tongue twister in
English as well as a finger-fumbler in
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Phrase that is intentionally difficult to articulate properly
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Shattuck-Hufnagel, Stefanie; Klatt, Dennis H. (1979-02-01).
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So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
165:
And she put it in her batter, and her batter was not bitter.
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So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter,
978:
Mu’in, Fatchul; Amrina, Rosyi; Amelia, Rizky (2017-12-04).
1149:
Acheson, Daniel J.; MacDonald, Maryellen C. (April 2009).
1485:
Interview with MIT researcher
Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel
749:
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If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter!"
38:
properly, and can be used as a type of spoken (or sung)
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Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
1098:
1062:"Can You Tackle the World's Trickiest Tongue Twister?"
953:"David Gordon's Favorite Vocal Warmup Tongue Twisters"
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contain a significant number of tongue twisters, with
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are the classification of strong and weak consonants.
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or when trying to pronounce certain tongue twisters.
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The sheep on the ship slipped on the sheet of sleet.
405:Some characteristics of strong consonants include:
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A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck
745:"Speech Science: Tongue Twisters and Valley Girls"
520:is a common sound in Czech, Slovak and some other
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674:Many examples of tongue twisters can be found in
431:Tongue twisters exist in many languages, such as
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34:is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to
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119:If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
1105:Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
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97:The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure.
1298:Aristar, Anthony; Dry, Helen (27 May 1991).
1012:from the original on 2021-06-25 – via
261:the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips.
219:of Scott's Schnapps stopped Schwab's watch.
117:A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
115:Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
99:For if she sells sea-shells by the sea-shore
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536:equivalent of a tongue twister is called a
412:earlier development in language acquisition
307:Are you copperbottoming those pans, my man?
259:The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue,
198:The following twister entered a contest in
45:
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655:In the episode "You Said a Mouseful" from
379:is thought to be easier to pronounce than
297:Three smart fellers, they all felt smart.
126:Many tongue twisters use a combination of
101:Then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells.
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495:("a frog croaks in the water"), in which
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1372:Continuum International Publishing Group
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295:Two smart fellers, they both felt smart,
643:The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
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1403:from the original on 21 September 2019
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106:Another well-known tongue twister is "
95:She sells sea-shells by the sea-shore.
1395:Caroline Framke (14 September 2017).
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186:How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
134:. They have two or more sequences of
1340:from the original on 25 October 2020
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172:There are twisters that make use of
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959:from the original on 9 October 2021
627:Moses supposes his toeses are roses
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817:from the original on 24 March 2012
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244:Irish wristwatch, Swiss wristwatch
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1060:Grossman, Samantha (2013-12-05).
1041:from the original on 8 April 2015
1027:Annear, Steve (5 December 2013).
844:from the original on 29 June 2018
193:if a woodchuck would chuck wood.
1450:
1310:from the original on 4 July 2010
1208:Encyclopedia of African Folklore
790:from the original on 21 May 2009
609:) uses tongue twisters, such as
318:Pad kid poured curd pulled cold
309:No, I'm aluminiuming 'em Ma'am.
293:One smart feller, he felt smart,
279:Old Mother Hunt had a rough cut
189:if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
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877:from the original on 2014-11-12
836:Stephen Winick (26 July 2017).
757:from the original on 2018-04-02
209:Shep Schwab shopped at Scott's
1234:Journal of Memory and Language
1155:Journal of Memory and Language
971:
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896:"New Twist on Tongue Twisters"
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625:. He also turns one of them ("
577:song titled "Tongue Twisters".
493:baq'aq'i ts'q'alshi q'iq'inebs
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323:Linguistics of tongue twisters
13:
1:
1117:10.1016/S0022-5371(79)90554-1
727:
646:and took part in a parody of
596:being the most extreme cases.
446:'tongue jammer', and
1330:"15 Chinese Tongue Twisters"
1246:10.1016/0749-596X(91)90039-M
409:high frequency in a language
154:), first published in 1899:
7:
1262:– via Google Scholar.
936:(16): 64. 1980 – via
908:(14): 92. 1979 – via
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605:, movie star Don Lockwood (
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241:Red leather, yellow leather
10:
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984:Arab World English Journal
466:'tongue breaker'.
238:A proper copper coffee pot
1167:10.1016/j.jml.2008.12.002
1364:Dr. Seuss: American Icon
1273:Roper, Jonathan (2011).
997:10.24093/awej/vol8no4.25
580:The children's books by
46:Types of tongue twisters
1300:"Linguist List, Vol. 2"
1277:. Springer. p. 8.
1275:Alliteration in Culture
863:Wells, Carolyn (1899).
503:. Another example, the
415:lower placement on the
250:Red lorry, yellow lorry
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1426:Listen to this article
1304:University of Michigan
1225:Hanson, Vicki (1991).
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557:One-syllable article
552:One-syllable article
811:"The Fossil Hunter"
776:Poundstone, William
658:Pinky and the Brain
602:Singin' in the Rain
587:Oh Say Can You Say?
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1336:. September 2020.
722:Theophilus Thistle
564:In popular culture
513:strÄŤ prst skrz krk
68:William Poundstone
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924:"Contest Results"
870:Project Gutenberg
865:"The Jingle Book"
809:Shelley Emmling.
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1344:6 September
712:Malapropism
684:Peter Piper
640:guested on
621:" in 1920s
611:Peter Piper
575:Sylvia Fine
573:recorded a
482:Shibboleths
477:Shibboleths
108:Peter Piper
88:Mary Anning
1505:Word games
1494:Categories
1473:Audio help
1464:2023-10-29
1259:2019-01-28
1214:: 947–949.
1135:2020-10-10
1078:2024-06-04
881:2024-06-04
821:9 December
761:2018-04-05
728:References
717:Spoonerism
680:Run-D.M.C.
607:Gene Kelly
571:Danny Kaye
518:syllabic r
176:and their
36:articulate
1212:Routledge
1175:0749-596X
1125:0022-5371
1006:2229-9327
638:Jack Webb
636:In 1968,
623:Hollywood
582:Dr. Seuss
449:‹See Tfd›
64:loanwords
40:word game
1475: ·
1401:Archived
1362:(2005).
1338:Archived
1314:13 March
1308:Archived
1250:Archived
1193:21165150
1129:Archived
1072:Archived
1039:Archived
1014:SocArXiv
1010:Archived
963:28 April
957:Archived
875:Archived
842:Archived
815:Archived
794:13 March
788:Archived
755:Archived
691:See also
569:In 1951
490:Georgian
328:Phonemes
229:Toy boat
211:Schnapps
52:phonemes
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1433:minutes
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1045:4 April
848:29 June
649:Dragnet
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499:is a
213:shop;
178:stems
132:rhyme
1409:2019
1376:ISBN
1346:2020
1316:2010
1279:ISBN
1189:PMID
1171:ISSN
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1067:TIME
1047:2015
1002:ISSN
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850:2018
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796:2010
617:to "
532:The
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462:lit.
442:lit.
368:for
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