Game: Tongue Twister!!

A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken (or sung) word game. Some tongue-twisters produce results which 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.

Tongue-twisters may rely on rapid alternation between similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., s [s] and sh [ʃ]), unfamiliar constructs in loanwords, or other features of a spoken language in order to be difficult to articulate. For example, The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us. The following sentence was claimed as "the most difficult of common English-language tongue-twisters" by William Poundstone.

Hard Tongue Twister Phrases

•     A big bug bit a bold bald bear on the bum and the bold bald bear bled blood badly.
•     I wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the witch's wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.
•     Bill Badger brought the bear a bit of boiled bacon in a brown bag.

   Another example:

•     Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons.
•     Can you can a canned can into an uncanned can like a canner can can a canned can into an uncanned can?
•     Do scientists see thieves seize skies? If scientists see thieves seize skies, then where are the skies, the scientists see the thieves seize?
•     Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
•     I am a mother pheasant plucker. I pluck mother pheasants. I am the most pleasant mother pheasant plucker who ever plucked mother pheasants.
•     I'm not the sheet slitter, I'm the sheet slitter's son. But I'll slit sheets till the sheet slitter comes.
•     If you must cross a coarse cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.   
•     Six swift Swiss ships swiftly shift.
•     Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.
•     There are two minutes difference from four to two to two to two, from two to two to two,
•     too.
•     Does the rapid rabid rabbit wrap it?
•     The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

 
Another example:

•     Red Leather, Yellow Leather (3x Fast)
•     Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (3x Fast)
•     Three Smart Fellows, they all felt smart (3x Fast)
•     Sunshine City (3x Fast)

Is it too easy for you? All right, what about this time. This is the World's Hardest Tongue Twister, according to Guinness World Records.

•     Unique New York Unique New York You know you need Unique New York.
•     Give Papa a proper cup of coffee in a proper copper coffee cup.
•     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.
•     I shot the city sheriff with the city sheriff's gun. (3 times fast)
•     Two tall boys, Take two ties, To tie two poles, To two tall trees.
•     Give Gulliver Gales Gulliver's grey guppies, named Gabriel and Gabriela Gales. Go tell Gulliver "be gentle on Gabriel's and Gabriela's gill's and scales."
•     Mumbling bumbling band of Baboons (3x fast)
•     Seventeen slimy slugs in shiny sombreros sat singing short sad songs.

Many tongue-twisters use a combination of alliteration and rhyme. They have two or more sequences of sounds that require repositioning the tongue between syllables, then the same sounds are repeated in a different sequence. An example of this:


1.

    Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.

    The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter

    And made her batter bitter.

    But a bit of better butter makes better batter.

    So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter

    Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better

2.

    She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.

    The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure.

    For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore

    Then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells.

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!"). Some examples include:

    A Proper Copper Coffee Pot.

    The sixth sitting sheet slitter slit six sheets.

    Irish Wristwatch, Swiss Wristwatch.

    Pad kid poured curd pulled cold.

    Peggy Babcock.

Although tongue-twisters uses alliteration to make them difficult to speak, there are other uses of alliteration that do not result in tongue-twisters. For example:

    There's a train at 4:04 said Miss Jenny.

    Four tickets I'll take.

    Have you any?

    Said the man at the door.

    "Not four for 4:04,

    For four for 4:04 is too many."

Be Continued...