Invented hundreds of years ago as a way to improve pronunciation and diction, tongue twisters today are a great source of endless fun and frustration.
Here are some famously difficult ones (make sure you stretch before attempting).
Here are some old favorites, along with some new ones!
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 batter better.
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,
Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better.
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?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood that he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Sister Sue sells sea shells.
She sells sea shells on shore.
The shells she sells.
Are sea shells she sees.
Sure she sees shells she sells.
Shep Schwab shopped at Scott's Schnapps shop;
One shot of Scott's Schnapps stopped Schwab's watch.
Difficult Phrases
"Wet rain."
"Peggy Babcock"
"Thin Thing"
"French friend"
"Red Leather, yellow Leather"
"Unique New York"
"Sometimes sunshine"
"Irish wristwatch"
"Toy Boat."
"Flammable Flanimal"
And according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the hardest tongue twister in the English language is:
The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick.
Other Languages (Gaelic, anyone?)
Gaelic: A bheil balach anns a' bhaile air a' bhalla? (literally "Is a lad in town, on the wall?")
Japanese: Transliteration: Uriuri ga uri urini kite uri urezu uri uri kaeru uriuri no koe. A melon vender came to sell melons, but no melon was sold; O, the voice of melon vender who is back, selling melons.
Finnish: Appilan pappilan apupapin papupata pankolla kiehuu ja kuohuu. The bean stew of the assistant priest of Appila vicarage is boiling and foaming in the stove loft.
Slovak: Rozprostovlasatela sa dcéra kráľa Nabuchodonozora, alebo nerozprostovlasatela sa dcéra kráľa Nabuchodonozora? Did the daughter of king Nabuchodonozor bareheaded her self or did the daughter of king Nabuchodonozor not bareheaded her self?
Hebrew: Sasha sam sham sheseq shazuf. Sasha placed a tanned loquat over there.
French: Si six scies scient six cyprès, Six cent six scies scient six cent six cyprès. If six saws saw six cypresses, six hundred six saws saw six hundred six cypresses.
...and the hardest one I have seen yet...
Finnish: Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas. (The longest Finnish word, an actual military term in Air Force) Airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student.