 sj |
||
|
||
Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
|
|
|
Subject: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Jim Dixon Date: 28 May 04 - 05:05 PM Hard to believe we've never had a thread about these before. I just ran across a new one (new to me anyway): "She stood upon the balcony, inexplicably mimicking him hiccupping, and amicably welcoming him home." Of course, if you know of any songs deliberately written to have tongue-twisters in them, those would be especially welcome. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: jimL Date: 28 May 04 - 05:16 PM The two worst short tongue twisters I know are :- Peggy Babcock and Rubber Buggy Bumpers neither of which can really be said twice in a row without practicing. in song, the only one which springs to mind is the chorus of Mary Mack's Mother:- Mary Mack's mither's makin' Mary Mack marry me My mither's makin' me marry Mary Mack When I marry Mary Mack, Mary will tak' care of me We'll a' be makin' merry when I marry Mary Mack jim |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: Rapparee Date: 28 May 04 - 05:30 PM Shana Twain and Travis Trit are doing a Conway Twitty Memorial Tour in New Jersey. Right! It's the Twain-Trit Trenton Twitty Tribute Tour. I've also been partial to the "My Old Man's A..." song, as done by the Smother Brothers: "My old man's a cotton-pickin' finger-lickin' chicken plucker." Or I am not a pheasant plucker I'm a pheasant plucker's son And I'll be plucking pheasants 'Til the pheasant plucking's done. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: dick greenhaus Date: 28 May 04 - 05:43 PM How many figs could a fig-plucker pluck if a fig-plucker could pluck figs? I slit a sheet. A sheet I slit. And on this slitted sheet I sit. Big black bugs bleed black blood. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Bill D Date: 28 May 04 - 05:47 PM The sly Sheik's sixth sheep is sick. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: DonMeixner Date: 28 May 04 - 05:52 PM Unique New York |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: s&r Date: 28 May 04 - 05:53 PM One smart feller and he felt smart Two smart fellers and they felt smart Three smart fellers and they felt smart etc Red lorry yellow lorry red lorry yellow lorry etc Stu |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Joe_F Date: 28 May 04 - 06:12 PM I believe that "rubber baby buggy bumpers" is used as a sobriety test in some jurisdictions. Though Theophilus Thistledown, the successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb, see that thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, do not get any of the thistles stuck in thy tongue. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Bill D Date: 28 May 04 - 06:20 PM A skunk sat on a stump. The stump thunk the skunk stunk and The skunk thunk the stump stunk. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: mack/misophist Date: 29 May 04 - 10:56 AM For those who lisp, there's: He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: masato sakurai Date: 29 May 04 - 11:20 AM Some collections: 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters (English 398) The Tongue Twister Database TONGUE TWISTERS FOR KIDS Tongue Twisters Tongue Twisters Tongue twisters |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: John MacKenzie Date: 29 May 04 - 11:21 AM Old Mother Hunt had a rough cut punt Not a punt cut rough, but a rough cut punt. Oo-er Mrs JGM |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Peter T. Date: 29 May 04 - 11:25 AM "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood." in Dylan's voice, and to the tune of "Blowing in the Wind" is always good for a laugh. yours, Peter T. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: John MacKenzie Date: 29 May 04 - 12:25 PM What sort of noise annoys an oyster? A noisy noise annoys an oyster. JGM |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: MARY MACK From: GUEST,Toenails John Date: 29 May 04 - 12:32 PM As mentioned above, Mary Mack, in full as I know it. CHORUS: Mary Mack's father’s making Mary Mack marry me. My father’s making me marry Mary Mack. I'm gonna marry Mary, so me Mary can take care of me, And we'll all be feeling merry when I marry Mary Mack. Dithery oo dn da dn do n da a dithry idle day. (Just for respite!) Now there's this little lass I know, her name is Mary Mack. Of all the girls I know, 'tis her I'm going to back. A lot of other fellas'd like to climb upon her back, But I think they are very much mistaken. CHORUS Oh, she's a lovely little lass, and she has a lot of class, And she has a lot of brass coz her father deals in gas. I'd be a silly ass if I left the matter pass. I'm damned if I would ever find one better. CHORUS The wedding's on a Wednesday now and everything’s arranged. No sooner have they made their minds up, when their minds are changed. To think of the arrangements now, I'm nearly disarranged, For marriage is an awful undertaking. CHORUS It's sure to be a grand affair, or grander than a fair, And of course there'll be a coach and pair for every pair that's there. I'll be on the finest pair. I'll surely get my share. If I don't then I am very much mistaken. CHORUS It goes well then, as with all tongue twisters, to sing chorus very rapidly at the end of the song, but for a real laugh, finish, then announce you learnt the chorus backwards, as the audience gasp in astonishment at your talents, simply turn your back on them and repeat the chorus. Never ever fails! |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: robomatic Date: 29 May 04 - 02:15 PM LOL I've got a kids' Danny Kaye album with a song of tongue twisters: Hedda is hoping to hop to Tahiti To hatch a hibiscus to hang on her hat |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: semi-submersible Date: 29 May 04 - 02:43 PM JGiokMcK, I've heard that one begin: What noise annoys an oyster, boys? There are more words for "thrusts his fists against the posts" and others here. M |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Georgiansilver Date: 29 May 04 - 03:03 PM She shuts up the shutters and sits in the shop. I rattled big bottles in Rollocks's yard. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper..If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, where's the peck of pickled pepper, Peter Piper picked. The Leith Police dismisseth us. Criminal statistics(repeat) |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Gareth Date: 29 May 04 - 07:00 PM Hmmm ! A test of sobriety used by the Landkord of the Royal Oak, Ystrad Mynach is "Whats the name of this village". Despite my occasional stammer, I have yet to fail the test ! Gareth |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: GLORY GLORY HOW PECULIAR From: Padre Date: 29 May 04 - 11:42 PM Rock Creek used to sing a tongue twister song called "Glory, Glory, How Peculiar" to the tune of 'John Brown's Body' with verses like: One sick sheik's sixth sheep was sick, And the other sick sheik's was not; One sick sheik's sixth sheep was sick, And the other sick sheik's was not; One sick sheik's sixth sheep was sick, And the other sick sheik's was not; One sick sheik's sixth sheep was sick, And the other sick sheik's was not; CHORUS: Glory, Glory, how peculiar, Glory, Glory, how peculiar Glory, Glory, how peculiar One sick sheik's sixth sheep was sick, And the other sick sheik's was not; One drunk duck dropped into the ditch, and the other drunk duck dropped dead One drunk duck dropped into the ditch, and the other drunk duck dropped dead One drunk duck dropped into the ditch, and the other drunk duck dropped dead One drunk duck dropped into the ditch, and the other drunk duck dropped dead CHORUS One eager eagle eased into the Eaves, And the other eagle eagle eased East, One eager eagle eased into the Eaves, And the other eagle eagle eased East, One eager eagle eased into the Eaves, And the other eagle eagle eased East, One eager eagle eased into the Eaves, And the other eagle eagle eased East, CHORUS Padre |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 30 May 04 - 12:01 AM You're sort of youngster round Mr. Dix-on, Indeed.....Well....yes....we did once have a similar thread....it seems like only yesterday that I posted "Sheet Slitter" to the blade of the DT's reaper....and its chaff never fell into the winnowing wind.
Try http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6806#40308
Sincerely, |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: Mark Cohen Date: 30 May 04 - 12:55 AM Padre, I learned more verses to that one: One slick snake slid up the stake And the other slick snake slid down One black bug bled blue-black blood And the other black bug bled blue One proud plover played ping-pong and poker And the other proud plover played pool (that one was mine) Don't forget Jerry Lewis' announcers' test One hen Two ducks Three squawking geese Four Limerick oysters Five corpulent Porpoises Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers Seven hairy Macedonian's in full battle array Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt Nine apathetic sympathetic diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity to procrastination and sloth Ten lyrical spherical diabolical denizens of the deep who hall stall around the corner of the quay of the quo of the quivery, all at the same time (That's almost exactly the way I learned it from Chris Gaynor in ninth grade!) Aloha, Mark |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: Mark Cohen Date: 30 May 04 - 12:57 AM OOPS! Help, Joeclone! Serves me right for not previewing. It was supposed to say "Jerry Lewis' Announcer's Test"... |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: GUEST,Guest Date: 30 May 04 - 01:04 AM There's a limerick/twister kids song that goes like: A canner exceedingly canny One morning remarked to his granny A canner can can anything that he can But a canner can't can a can can he A tutor who tooted the flute Tried to tutor two tooters to toot Said the two to the tutor is it tougher to toot Or to tutor two tooters to toot A certain young fellow named Beebee Wished to marry a lady named Phoebe But he said I must see what the minister's fee be Before Phoebe be Phoebe Beebee |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: C-flat Date: 30 May 04 - 03:03 AM How much oil could a gum-boil boil, if a gum-boil could boil oil. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Jeanie Date: 30 May 04 - 04:20 AM Jim Lawton: I'm glad to have found another fan of "PEGGY BABCOCK" ! It is a deceptively simple but incredibly demanding mix of consonants, leaping from front to back to front to back and is the very best all-round warm-up I've ever come across. If there's no time for anything else, a string of Peggy Babcocks, at increasing speed, works wonders for vocal clarity. For real show-offs, once Peggy Babcock has been mastered at 200 miles per hour, there is: "Peggy Babcock, Babcock Peggy." Some other favourites of mine as clarity exercises to be spoken over and over, with increasing speed and volume, starting from a whisper: Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly (etc. etc. and said quickly (!) without any click or whistle) Reading and writing are richly rewarding Keencut cutlery cuts keenest and cleanest of all: Keencut cutlery My organs of articulation Were a definite vexation Until I said this silly rhyme Three times through - jeanie |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: John MacKenzie Date: 30 May 04 - 05:16 AM Scots verse for Glory Glory. As one flue fly flew up the flue The other flue fly flew down....etc. JGM |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 30 May 04 - 08:14 AM Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood." As much wood as a woodchuck would chuck, if a woodchuck would chuck wood. From very young (in the 50's), I remember seeing only once a Donald Duck comic in which the three nephews (Junior Woodchucks, of course!) had a much longer version. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: RangerSteve Date: 30 May 04 - 09:04 AM This is a zither, this is a zither, this is a zither, etc. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Carly Date: 30 May 04 - 11:03 AM Mark, where did you get that? I learned an almost identical version of "The Announcer"s Test" ( no one mentioned a Jerry Lewis connection) in the late 1950s in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Doesn't seem to be around anymore among the kids (except for my son, who can't help having a weird parent who taught him all sorts of strange stuff before he was old enough to run and hide!) |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Big Jim from Jackson Date: 30 May 04 - 12:06 PM A flea and a fly were caught in a flaw in a flue. Said the flea, "Let us fly!" Said the fly, "Let us flee!" And they flew through the flaw in the flue. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: GUEST Date: 30 May 04 - 01:00 PM It's not exactly a standard, but one of my favorites, due to its sheer simplicity is: Toy boat (Repeat several times) |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: delphinium Date: 30 May 04 - 01:56 PM Bits Bytes Chips Clocks Bits in bytes on chips in box. Bytes with bits and chips with clocks. Chips in box on ether-docks ... See the full poem at http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/elz1/clocktower/DrSeuss.html. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Wolfgang Date: 30 May 04 - 03:06 PM It's fun to try some of these from the perspective of someone used to another language. Some of those are no tongue twisters for me at all, some are, and the really difficult for me are missing: We were very weary weavers. This is the thing. The knots in your tongues are a slightly different places than my knots are. Wolfgang |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Wolfgang Date: 30 May 04 - 03:18 PM It's fun to try some of these from the perspective of someone used to another language. Some of those are no tongue twisters for me at all, some are, and the really difficult for me are missing: We were very weary weavers. This is the thing. The knots in your tongues are a slightly different places than my knots are. Wolfgang |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Barbara Date: 30 May 04 - 10:07 PM Every time I drive under this freeway sign in Portland, Oregon, it occurs to me that it is a tongue twister, or at least good exercise for the mouth and tongue: Terwilliger Boulevard Blessings, Barbara |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Hrothgar Date: 31 May 04 - 05:13 AM Mrs Magoo had a square cut bunt, Not a cut square, but a square cut bunt. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Dave Hanson Date: 31 May 04 - 06:11 AM Hot corn cold corn, Bring along the demijohn. I chased a bug around a tree, I'll have his blood, he knows I will. eric |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: ToulouseCruise Date: 31 May 04 - 11:17 AM *ahem*... If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker, It is slick to stick a lock upon your stock. Or some joker who is quicker, gonna trick you of your liquor If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock. (by the way, I love the first one that started the thread, Jim -- I am quite good at keeping my tangue from getting tungled, but that was a tough one!) Brian. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: semi-submersible Date: 31 May 04 - 06:56 PM The Tongue Twister Song from Joe D. Thompson's CD "Every Kind of Magic" has verses based on Peter Piper and Betty Botter, and a chorus something like this: Oh, my tongue is tied in knots, it's twisted round and round. Who would have thought that I could get caught and tricked by just a sound? I couldn't find a demo of this song (CDBaby had a streaming demo of the CD but it didn't work for me) but you can listen to his Pirates in the Bath for a good laugh. (MP3 demo here 4/5 of the way down the page) I enjoy Thompson's music as much as my kid does. My favourite song of his is Stuff (again, demos linked from his site don't work for me) which I heard at a performance last year: "then go to the store/to buy more/stuff to put stuff in." I'm waiting for my copy of his new CD to hear it again. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: Mark Cohen Date: 31 May 04 - 08:41 PM Carly, if you follow my link , you'll see some history about the announcers' test, courtesy of Girl Scout Troop 1440 in Wakefield, Mass., which, amazingly enough, is less than 20 miles from Lexington, where my sister lives. Surprisingly, however, my sister does not know the announcers' test, maybe because she grew up in Philadelphia--which, amazingly enough, is where I grew up as well. However, I did learn it in Philadelphia...Central High School, 1966. Apparently it dates from the 1940's in New York and was in fact a test for prospective radio announcers. Jeanie, yours are fantastic! I consider myself fairly good at tongue twisters, but Peggy Babcock took me quite a while even to say more than once, and I'm far from having mastered it. You're right, one of the things that makes for a tough tongue twister is consonants that bounce back and forth from the front to the back of your mouth, what the speech pathologist would call velar and labial sounds: G and K mixed up with P and B. Aloha, Mark |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: iamjohnne Date: 31 May 04 - 09:54 PM I am a mother pheasant plucker I pluck mother pheasants I am the most pleasant mother pheasant plucker that ever plucked a pheasant. Johnne "goin' where the weather suits my clothes" |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Jim Dixon Date: 01 Jun 04 - 07:49 PM Gargoyle: Now, how would you expect me to find a tongue twister in a thread titled I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist? The term "tongue twister" doesn't even appear in that thread. And the thread isn't really about tongue twisters anyway. It's about the floating verse "I ain't no –––; I'm a –––'s son…." (or "…I ain't no ––'s son…"). There just happens to be one version that's a tongue twister. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells From: Kudzuman Date: 01 Jun 04 - 10:36 PM Can you imagine an imaginary manegerie manager, Imagining managing an imaginary manegerie! Kudzuman |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: SWIM SAM SWIM (from Regal Slip) From: GUEST,DragonLady Date: 01 Jun 04 - 11:15 PM No-one's mentioned the classic music hall song 'Swim Sam Swim' recorded umpty mumble years ago by the group Regal Slip on their album, Bandstand. I've used it as a sobriety test for years - to the point where audiences can even join in on the double-speed final chorus. Sammy was a sailor, a sailor big and bold Shipped on board a whaler and tumbled overboard. Shouted, 'Someone save me'. Someone said, 'Go hang! The sharks are swimming round you' then his shipmates sang ... CHORUS Swim Sam, swim Sam, swim Sam, show them you're some swimmer, Swim like the snow white swan, Sam, you know how the snow white swan swam, Six sharp shivering sharks are gonna snap your limb But a swim well swum is a well swum swim, So swim Sam, swim Sam, swim! Sammy swam with vigour, the race had just begun Sharks all eyed his figure, 'All jelly!' shouted one. One old portly porpoise, bobbed up in the foam And shouted, 'If you want to catch that last boat home' ... CHORUS Sharks all joined the chorus and said, while in the brine, 'Ragtime ditties bore us, but by gum, this is fine'. They spluttered with their esses until they got lock-jawed And Sammy left them singing as he climbed on board. CHORUS |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Glory, glory how peculiar From: Abby Sale Date: 01 Jun 04 - 11:43 PM I got to sing Sam Hinton's version of this at this past Earth Day fest locally. I was surprised at how well the adults did. Here's one additional verse plus one extra word for another verse. One lissome lass had a loathsome lisp And the other lissome lass lisped less. One big black bug bled blue-black blood And the other big bug bled blue; which is very close to a classic short toughie Black bat's blood. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: GUEST,NSC George Henderson Date: 02 Jun 04 - 12:00 PM This song is in the DT and the chorus goes: I want a proper cup o'coffee Made in a proper copper coffee pot I must be off my dot to want a cup o' coffee in a propere coffee Pot Brown coffee pots and green coffee pots They're no use to me right OY If I can't have a proper cup o' coffee from a proper copper coffee pot I'll have a cup o' tea. |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: JohnInKansas Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:38 PM It's somewhat curious that which of these are "hardest" seems to depend on which part of the country (or which country) was the place where you learned to speak. A full analysis, of course, would need to consider several other factors. When I came across a "tongue twister" book in Jr Hi School, it was noted that for some reason most of the boys had little trouble with one classic that seemed almost impossible for the girls to get out - "Rubber baby buggy bumpers" (as previously posted several times). The one that stopped all of the guys, and most of the gals was - "Six slick slim sycamore saplings." (There is an "extended version" of "saplings," but the short form was usually enough.) It was apparent, though, that the gals had less trouble than the guys with the saplings. We agreed then that "buggy bumpers" was a "lip locker" while "slycamore slaplings" was more a "tongue tangler," and actually did some "learned discourse" on why the differences might occur. (Remember, we were only about 13 y.o. at the time.) Anyone caring to venture opinions on why there would be a difference in male/female abilities here should avoid overly trite jokes about customary uses of the lips vs the tongue, of course. We covered most of them - at pre-teen level anyway. John |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Steve Parkes Date: 03 Jun 04 - 04:34 AM The Leith police dismisseth us, They thought we sought to stay; The Leith police dismisseth us, They thought we'd stay all day. The Leith police dismisseth us, We both sighed sighs apiece; And the sighs that we sighed as we said goodbye Were the size of the Leith police. Steve |
|
Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells... From: Tracey Dragonsfriend Date: 03 Jun 04 - 04:54 AM To sit in solemn silence In a dull dark dock In a pestilential prison With a lifelong lock Awaiting the sensation Of a short, sharp, shock From a cheap and chippy chopper On a big black block Courtesy of Gilbert & Sullivan, but I don't remember from what piece. Cheers Tracey Scorch's Pyrography |
| Share Thread: |