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Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...

Jim Dixon 28 May 04 - 05:05 PM
jimL 28 May 04 - 05:16 PM
Rapparee 28 May 04 - 05:30 PM
dick greenhaus 28 May 04 - 05:43 PM
Bill D 28 May 04 - 05:47 PM
DonMeixner 28 May 04 - 05:52 PM
s&r 28 May 04 - 05:53 PM
Joe_F 28 May 04 - 06:12 PM
Bill D 28 May 04 - 06:20 PM
mack/misophist 29 May 04 - 10:56 AM
masato sakurai 29 May 04 - 11:20 AM
John MacKenzie 29 May 04 - 11:21 AM
Peter T. 29 May 04 - 11:25 AM
John MacKenzie 29 May 04 - 12:25 PM
GUEST,Toenails John 29 May 04 - 12:32 PM
robomatic 29 May 04 - 02:15 PM
semi-submersible 29 May 04 - 02:43 PM
Georgiansilver 29 May 04 - 03:03 PM
Gareth 29 May 04 - 07:00 PM
Padre 29 May 04 - 11:42 PM
GUEST,.gargoyle 30 May 04 - 12:01 AM
Mark Cohen 30 May 04 - 12:55 AM
Mark Cohen 30 May 04 - 12:57 AM
GUEST,Guest 30 May 04 - 01:04 AM
C-flat 30 May 04 - 03:03 AM
Jeanie 30 May 04 - 04:20 AM
John MacKenzie 30 May 04 - 05:16 AM
The Fooles Troupe 30 May 04 - 08:14 AM
RangerSteve 30 May 04 - 09:04 AM
Carly 30 May 04 - 11:03 AM
Big Jim from Jackson 30 May 04 - 12:06 PM
GUEST 30 May 04 - 01:00 PM
delphinium 30 May 04 - 01:56 PM
Wolfgang 30 May 04 - 03:06 PM
Wolfgang 30 May 04 - 03:18 PM
Barbara 30 May 04 - 10:07 PM
Hrothgar 31 May 04 - 05:13 AM
Dave Hanson 31 May 04 - 06:11 AM
ToulouseCruise 31 May 04 - 11:17 AM
semi-submersible 31 May 04 - 06:56 PM
Mark Cohen 31 May 04 - 08:41 PM
iamjohnne 31 May 04 - 09:54 PM
Jim Dixon 01 Jun 04 - 07:49 PM
Kudzuman 01 Jun 04 - 10:36 PM
GUEST,DragonLady 01 Jun 04 - 11:15 PM
Abby Sale 01 Jun 04 - 11:43 PM
GUEST,NSC George Henderson 02 Jun 04 - 12:00 PM
JohnInKansas 02 Jun 04 - 10:38 PM
Steve Parkes 03 Jun 04 - 04:34 AM
Tracey Dragonsfriend 03 Jun 04 - 04:54 AM
Mark Cohen 03 Jun 04 - 05:42 AM
Mr Happy 03 Jun 04 - 12:28 PM
semi-submersible 03 Jun 04 - 09:01 PM
YorkshireYankee 03 Jun 04 - 09:07 PM
The Fooles Troupe 03 Jun 04 - 09:16 PM
GUEST,.gargoyle 03 Jun 04 - 10:56 PM
GUEST,.gargoyle 03 Jun 04 - 11:07 PM
GUEST,.gargoyle 04 Jun 04 - 12:36 AM
Steve Parkes 04 Jun 04 - 04:10 AM
JennyO 04 Jun 04 - 11:32 AM
semi-submersible 04 Jun 04 - 10:10 PM
JennyO 04 Jun 04 - 11:09 PM
GUEST,aiko 08 Nov 06 - 04:52 AM
eddie1 08 Nov 06 - 07:17 AM
jonm 08 Nov 06 - 07:36 AM
GUEST 08 Nov 06 - 08:19 AM
Georgiansilver 08 Nov 06 - 09:19 AM
Anne Lister 08 Nov 06 - 02:05 PM
Sandy Mc Lean 08 Nov 06 - 03:26 PM
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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.


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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


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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.


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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.


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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.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: DonMeixner
Date: 28 May 04 - 05:52 PM

Unique New York


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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


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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


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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


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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.


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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


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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!


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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


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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


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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)


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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


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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


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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,
Gargoyle


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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


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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"...


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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


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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.


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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


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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


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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.


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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.


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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!)


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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.


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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)


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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.


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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


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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


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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


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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.


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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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"


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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.


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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


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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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


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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


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 05:42 AM

The Mikado. (click)

Aloha,
Mark


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 12:28 PM

Both a tounge twister and a riddle:

'If a feller met a feller in a field of fitches, could a feller tell a feller where a feller itches?'

'How many f's in that?'


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells
From: semi-submersible
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 09:01 PM

None. "T-h-a-t" has no "f"s.
;-p


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 09:07 PM

None... in T-H-A-T.

Similar to one I learned as a kid: 'Raggedy rascal reach for the stars, can you spell that without any Rs?'

Red leather yellow leather...

As one pink porpoise popped into the pool, the other pink porpoise popped out (chorus: Glory, glory etc as above)

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear / Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair / Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?


Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.
For Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses, as Moses supposes his toeses to be.
(Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly in "Singing in the rain")

A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.

Betty Botter bought some butter but she said the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter. So, she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter and she put it in her batter and her batter wasn't bitter. So 'twas good that Betty Botter bought some better butter.

And here's a song; I've found some other versions on Mudcat, but they're different from mine, so here's the version I know (learned it at camp, of course):

Eddie GootchaGatchaGammaNosamaraNosatokaSammaKammaWak-kee Brown
WHO? Eddie GootchaGatchaGammaNosamaraNosatokaSammaKammaWak-kee Brown
Fell into the well, fell into the well, fell into the deep, dark well

Suzy Brown, playin' in the yard / Heard him fall, and ran to tell her Ma that, Eddie etc...

Suzy's Ma, makin' cracklin' bread / Heard her call, and ran to tell Old Joe that...

Then Old Joe, sittin' on the porch / Grabbed his cane, and ran to town to tell that...

When the town turned out to see the well / What a shame, it took so long to say his name that
Eddie GootchaGatchaGammaNosamaraNosatokaSammaKammaWak-kee Brown
WHO?   Eddie GootchaGatchaGammaNosamaraNosatokaSammaKammaWak-kee Brown
DROWNED!


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 09:16 PM

Ah YorkshireYankee,

that reminds me of the Rolf Harris one that built up to

The scintillating witches who put the fasciniating stitches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the face of the ladies of the Harem of the Court of King Karatikis....

were just passing by.... etc


Well, if you want to see .... etc

You're too late!

Cause they've just .... passed ..... by!

Robin


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 10:56 PM

Foolestroupe!!!


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 11:07 PM

For yet another night....it is obvious a pussy is pushing the puffa-billy of the MudCat Train.....

So... a third posting to this thread.

Mr. FoolSt......

Do you, perhaps, have additional Rolf Harris' lyrics to add to this thread?

The ones you posted were GRAND!

Sincerely,
Gargoyle


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 12:36 AM

Dearest Folkies,

Something strange is consistantly happening every

28

days on the MudCat discussion board/forum....when "the critters take clone control of the managment" it appears to be a "wicked-waffling-issue"...whenever

MAX

permits the local wiccans put their paws on the console.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

If your residence of repose was in the I*.... city of R*....n


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 04:10 AM

Flotsam & Jetsam ad a song (before I was born) that went
Is he an Ozzie, Lizzie, is he?

Not sure if thsi qualifies as a TT:
Around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran
(Not for Jonathan Ross, that one)

And this one isn't a TT, but, like the pheasant plucker, it tends to change when you say it out loud:
I chased a bug around a tree; I'll have his blood, he knows I will

Steve


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 11:32 AM

I noticed The Court of King Caractacus is in the DT, but it is not quite correct. This is more like it -

The Court of King Caractacus (arr. Harris)

Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
All together, now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
Now the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.

Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
All together, now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
Now the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.

Now the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
[Repeat 4 times]

Now the fascinating witches who put the scintilating stiches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus, were just passing by.
[Repeat 4 times]

Now if you want to take some pictures of the fascinating witches who put the scintilating stiches in the britches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Catactacus...

...you're too late! Because they've just... passed... by!

Here is a link to the page where I got it - there are links to other Rolf Harris songs there too:

The Court of King Caractacus


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells
From: semi-submersible
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 10:10 PM

I let the people with the Rolf Harris page know that King Caractacus is spelled CaTactacus throughout their page. (It's also that way in the last post.)


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 11:09 PM

Good grief, I didn't notice! and after presenting it as a more correct version too!

Must have been the late night - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,aiko
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 04:52 AM

eunic new york


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: eddie1
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 07:17 AM

Great one for chorus singing!

Susie, Susie, sitting in the shoeshine shop.
All day long she sits and shines, all day long she shines and sits
Susie, Susie, sitting in the shoeshine shop.
She shines and sits and sits and shines, sits and shines and shines and sits.
Shines and sits and sits and shines, sitting in the shoeshine shop.

Eddie


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: jonm
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 07:36 AM

One smart fellow he felt smart....


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 08:19 AM

red leather yellow leather red leather yellow leather ...


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 09:19 AM

One for the ladies (to be repeated quite quickly.)

"I'm going to chew chew chew until my jaws drop off"


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Anne Lister
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 02:05 PM

My favourite to teach French students was always "Henry," said Henry's mother, "if you don't hang your hat on the hanger in the hall I will hit you on the head with a hard heavy hammer and your howls will be horrible to hear."

Their favourite to get me stumped was "Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont elles seches, archiseches?"

But actually when I was working at a hostel in central Paris it was enough to say the address to people ... Dix Rue de Richelieu. No problem if you're not speaking with a French accent, of course.

Anne


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 03:26 PM

I have fun singing this one:

          TO MORROW

I started on a journey, about a year ago
To a little town called Morrow in the county of Mayo
I've never been a traveller, so I really didn't know
That Morrow was the hardest place I'd ever try to go!

I went down to the station, put my money on the desk
Not meaning to cause trouble with my innocent request
"Excuse me sir I'd like to go to Morrow and return
No later than tomorrow, for I haven't time to burn."

Said he to me, "now let me see if I have heard you right--
You'd like to go to Morrow and return tomorrow night"
"You should have gone to Morrow yesterday and back today
For the train today to Morrow is a mile upon its way....

"If you had gone to Morrow yesterday now don't you see
You could have gone to Morrow and returned today at three.
For the train today to Morrow, if the schedule is right
Today it goes to Morrow and returns tomorrow night.

Said I," My friend, it seems to me you're talking through your hat
Is there a town called Morrow on this line, or is there not?"
"There is," said he, "but take from me a quiet little tip
To go from here to Morrow is a fourteen hour trip.

"Said I," I've got to go to Morrow, can't I go today
And get to Morrow by tonight if there is no delay?"
Said he,"You cannot get to Morrow anymore today
For the train that goes to Morrow is a mile upon its way!"

I was so disappointed I was mad enough to swear,
The train had gone to Morrow and it left me standing there.
The man was right in tellin' me that I was a howlin' jay
I could not go to Morrow, so I guess in town I'll stay.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST, Topsie
Date: 09 Nov 06 - 12:20 PM

I find that saying 'lily leaf' even once gets my tongue tangled.
I discovered this when reading Beatrix Potter's Mr Jeremy Fisher to my children.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 03:09 PM

The answer to the original "how much wood" woodchuck line I knew as:

"A woodchuck would chuck what a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood."


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: EuGene
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 04:08 PM

When I was in Arkansas I saw a saw saw
That could out saw any saw I ever saw saw.
If you were in Arkansas and saw a saw saw
That would outsaw the saw I saw saw,
I would like to see the saw you saw saw saw.

from an Ozark hillbilly, Eu


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: cookster
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 05:07 PM

I just made this one up,



six sick sixths



I can't even say it without messing up.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,somebody over the rainbow
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 01:16 AM

"what will happen will happen, when it happens, and you happen to happen upon it."
Created By Anonomus Me:
Becca and Bear


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Subject: Rhymes
From: GUEST,Anonmous
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 01:18 AM

Q: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A: A woodchuck would chuck what a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Boom. Oh Ye-ah!


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Subject: ?Tongue Twisters?
From: GUEST,Anonomous
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 01:23 AM

;p
Yah I really don't know it's just fun to add on to these dumb things lol
She Sells Seashells Down By The Sea Shore
One Big Bug Bled Blue Blood, While The Other Big Bug Bled Black
*One Sexy Seahorse sat solemly near the Silent Sea Shore

*Newly Created By Me! Meaning Us!


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Gedi
Date: 01 Jan 09 - 04:21 AM

My favourite :

The cat crept into the crypt, crapped and crept out again.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,Wally Macnow
Date: 04 May 09 - 02:24 PM

One more to the tune of Glory Glory. This one was made up for Helen Schneyer who was a practicing psycho       therapist.

One shrewd shrink shrank shriven shiverers
and the other shrewd shrink shrank shriners.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: frogprince
Date: 04 May 09 - 04:03 PM

Our niece just cinched her doctorate in TROPICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY; how many times can you repeat that fast?


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Bert
Date: 05 May 09 - 11:10 AM

The cricket critic.

The missel thrush ate thistle fluff.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: GUEST,high school drama
Date: 17 May 09 - 10:45 PM

a big blue bug bit a black bear and the big black bear bled black blood

you know new york unique new york you know you need unique new york.

you will not need a night light on a light night like tonight.

seven small swans saw six swift ships sailing southward.

my drama teacher has us do these (and a few more I cannot recall) almost every friday.


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 May 09 - 07:23 PM

Not exactly a tongue twister but I always liked 'Polish it behind the door'

(You have to say it aloud)

:D (eG)


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Subject: RE: Folklore: Tongue Twisters (She sells seashells...
From: Jack Campin
Date: 21 Feb 21 - 05:50 PM

Case of somebody who would have had a problem with "The Leith police dismisseth us".

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/edinburgh-woman-bit-off-mans-tongue-in-street-brawl-before-seagull-swooped-down-and-ate-it-3141625

You could say his bad luck had a tern for the worse.


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