Tongue twisters are fun and tricky phrases that can trip up even the most skilled speakers. Let’s dive into the fascinating stories behind some of the most famous tongue twisters and discover their surprising origins!
Unlike most tongue twisters that come from folk traditions, “Pat kid poured curd pulled Cod” was created by researchers at MIT. They designed it to be super difficult to say, and it was even considered the hardest tongue twister at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Try saying it ten times fast!
The phrase “she sells seashells by the seashore” is often linked to Mary Anning, a pioneering paleontologist who collected fossils on England’s Jurassic Coast. However, she sold fossils, not seashells, and there’s no solid evidence connecting her to the tongue twister. The phrase was popularized by a song in 1908, but versions of it existed even earlier.
Ever wondered how much wood a woodchuck could chuck? The phrase became famous in a 1903 Broadway musical, but people were already curious about woodchucks’ wood-chucking abilities before then. An employee from New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation humorously estimated that a woodchuck could chuck about 700 pounds of wood—if they could chuck wood!
Carolyn Wells, a prolific writer, is credited with creating the tongue twister “Betty Botter bought some butter.” Her 1902 collection, “A Nonsense Anthology,” includes this and other playful phrases. Another of her creations involves a tutor teaching young tutors to toot flutes!
Most people know “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from the movie “Mary Poppins,” but the word existed before then. Songwriters Barney Young and Gloria Parker claimed to have used a similar word earlier, but a judge ruled that the word had been around since the 1930s. It’s a fun word that means something wonderful and grand.
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” first appeared in print in 1813. The phrase is credited to John Harris, and some believe it was inspired by a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre, whose last name means “pepper.”
“Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” was used in a 1905 advertisement for an ice cream freezer. It became even more popular through a 1927 song and later appeared in the movie “Down By Law.”
Tongue twisters are not just fun to say; they have interesting stories and histories behind them. Do you have a favorite tongue twister? Try sharing it with friends and see who can say it the fastest!
Think about some of your favorite words or phrases and try to create your own tongue twister. Use alliteration and repetition to make it tricky. Share your creation with the class and see who can say it the fastest without stumbling!
Form teams and participate in a tongue twister relay race. Each team member must correctly say a different tongue twister before passing the baton to the next person. The first team to finish without mistakes wins!
Choose one of the tongue twisters mentioned in the article and research more about its origin. Prepare a short presentation to share your findings with the class. Include any interesting facts or myths you discover!
Pick a tongue twister and create an illustration that represents the phrase. Use your creativity to bring the words to life through art. Display your artwork in the classroom for everyone to enjoy.
Work in groups to create a short skit or play based on one of the tongue twisters. Incorporate the tongue twister into your dialogue and perform it for the class. Make sure to emphasize the tricky parts for added fun!
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript, removing any unnecessary repetitions and ensuring clarity:
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Pat kid poured curd pulled Cod. Unlike most tongue twisters, this phrase didn’t arise organically from folk tradition; it was developed by researchers at MIT specifically to trip up tongues. This might explain why the phrase is essentially unintelligible as a sentence. Hi, I’m Erin McCarthy, and this is The List Show. Today, we’re discussing the stories behind famous tongue twisters, from the potentially real Peter Piper to the disputed identity of the “she who sells seashells down by the seashore.”
At the Acoustical Society of America’s 166th meeting, “Pat kid poured curd pulled Cod” was deemed the most difficult combination of words for volunteers to recite, unofficially dethroning the former Guinness World Record holder, “the sixth sick Sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.” Go ahead and try to repeat it yourself ten times while the intro plays!
Perhaps the most famous story behind a tongue twister is likely a work of fiction or metafolklore—an unsubstantiated folkloric explanation. Many sources claim that “she sells seashells on the seashore” is a nod to the pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning, who collected fossils along what is now known as the Jurassic Coast in Southwest England. Anning is definitely worthy of recognition; we discussed her exploits in our video about scientists who didn’t receive enough credit in their day.
Anning collected the first complete skeleton of an ichthyosaur, among other scientific feats, but she was known to sell fossils, not seashells, and her sales didn’t take place on the seashore. This doesn’t necessarily disprove the purported origin of the tongue twister, as I grew up saying “she sells seashells down by the seashore.” However, a complete lack of evidence can often be persuasive, and there doesn’t seem to be any contemporary record tying Anning to the earliest known versions of the phrase.
When folklore scholar Stephen Winick looked into the connection for the Library of Congress’s Folklife Blog, the earliest document linking Anning dated back to 1977, decades after a famous song by Terry Sullivan and Harry Gifford had used the phrase. Even then, the book only suggested that Anning was reputed to be the unnamed seashell seller, which is often a way to say someone made this up at some point. Winick also found variations of the phrase that predate Sullivan and Gifford’s 1908 song, including versions from the 19th century.
On the subject of entertaining but speculative information, according to an employee of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, a woodchuck could chuck about 700 pounds of wood if a woodchuck could chuck wood—though they can’t, due to their tiny, ineffectual fists. The phrase “how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” was popularized in the 1903 Broadway musical “The Runaways.” The song was written by Robert Hobart Davis and Theodore F. Morris, and while it contributed to the phrase’s spread, evidence suggests people were pondering the hypothetical woodchucking capacity of woodchucks before the musical debuted.
The tongue twister appeared in a 1901 edition of the Pacific Rural Press and was included in the Christian Register’s pleasantry section that same year. Some tongue twisters have clearer attribution; a couple can be traced back to the prolific writer Carolyn Wells, including “Betty Botter bought some butter.”
Wells’s most famous collection was a 1902 publication called “A Nonsense Anthology.” Compared to “Pat kid poured curd pulled Cod,” Betty’s situation sounds less like nonsense and more like culinary analysis. Wells is also credited with a tongue twister about a tooting tutor: “A tutor who tooted the flute tried to teach two young tutors to toot.”
Most people know the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from the musical film “Mary Poppins,” but that’s not the first time the word was used. The song is attributed to the Sherman Brothers, but songwriters Barney Young and Gloria Parker claimed to have used a similar nonsense word in their song years earlier. They alleged copyright infringement and tried to sue for $12 million, but the case was eventually thrown out because the judge ruled the word had been in common use since the 1930s.
As for what situations would call for the purported coinage, a writer named Helen Herman claimed to have coined a similar word in a 1931 edition of the Syracuse Daily Orange, implying all that is grand and wonderful.
We debated whether “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” can rightly be considered a tongue twister, but this next one is a slam dunk: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” This phrase first appeared in print in 1813 in a book called “Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation,” credited to John Harris. The more controversial question is who might have inspired the tongue twister. Many have pointed to “Pierre Poivre,” the French version of Peter, where “poivre” means pepper.
“Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” was used in a 1905 advertisement for an ice cream freezer. This phrase became popularized in a 1927 song that eventually worked its way into Jim Jarmusch’s “Down By Law.”
That’s it for this episode of The List Show! If you have a favorite tongue twister we didn’t mention, drop it in the comments below. We’ll see you next time!
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This version maintains the essential information while improving clarity and flow.
Tongue – A part of the body inside the mouth that helps with speaking and tasting. – In English class, we learned that the tongue is important for pronouncing words correctly.
Twisters – Sentences or phrases that are difficult to say quickly because of similar sounds. – Our teacher challenged us with tongue twisters to improve our pronunciation skills.
Phrase – A small group of words that express a concept and are part of a sentence. – The phrase “once upon a time” is commonly used to start fairy tales.
Woodchuck – A type of groundhog, often used in a famous tongue twister. – We laughed as we tried to say, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
Butter – A dairy product made from milk or cream, often used in cooking and baking. – In the tongue twister, “Betty Botter bought some butter,” we practiced our ‘b’ sounds.
Mary – A common name, often used in nursery rhymes and stories. – In literature class, we read about Mary and her little lamb.
Fossils – The remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in rock. – We studied how fossils can tell us about life on Earth millions of years ago.
Peter – A common name, often used in stories and nursery rhymes. – We recited the rhyme about Peter Piper, who picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Peppers – A type of vegetable that can be sweet or spicy, often used in cooking. – The tongue twister about Peter Piper picking peppers was tricky to say quickly.
Ice – Frozen water, often used to cool drinks or preserve food. – In the poem, the character skated gracefully across the ice.
