Tongue Twisters

[Catharsis]

"The Leith police dismisseth us
And we both sighed sighs apiece,
And the sigh that we sighed as we said goodbye
Was the sigh of the Leith police."

"A fly and a flea in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, 'Let us flee!'
Said the flea, 'Let us fly!'
So they flew through a flaw in the flue."

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Well, apparently "buffalo" is an obscure synonym of "indimidate", as well as being a city and an animal. So to reword it using different terms, and adding the optional extra words, I would say something like "Rochester bison that Albany oxen intimidate, frighten Syracuse cows."

 

[Catharsis]

Badgers badgers badger badger badgers.

Dogs dogs dog dog dogs.

 

[bhsup]

I am surprised this one hasn't made the list yet:

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,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

 

[onejayhawk]

I like ones that someone might actually say.

Black broadcloth or blue broadcloth?
Better baby bottle.

Then there is my aunt Susie. She sells sesells by the seashore.

J

 

[colontos]

Here's a good Russian one: „Расскажите про покупку!“ „Про какую про покупку?“ „Про покупку, про покупку, про покупочку свою!“

Transcription: "Rasskazhite pro pokupku!" "Pro kakuju pro pokupku?" "Pro pokupku, pro pokupku, pro pokupochku svoju!"

Translation: "Tell about the purchase!" "About which purchase?" "About the purchase, about the purchase, about your purchase!"

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Name the movie this one's from!


"I want him westweing wabid wiowd animaws within a week!"

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Spoiler :

Life of Brian.

Great movie. I saw it when the Catholic priest who taught my theology course at Notre Dame showed it to the class. No, really.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Spoiler :

Life of Brian.

 

[mrtn]

"En bar barbar bar en bärbar bar."
I can say this backwards...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Two tutors who tooted the flute tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to the tutors, "Is it harder to toot than to tutor two tooters to toot?"


Some of these are absolutely evil! I can't even read them properly, let alone say them!

 

[Winner]

I used the search function, and I didn't show any matches. I hope this isn't a thread duplicate.

This thread is about the oh so cool tongue twisters, the sentences shaped to make it difficult to say them repeatedly fast.

"Kvistfritt kvastskaft" is an example of a tongue twister. Try this one out!

"Sju sjösjuka sjöman sköts av sju sjuksköterskor på det sjunkande skeppet Shanghai" is a really tough one for non-swedes!

"Min hund Liiv's liv som Liiv's hund" is one that I have concocted myself. It can get annoying if you repeat this fast in other people's presence.

Submit more, folks!

I hope I spelled tongue right.

Tři sta třicet tři stříbrných stříkaček stříká přes tři sta třicet tři stříbrných střech.

Of course, you have to learn how to say "Ř" first

 

[REDY]

Hmm I am Czech and Ř is still problem for me, I had to visit logopedist when I was young

 

[salty mud]

"I'm not a pheasent plucker, I'm a pheasent pluckers mate. I'm only plucking pheasents because the pheasent pluckers late!"

Be careful who you say this around...

 

[oagersnap]

In Danish, a very common one is: Stativ, stakit, kasket. It's not a sentence, and it's very short, but it's hard to say quickly. In English it means "Rack, fence, cap"

Also, it's very amusing to make foreigners try to say "Rødgrød med fløde". It means "Red porridge with cream". It's actually a quite common Danish dessert, but it's hard for foreigners to say because of all the ø's and soft d's.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B8dgr%C3%B8d_med_fl%C3%B8de

 

[mrtn]

In Danish, a very common one is: Stativ, stakit, kasket. It's not a sentence, and it's very short, but it's hard to say quickly. In English it means "Rack, fence, cap"

Also, it's very amusing to make foreigners try to say "Rødgrød med fløde". It means "Red porridge with cream". It's actually a quite common Danish dessert, but it's hard for foreigners to say because of all the ø's and soft d's.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B8dgr%C3%B8d_med_fl%C3%B8de

"Rødgrød med fløde" was used as a test sentence in Sweden during the second world war. If you could say that you were elligible for special Danish refugee support money.

 

[Princeps]

Well there's one word in Finnish...

järjestelmällistämättömyydelläänsäkäänköhän

Which translates as... "I wonder if even without his lack of systemizing"

 

[Catharsis]

Sister Susie's sewing shirts for soldiers
Such skill at sewing shirts
Our shy young sister Susie shows!
Some soldiers send epistles,
Say they'd sooner sleep in thistles
Than the saucy, soft, short shirts for soldiers sister Susie sews.

 

[Syterion]

TOY BOAT five times fast.

I also read something that took a survey, and apparently the two hardest english ones were:

The sixth's sheik's sixth's sheep's sick.

And the supposed hardest:

The seething sea ceaseth, and thus the seething sea sufficeth us.

I can do these two, but not toy boat.

 

[ori]

A well known German one:

Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische, frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz

and a few more