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Try saying “toy boat” five times as fast as you can without tripping up – it’s hard! Tongue twisters are fast, easy games that can get anyone in a knot. Did you know that the Guinness World Record holder for the most difficult tongue twister is “the sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick”? Don’t worry, we tried (and failed) too.

So, why can’t say tongue twisters more easily? They’re such simple words! And why were they invented? Surely not just to make us look like fools, right?

 

What is a tongue twister?

A tongue twister is a group of words that are hard to say together in a close sequence. They usually have the same sounding consonants. So, when you do try to say the words in order, the pronunciation comes out all wrong. For example, as Josh Clark mentions, if you try to say “toy boat” multiple times and fast, it sounds more like you’re saying “tie boyte.”

 

Father and daughter saying tongue twisters


Tongue twisters examples

Tongue twisters can be lengthy or just a few words long. Two of the most widely known tongue twisters are:

    • She sells seashells by the seashore
    • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

If you prefer short and quick ones, here are some other well-known examples. Try to read them as fast as you can! And don’t underestimate these short ones, they’re just as tricky!

    • Red leather, yellow leather
    • Red lorry, yellow lorry
    • Snap crackle pop (x3)
    • Unique New York
    • Thin sticks, thick bricks

And of course, for the more advanced, we can’t forget about this one!

Bitty Batter bought some butter

“But,” said she, “this butter’s bitter.

If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter.”

So she bought some better butter,

And she put the better butter in the bitter batter,

And made the bitter batter better.

 

The origin of tongue twisters

Did you know that the famous sea shell tongue twister dates back to 19th-century England? It’s about a woman called Mary Anning. She used to collect shells and fossils on the beach to sell to wealthy families and make money for her own family. While the tongue twister is famous, maybe Mary deserves some more fame herself – she actually discovered the first flying dinosaur, which is displayed in the British Museum!

 

 

Tongue twisters for amusement

According to Britannica, tongue twisters were often passed down through generations. They became a rich part of folklore. Tongue twisters were often created and used as a form of amusement and entertainment long ago, just as they are in school playgrounds today.

 

Speech training in schools

Tongue twisters weren’t only used as amusing wordplay. They were actually used in schools as early as 1878 for speech training to improve articulation too. How neat! In fact, they were also used to treat hiccups (although we can’t guarantee the results).

 

Why does jumbled pronunciation happen?

So why is it that when a few simple words are put together, it causes so much havoc to our pronunciation? It’s all because of a cognitive and physical error – a battle between the brain and the tongue. It can affect even the best speakers!

Research has shown that multiple brain regions are involved in controlling speech. The brain gets mixed up with what signals it’s sending when you say syllables that sound similar.

When the brain loses coordination with the mouth, the tongue gets jumbled up. Because the tongue has trouble saying phrases such as “toy boat” quickly, one word often replaces the other. And this is why “toy boat” turns into “tie boyt”!

   

 

Hopefully, you’ve learned a little (or a lot) about tongue twisters. We sure have! It’s fascinating how our brain and our body works. Who knew that they were used to help improve speech?

Try out the examples in this blog and see if you can conquer them. We’re sure they will bring some laughter. They definitely did as one of the activities we tested in our many KidsWantU App focus groups! Happy tongue-twisting!

Jump in here to get access to the KidsWantU app and other fun family activities within it. 😊 

 

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