Tongue Twisters. Remember when you were a kid and you felt such a supreme sense of accomplishment if you could master one? I do, and I thought I was pretty good at it too. I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and have a look at some of the tongue twisters I remember from my childhood (note that some might recall differing variations of the wording).
Peter Piper
Betty Botter
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear
Woodchuck
She sells seashells
Suzie Shining Shoes
I scream for Ice Cream
I thought a thought
Two Witches Watching Watches
Dog Chews Shoes
10 Tongue Twisters from my childhood
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
- Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t Fuzzy was he?
- 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?
- She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
- Betty Botter had some butter. But she said this butter’s bitter. If I bake this bitter butter, it would make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter would make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter, better than her bitter butter, and she baked it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So ’twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
- I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.
- I saw Suzie sitting in a shoe shine shop. Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.
- If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
- If two witches were watching two watches which witch would watch which watch?
- I thought a thought but the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn’t have thought so much.
Do those ring a bell for you? Remember the feeling of accomplishment when you could say them without slipping up? Do you recall some others that aren’t listed here? Please share in the comments below!
Ciao for now,
26 Comments
You’ve brought back so many memories Min, of chanting these rhymes over and over in the school yard. They were such fun! Your post also made me think of how much simpler times were back then. #lifethisweek
I’m glad I brought back some fun memories for you Jennifer as that’s the purpose of these posts! Life certainly was simpler back then wasn’t it?
I remember some of these, Min. It was fun. I wonder if school kids still say the same tongue twisters these days. #lifethisweek
Hi Natalie – It’s lovely to know these are known across various countries so we have some shared childhood memories and yes it was so much simple fun! I have no idea if kids still recite tongue twisters these days. It’d be interesting to know!
Hi Min – ahhhh a trip down memory lane. I remember a few of these (I think the whole world of people our generation and before knew Peter Piper and his pickled peppers!) Our kids had trouble with pronouncing “L” when they were little and we used to repeat “Loopy the long legged lion loved licking lollipops” on a regular basis (especially in the car) and it worked a treat, so maybe there’s a hidden purpose behind this type of ‘rhyme’?
Hi Leanne – I love a trip down memory lane! Yes I think you’d have been living under a rock if you weren’t familiar with Peter and his pickled peppers! Lovely story about your kids practice with the the letter ‘L’ with Loopy the long legged lion who loved licking lollipops! I hadn’t heard that one before but I love it!
Fuzzy wuzzy was definitely one I remember!
I used to love the Fuzzy Wuzzy one!
Yep, I sat here and said every one of them out loud!
I did too, and some came out of my mouth like they were ingrained in my soul but others I tripped up over and could imagine the kid me giggling her head off at the ‘old’ me! haha
Thanks for the smiles, Min! I recognized the first 5 young twisters but not the last 5. I am going to save this and try them with my grandsons.
I’m glad you enjoyed Laurie and I really hope your grandsons have some fun with them!
These are fabulous Min. My husband does a daily nursery rhyme/song/poem for the grandkids and sends it out by video so I’ll give these to him to add to his collection 🙂 I hadn’t heard of every one of them but I love the way they roll of the tongue. Thanks Min #lifethisweek
Thanks Deb. That’s so lovely what your hubby does with your grandkids. I hope they enjoy some new tongue twisters! They used to make me laugh and giggle a lot when I was a kid!
Oh yes, I used to love a good tongue twister! As an adult, I used to love teaching them to my adult international language students. We all used to be in stitches. I don’t think you’re ever too old for a good tongue twister situation!
Hi Sammie – I’m sure tongue twisters would have blown the minds of your international language students! I can imagine the laughter! lol They still make me giggle now. That’s a good thing!
Ha! I loved this Min and you know what else it reminded me of… those autograph book things. I can’t remember exactly what they were called but you’d write things in those belonging to your friend. Like: 1 1 was a racehorse, 2 2 was 1 2. 1 1 1 1 race. 2 2 won 1 2.
Sigh…
So glad it brought back some fun memories for you Deb. Yes I do remember those autograph book thingys. I’ve got one tucked away here somewhere that my classmates all wrote in and yes things like your racehorse example. I’m going to have to dig it out and reveal some of the beauties within now! lol
Haha…yes, gotta love tongue twisters. A few of those I never heard of.
They’re fun aren’t they? And now you’ve got some new ones to tackle!
What a great post and look at those memories flooding back!!
Thank you for linking up for Life This Week, and as we approach the changing month to April, may you have some good weather where it’s enjoyable to be outside. Next week, the optional prompt is the second of the Self Care stories. Are you self caring enough? See you on Monday 5 April for #lifethisweek link up. Denyse.
Thanks Denyse. I love a bit of nostalgia. It’s good for the soul!
OMG Min, you took me down memory lane with this! I do remember the laughs and how we would see who could say it the fastest and without errors. Thanks for the memories!
I’m glad I took you down memory lane Sanch. It’s nice to do that now and then – back to simpler days where fun came so much more easily!
Ok, for some reason the only one I can recall is a drinking game (what does that say about me?)
It goes like this:
You all sit in a circle around a table.
Each person says “fuzzy duck”, then the next person says “fuzzy duck”, “fuzzy duck”, “fuzzy duck”
At any time someone can say “does he?” and then the chanting goes in reverse order back around the table and people are meant to say “ducky fuzz”, “ducky fuzz”, until someone says “does he?” again and the order is reversed again with people again saying “fuzzy duck”.
Each time someone gets it wrong (and they will … ) they have to take skull of their drink.
Fuzzy duck, fuzzy duck, fuzzy duck, fuzzy duck …
Does he?
Ducky, fuzz, ducky fuzz, ducky fuzz, ducky fuzz …
Does he?
Fuzzy duck
Does he?
Does he F*&!
F*&! he does …
I recall taking this game to the USA where I had my US family playing it one night when their insurance guy arrived and he joined in and everyone got totally smashed,
Fun time.
Perhaps not the tongue twister you were hoping for … but it’s the only one I’ve got! LOL
Haha that drinking game sounds fun. I can imagine where it leads once a few drinks have been had! lol