Tongue twisters: Here are 10 of the toughest and trickiest tongue twisters to try - including in Gaelic and French
First becoming hugely popular in the 19th century, with the expression first recorded in 1895, tongue twisters are phrases that are incredibly difficult to say without making a mistake.
Often they use rapid sequences of similar sounding words that are easy to get jumbled, with the classic example being ‘she sells sea shells on the seashore’.
The use of alliteration and rhyme can also be used to trip up the speaker, as can combination of compound words and their constituent parts, for instance in the traditional tongue twister ‘how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?’.
As well as being amusing they are often used by actors and singers before a performance to warm up their voices.
And they can also help those learning a new language (tongue twisters are not unique to English), or help those who have a speech impediment learn to enunciate words properly.
Here are 10 tongue twisters to try, from the traditional to the more quirky, including in French and Gaelic.
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The use of alliteration and rhyme can also be used to trip up the speaker, as can combination of compound words and their constituent parts, for instance in the traditional tongue twister ‘how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?’.
5. Six saucissons (French)
Ces six saucissons-secs-ci sont si secs qu’on ne sait si s’en sont. (These six dried sausages are so dry that we don’t know if they are.) Photo: Canva/Getty Images
6. Fuzzy Wuzzy
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he? Photo: Canva/Getty Images
7. Cha robh laogh (Gaelic)
Cha robh laogh ruadh riamh luath, is cha robh laogh luath riamh reamhar. (A red calf was never fast, and a fast calf was never fat.) Photo: Canva/Getty Images
8. Betty Botter
Betty Botter bought some butter but, said she, the butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my bitter batter better. So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter, put it in her bitter batter, made her bitter batter better. So ‘t was better Betty Botter bought some better butter. Photo: Canva/Getty Images