Tongue twister

A tongue twister is a phrase or sentence that is hard to say quickly and correctly because it packs together similar sounds that the mouth tends to swap.

"She sells seashells by the seashore." Say it five times fast. The tongue keeps shifting between s and sh, and somewhere around the third repeat it gives up.

Why they trip you up

Tongue twisters work by placing sounds that sit close together in the mouth in quick alternation. The mouth has to move from one to the next before it has finished the last. The brain then swaps them, which is the same slip a spoonerism captures. The alliteration that makes the phrase bounce is also what makes it treacherous.

Examples

• "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."
• "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
• "Red lorry, yellow lorry."
• "Unique New York."

The last pair look easy and are not. Try "red lorry, yellow lorry" ten times.

How to write one

Pick two sounds that are close, such as r and l, or p and b. Alternate them with a bit of meaning, so the phrase is easy to remember. Test it aloud on a stranger, since the writer's own tongue gets trained by the practice.

Why it matters to a writer or editor

Tongue twisters teach how sounds behave in a row. Any text meant to be spoken, from a speech to an advert, benefits from a check for accidental twisters. A phrase such as "the sixth sick sheikh" is fine on paper and painful on air. Read the text aloud, and where you stumble, a listener or actor will stumble too. Related sound effects include consonance and assonance.

Frequently asked questions

Why are tongue twisters hard to say?

They pair sounds made in nearly the same place in the mouth, such as s and sh, so the tongue has to switch positions rapidly and the brain mixes the sounds up.

What is a famous tongue twister?

'She sells seashells by the seashore' and 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers' are the best known in English.

Are tongue twisters useful?

Yes. Actors, broadcasters and speech therapists use them to warm up and to train clear speech.