Warm-ups: Tongue Twisters

Can you do this tongue twister? This one came from Vox Daily:

Theophilus Thistle

Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter,
In sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles,
Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.
If Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter,
Can thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,
See thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles,
Thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.

A more compact version reads:

Theophilus Thistle, the Thistle Sifter,
Sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles.
If Theophilus Thistle, the Thistle Sifter,
Sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles,
Where is the sieve of un-sifted thistles
Theophilus Thistle, the Thistle Sifter, sifted?

Here’s another one via a post of Joe J. Thomas:

If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker
It is quick to stick a lock upon your stock
Or some joker who is quicker’s
Going to trick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock

… and another (from a Tom Lehrer song “Clementine”):
That I missed her depressed her young sister named Esther
This mister to pester she tried
Now a pestering sister’s a festering blister
You’re best to resister say I
The mister resisted, the sister persisted
I kissed her – all loyalty slipped
When she said I could have her
Her sister’s cadaver
Must surely had turned in its crypt

I’ve always liked this one…

Betty Botter Bought a Bit of Better Butter

“Betty Botter” has some variations, but most are very similar. A common one is:

Betty Botter bought some butter,

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

If I put it in my batter,

It will make my batter bitter;

But a bit of better butter,

Better than the bitter butter

Will but make my bitter batter better.”

So she bought a bit of better butter,

Better than the bitter butter,

and made her bitter batter better.

The following version is tightly worded:

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.

The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter

And made her batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter

Makes better batter.

So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,

Making Betty Botter’s bitter batter better.

Another version is as follows:

Betty bought a bit of butter,

But the butter Betty bought was a bit bitter.

So Betty bought a bit of better butter,

To make Betty’s bitter butter better.

Kewl.

Kim 🙂