When I was in college, I first majored in Speech and Hearing Pathology, but eventually earned my Bachelor's degree in Communications Education. Two courses required for both were PHONETICS (the study of speech sounds, and how they're made) and ORAL INTERPRETATION. Now, that last one was interesting, because we studied a variety of styles of the printed word, and how to not just read them aloud, but to interpret them. Dramatic style wasn't necessarily the point; but appropriately interpreting the words and meanings of the author, through tone and expressive inflection, was. (I never heard so many different interpretations of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, some insightful, some overly dramatic, and others utterly clueless.)

Some of the most fun I had in Oral Interp was when we worked on tongue twisters and short, poetic passages. (My sincerest gratitude to Dr. Anna Dean Teague, my mentor.) Some of the assignments focused on sounds, while others focused on the appropriate emphasis of words. Two of my favorites are:

Esau Wood

Esau Wood sawed wood. Oh, the wood Wood would saw! All the wood Esau Wood saw, Esau Wood would saw. In other words, all the wood Wood saw, Esau sought to saw. One day Wood's woodsaw would saw no wood. So, all the wood Wood would saw was not the wood Wood would saw if Wood's woodsaw would saw wood. Now Wood would saw wood with a woodsaw that would saw wood, so Esau sought a saw that would saw wood. One day Esau saw a saw saw as no other woodsaw would saw. In fact, of all the wood saws Wood ever saw saw wood, Wood never saw a saw saw as the woodsaw Wood saw would saw wood. And I never saw a saw saw as the woodsaw Wood saw would saw until I saw Esau saw wood with the woodsaw Wood saw saw wood. Now Wood saws wood with the woodsaw Wood saw saw wood.

(That one's more of an ear-twister than a tongue twister, but if you do it right, and pause where you need to pause and emphasize what you need to emphasize, it makes perfect sense to the ear.)

A One-Breath Exercise

Amidst the mists and fiercest frosts,
with stoutest wrists and boldest boasts,
he thrusts his fists against the posts
and still insists he sees the ghosts.

(Dr. Teague critiqued us on that one-breath exercise according to whether we took a great big old gasping deep breath before we started or just a normal deep breath, whether we got through the sentence on that one breath, and whether we hit each "st" and "sts". It was NOT an easy exercise, let me tell you! Give it a try!)

What exactly IS a Tongue Twister?

A Tongue Twister is defined as a phrase or sentence which is hard to say quickly, usually because of alliteration (a sequence of similar or nearly similar sounds. Tongue twisters help to develop speech skills and are often used in speech therapy. To get the full effect of a tongue twister, try to repeat it several times, as quickly as possible, without stumbling or mispronouncing. Here are some nice ones:

• A skunk sat on a stump.
  The skunk thunk the stump stunk,
  but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
• A tree toad loved a she-toad
  Who lived up in a tree.
  He was a two-toed tree toad
  But a three-toed toad was she.
  The two-toed tree toad tried to win
  The three-toed she-toad's heart,
  For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground
  That the three-toed tree toad trod.
  But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.
  He couldn't please her whim.
  From her tree toad bower
  With her three-toed power
  The she-toad vetoed him.
• A Tudor who tooted the flute
  tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
  Said the two to the tutor,
  "Is it harder to toot or
  to tutor two tooters to toot?"
• Aluminum, linoleum, aluminum, linoleum...
• Give me the gift of a grip-top sock,
  A clip drape shipshape tip top sock.
  Not your spinslick slapstick slipshod stock,
  But a plastic, elastic grip-top sock.
  None of your fantastic slack swap slop
  From a slap dash flash cash haberdash shop.
  Not a knick knack knitlock knockneed knickerbocker sock
  With a mock-shot blob-mottled trick-ticker top clock.
  Not a supersheet seersucker rucksack sock,
  Not a spot-speckled frog-freckled cheap sheik's sock
  Off a hodge-podge moss-blotched scotch-botched block.
  Nothing slipshod drip drop flip flop or glip glop
  Tip me to a tip top grip top sock.
• How much myrtle would a wood turtle hurdle if a wood turtle could hurdle myrtle? A wood turtle would hurdle as much myrtle as a wood turtle could hurdle if a wood turtle could hurdle myrtle.
• I'm a sheet slitter.
  I slit sheets.
  I'm the sleekest sheet slitter
  that ever slit sheets.
• King Thistle stuck a thousand thistles in the thistle of his thumb.
  A thousand thistles King Thistle stuck in the thistle of his thumb.
  If King Thistle stuck a thousand thistles in the thistle of his thumb,
  How many thistles did King Thistle stick in the thistle of his thumb?
• Pretty Kitty Creighton had a cotton batten cat.
  The cotton batten cat was bitten by a rat.
  The kitten that was bitten had a button for an eye,
  And biting off the button made the cotton batten fly.
• Red leather, yellow leather…
• Red lolly, yellow lolly.
• Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

Hope you enjoy playing with these!

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