Tikumu's letter

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 14

Tikumu's letter

Dear Children, Tongue twisters are fun to say. They can be short as:

Blade bug’s blood or as long as the one at the end of this letter. People have said tongue twisters for hundreds and hundreds of years and have found them not only entertaining, but handy in an emergency. Tricky twisters, for example, could cure your hiccups. Next time you suffer this complaint, say Hickup, snickup, rise up, right up. Three drops in the cup are good for the hiccups. Say the twister quickly and remember on no account to pause for breath. I hope your hiccups vanish. Word cramps — another name for tongue twisters — may also be used by your teacher. She might ask a class to repeat some twisters to help them speak clearly. You would, after all, have to concentrate hard over each word when reciting this verse: While trying to whistle Christopher Twistle Twisted his tonge.

or this: The rat ran over the roof of the house, With a lump of raw liver in its mouth A dentist could have some tongue twisters written down in his notebook too. If he were fitting you for a plate, he would listen carefully to your speech. Perhaps he might ask you to say:

She sells sea shells on the sea shore. We have to be alert to say word cramps. Judges know this very well and in the olden days they sometimes ordered people to say them in the courts if they looked rather drunk. This was a good test. Think how'difficult it would be for a drunken man to say quickly > ■ When a Twister a-twisting will twist him a twist,

For the twisting of his twist, he three twines doth intwist; But if one of the twines of the twist do untwist, The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist or even this

Three grey geese in the green grass grazing, Grey were the geese, and green was the grazing.

Finally, here is a long tongue twister for you to recite.

Esaw Wood sawed wood. Esaw Wood would saw wood. Oh, the wood that Wood would saw. One day Esaw Wood saw a saw saw wood as no other wobd-saw Wood ever saw would saw wood. Of all the wood-saws Wood ever saw saw wood, Wood never saw a woodsaw that would saw like the wood-saw Wood saw would. Now Esaw saws with that saw he saw saw wood.

Can you say it quickly three times? Tikumu