Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A sentence or verse constructed with a view to test the enunciation or dexterity of a speaker. The following is an example: Theophilus Thistle, thistle-sifter, sifted a sieveful of unsifted thistles, etc.
Wiktionary
- n. A phrase that is deliberately designed to be difficult to say correctly, usually because of varying combinations of similar phonemes.
Etymologies
- tongue + twister (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Could somebody throw me a link to, or just write, this little tongue-twister in Spanish?”
“For this, we thank a long-ago line of Indian and Arabic forebears, whose tongue-twister names are familiar to mathematicians and few others.”
“Until its 1920 merger with Edinburgh, Leith was a separate municipal burgh of Scotland, with its own provost (mayor) and police force (thus the tongue-twister test asking the suspected drunk to say "the Leith police dismisseth us.")”
“Try saying that three times fast, what a tongue-twister har har har …”
SH*T THAT I WANT: Vol. 3 « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more
“Ohio schoolboy finds that trying to pronounce Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull is a real tongue-twister!”
The Huffington Post: Mark C. Miller: News the Media Missed This Week
“Anyone interested in the story of Paricutín volcano might enjoy this tongue-twister about one of the villages destroyed by lava:”
“She evidently regards this as no more than a tongue-twister.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » I Am Apparently “So Desperate for [Ann Bartow’s] Attention,”
“So a word like herfst is a tough tongue-twister for Chinese speakers.”
“This is a tongue-twister and may sound boring, but the Wikipedia link I've provided in the previous sentence leads to a Hollywood-like "demystifying" video of life in the scientific fast lane (sorry about the pun).”
“(There's still tongue-twister potential here: Can you say "Hugh's ewes used to be huge" 10 times fast?)”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tongue-twister’.
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tongue phrases
how tongue is used
tongue aloe, tongue-and-groove, tongue-baited, tongue-bang, tongue-banger, tongue-bar, tongue-battery, tongue-battle, tongue-bird, tongue-bit, tongue-biting, tongue-bitten and 158 more...
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INTERP - VOCABULARY
The vocabulary of conference interpreting. I commend this list to those who want to know more about the profession and to those who wish to organize their knowledge about the profession. To aspirin...
retour language, A-language, B-language, C-language, relay language, take sy on relay, language booth, booth meeting, mic, mike, mission, freelance interpr... and 2086 more...
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Speaking in tongues
Tongue words and phrases.
tongue-tied, tongue-lashing, tongue-twister, tongue-in-cheek, forked tongue, tongue-chain, speaking in tongues, gift of tongues, on the tip of one..., tongue-work, tongue-fence, tongue bone and 72 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tongue-twister.
oroboros It’s said that police sergeants in Leith, Scotland, used this tongue-twister as a sobriety test:
The Leith police dismisseth us,
I’m thankful, sir, to say;
The Leith police dismisseth us,
They thought we sought to stay.
The Leith police dismisseth us,
We both sighed sighs apiece;
And the sigh that we sighed as we said goodbye
Was the size of the Leith police.
If you can’t say it, you’re drunk.
(via futilitycloset.com) Jan 6, 2010