Tongue twisters are a barbaric but hilarious form of entertainment
designed around the simple fact that languages are hard.
Languages are rarely well-designed. Those that are, like
Esperanto, sound so awful and are so complex only a small core group of
zealots ever want to use them. No matter how tightly the language-lawyers
try to keep control over language specifications1, the end-users keep subverting things.
They invent new words and generally pervert the language by altering the
meaning of words2 or
adopting words from other languages3.
Computer terms are among the most common English words which are now being adopted
into all languages.
These peculiarities at least leave room for some simple fun. Many
languages have a mixture of sounds, some that are easy to pronounce, some
that are complex, and some that are only difficult when combined with
others. Other languages are just flat-out jawbreakers and have no easy
sounds at all4.
The fun of tongue twisters is inventing strings and combinations of
sounds that are hard to say in series. The tongue twister should be repeated multiple times - anywhere from three to ten times is common - as quickly as possible, usually all in one breath. For added effect and bonus points,
the good ones are designed in such a way as to trip the tongue into saying
bits of absurdity, or even outright crudity, instead of the intended
phrase. Such as:
1 In France they
have a committee that decides if a word can become part of the French
language. This leaves them in the strange position of having an official
and an unofficial language.
2 For instance in England the word 'pants' is now
used to describe something that it is horrid or unacceptable.
3 In Canada the Quebecois mix
English and French together, eg 'Très grande party last weekend, eh?'.
4 Welsh being a prime example of a jaw-breaking,
throat-ripping language.
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