Tongue-twister

A tongue-twister is a phrase in any language that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly.

Many tongue-twisters have two or three sequences of sounds, then the same sequences of sounds with some sounds exchanged. For example, She sells sea shells on a sea shore, so the shells she sells are sure sea shore shells.

Some tongue-twisters are specifically designed to cause the inadvertent pronunciation of a profanity if the speaker stumbles verbally. An example in Polish is ząb, zupa zębowa, dąb, zupa dębowa (a tooth, tooth soup, an oak, oak soup). The word dąb forces an unsuspecting victim to further utter dupa dębowa (oak arse).

Something that might be regarded as a type of tongue-twister is a shibboleth, that is, a phrase in a language that is difficult for someone who is not a native speaker of that language to say. An example is Georgian baqaqi ts'khalshi qiqinebs (a frog croaks in the water), in which “q” is a sort of gulping sound.

For more examples, see List of tongue-twisters.

The sign language equivalent of a tongue twister is called a finger fumbler.