If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker,
it is slick to put a lock upon your stock.
For some joker who is quicker will rob you of your liquor
if you fail to lock your liquor with a lock.

I came across this page of tongue twisters by accident yesterday. I love tongue twisters, and apparently the rest of the world does, as well, because there are tongue twisters in pretty much any language you can think of. (Even sign language has its “finger-fumblers.”) They’re nonsense, of course, but they’re fun. Tongue twisters (and limericks, and silly songs) show a true love of language, I think. They can only be created by someone who loves words for the way they sound, the way they feel.

The first site reintroduced me to some of my favorites (“Betty Botter bought a bit of butter…”) and some new ones (“Moses supposes his toeses are roses…”). I’m not sure which I prefer more, the long rhyming ones that are easy to say–I’ve never, for example, had trouble with “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?”–or the short ones that absolutely mangle my mouth. The three words “real wristwatch straps” have been having my tongue writhing for the last ten minutes. Deceptively tricky.

What’s your favorite twister?