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Tongue Twisters

2010-12-07 · Hank, a guest · watch on YouTube · History & curiosities · explainer learning

Hank explains why tongue twisters are hard (similar sibilant fricatives, homophones and what he calls 'pseudophones', more mind than tongue), and argues people do them because they're fun and show how amazing speech is, a universal human pleasure illustrated by viewers' twisters in other languages.

What is said

00:00:00 — Talking fast: practice (the outtakes video), cadence and fricatives lead to a tongue-twister obsession

  • ★ Hank says commenters often call him a fast talker, which he credits to a lot of practice; the outtakes video shows how often the brothers screw up. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says another secret of fast talking is cadence, fricatives, plosives and stops, which led to his obsession with tongue twisters. — 00:00:11

00:00:19 — Fricatives and sibilant fricatives; 'she sells seashells'; mind not tongue; mixing f and sh; homophones

  • ★★ Hank defines a fricative as a sound made by bringing two parts of the mouth very close and blowing air through them (f, th, s, sh), among the most complicated things the mouth does. — 00:00:19
  • ★★ Hank says 'She sells seashells by the seashore' trips speakers because it alternates two very similar sibilant fricatives, confusing the brain about which comes next. — 00:00:36
  • ★★ Hank says tongue twisters are probably more mind twisters than tongue twisters: people reading them silently take longer than reading non-twisting sentences. (hedged) — 00:01:00
  • ★★ Hank says mixing fricatives such as f and sh is harder still, as in the 'fisherman named Fisher' twister, which also relies on homophones. — 00:01:10

00:01:28 — 'Pseudophones' and Hank's favourite, 'I slit the sheet'; iambic rhythm

  • ★★★ Hank coins 'pseudophones' for words that are similar but not quite the same, which make everything go wrong if said wrong. — 00:01:28 > «Pseudophones are words that are similar but not quite the same»
  • ★★ Hank's favourite twister, 'I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit…', hinges on the pseudophones slit, sheet and sit; frequently saying others like seat and sleet makes slips more likely. — 00:01:36
  • ★ Hank notes 'I slit the sheet' is entirely iambic, with almost every accent falling on a pseudophone. — 00:02:00

00:02:13 — Why tongue twisters exist in every language: they are fun and show how amazing speech is; Twitter call for native-language twisters

  • ★★★ Hank argues the recognised hardest tongue twisters, like 'the sheik's sixth sick sheep', are just a dense forest of sibilant fricatives: hard, but not interesting. — 00:02:13
  • ★★ Hank says tongue twisters are prevalent in every single language, including American Sign Language, which has 'finger fumblers'. — 00:02:30
  • ★★★ Hank argues people do tongue twisters because they're fun, and that they reveal how amazing the joint work of mouth, vocal cords, diaphragm and lungs in speech is. — 00:02:41
  • ★★ Hank says one could easily argue that this speech ability is what makes humans special as a species. (hedged) — 00:02:47
  • ★★ Hank says he asked Nerdfighteria on Twitter for tongue twisters in their native languages and shares a montage of submissions (captioned as Palestinian Arabic, Dutch, Icelandic, Amharic, French, Cantonese and Norwegian). — 00:03:00 · Nerdfighteria, Twitter

00:03:45 — The universal thing is humanity enjoying fun; more twisters 'in my pants'; Fox in Socks for a child of the brothers; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank concludes that something universal about tongue twisters goes beyond sibilant fricatives: the universal thing is humanity and our enjoyment of having fun. — 00:03:45
  • ★★ Hank tells John that if he doesn't have a copy of Fox in Socks, Hank is sending his own copy for a child of the brothers. — 00:03:58

00:04:02 — Thanks to a linguistics professor; the 'Nerdfighter montage exception' to the four-minute rule

  • ★ Hank thanks Professor of Linguistics Joel Anderson for his help with the video. — 00:04:02
  • ★★ Hank tells commenters demanding punishment for a video over four minutes that the 'Nerdfighter montage exception' applies, so he remains punishment-free. (playful) — 00:04:06 · Four-minute rule

Humor (significant)

  • Hank says fricatives are among the most complicated things the mouth will ever do. — 00:00:30 > «Even if you are thinking of something dirty, fricatives are more complicated than that»
  • Hank explains why 'I slit the sheet' is his favourite tongue twister. — 00:01:57 > «people always end up shitting on the slitted sheet»
  • Hank says there are more tongue twisters he could not fit in. — 00:03:53 > «There's some more non-English tongue twisters in my pants»
  • Hank addresses commenters demanding punishment for his over-four-minute video. — 00:04:09 > «the Nerdfighter montage exception and thus I remain punishment free»

Threads in this video

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