We Speak With Our Tongue, Don’t We? The Curious World of Tongue Twisters

   

 

We see with our eyes. We hear with our ears. We taste with our tongue. We smell with our nose. We feel with our skin.

 These are among the first things we learnt in our kindergarten. These tell us about our five senses. But for children at that age, I always thought, we speak with our tongue rather than our mouth. For many years, I continued to believe that I was quite correct. Then, when I reached perhaps Class 2 or 3 — I remember it only roughly — tongue twisters came around in the classroom. And that, I thought, proved my point! If they were called tongue twisters, surely we speak with our tongue!

After a few more years, and reaching high school, I learnt that speaking is not quite so simple. We speak using the mouth, tongue, throat and several other parts involved in producing speech. Then came words such as phonetics, and perhaps gutturals — those deeper sounds produced towards the back of the mouth and throat. So my childhood understanding of “we speak with our tongue” was not entirely wrong. The tongue really does play an important role in articulation. But speech is a much bigger team effort. And somewhere along the way, tongue twisters made language even more interesting.

So, what exactly are tongue twisters?

A tongue twister is a phrase or sentence that is deliberately difficult to say quickly and accurately, usually because it contains similar or repeated sounds.

Take the famous:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Try saying it once.

Now twice.

Now three times, a little faster.

Suddenly, Peter Piper doesn't seem quite as innocent as he did!

Tongue twisters often use alliteration, repetition and similar sounds. The difficulty comes because our speech organs have to move rapidly from one sound to another, sometimes between sounds that are very similar. And that is precisely what makes them fun.

Where did tongue twisters come from?

Interestingly, tongue twisters are not a modern classroom invention. One of the best-known examples, Peter Piper, was printed in London in 1813 in a book by John Harris, titled Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation. The book contained a tongue twister corresponding to each letter of the alphabet.

The fascinating part is that the rhyme may have been known orally even before 1813. So John Harris may not have invented the rhyme himself; he appears to have brought an existing form of children's wordplay into print.

There is also an interesting story about the identity of Peter Piper. Some have suggested that he may have been inspired by Pierre Poivre, an eighteenth-century French horticulturist associated with spices. The connection is attractive because poivre is French for pepper and piper comes from the Latin word for pepper. But this remains a theory rather than an established fact.  So even a simple children's tongue twister has a little history, mystery and wordplay hiding behind it.

Why are they called tongue twisters?

Because the tongue seems to get itself into a knot! But technically, it is not just the tongue that is working. When we speak, different parts of the speech system have to coordinate precisely. The tongue, lips, teeth, palate, jaw and other structures help us produce different sounds. A tongue twister forces these movements to happen quickly and repeatedly.

That is why:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

can become:

Peter Piper picked a peck of...

and then suddenly—

Peter P... P... pepper...

The brain knows what we want to say, but the speech organs have to keep up!

From classroom fun to pronunciation practice

Perhaps this is why tongue twisters have survived for generations. They are learning disguised as fun. Children don't necessarily feel that they are doing pronunciation practice. They are simply trying to say something funny without making a mistake.

They may compete with friends:

“Can you say it three times?”

Then someone says it faster.

Someone makes a mistake.

Everyone laughs.

And they try again.

That repetition is valuable.

A 2023 study published in Foreign Language Annals compared tongue-twister practice with ordinary sentences for learners of Swedish as a second language. The study found that the tongue-twister group showed better development in the pronunciation features being practised, and most participants viewed the activity positively.  So what looked like a silly classroom game can actually have a serious linguistic purpose.

What can tongue twisters do for children?

1. They make pronunciation practice enjoyable

Pronunciation drills can sound rather serious. Tongue twisters make them playful. A child who may not want to repeat a difficult sound ten times may happily repeat a funny sentence ten times just to master it.

2. They make children listen carefully

Before saying a tongue twister correctly, children have to hear the difference between sounds.

Is it ship or sip?

Is it she sells or she shells?

The ear and the mouth have to work together.

3. They improve awareness of sounds

Tongue twisters draw attention to individual sounds and sound combinations. This is one reason they are useful in pronunciation teaching and phonological awareness activities. Recent early-childhood research also identifies tongue twisters as an activity that can support articulation and verbal fluency.

4. They build vocabulary

Not every tongue twister uses familiar words.

Take Peter Piper again.

What is a peck?

Why are the peppers pickled?

What does picked a peck mean?

A child may begin with a sentence that sounds funny and end up learning several new words. That is one of the lovely things about language: one word can lead to another, and one sentence can open the door to a little lesson.

 

5. They encourage confidence

There is something satisfying about finally saying a difficult tongue twister correctly.

First:

Peter Piper picked...

Then:

Peter Piper picked a peck...

And eventually, perhaps:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers!

That small success can make a child more willing to speak aloud. And speaking aloud matters. The more comfortable children become with saying words, the less frightening it can feel to participate in a classroom, read aloud or speak before others.

And what about writing?

This is where I would make a small distinction. Tongue twisters directly practise speech and pronunciation, not writing itself. There is not enough evidence to say that merely practising tongue twisters automatically makes someone a better writer.

But they can certainly contribute to some of the skills that a writer needs.

They make children notice:

• sounds,
• rhythm,
• repetition,
• word patterns,
• alliteration,
• vocabulary,
• sentence structure and
• the musical quality of language.

And writers need to notice words.

A child who enjoys “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” may eventually begin noticing how words sound together and how repetition can make a sentence memorable. That can become useful in poems, stories, advertisements, speeches and creative writing. In other words, tongue twisters may not teach writing directly, but they can make children more curious about language — and that curiosity can travel into writing.

Tongue twisters are not only for children

We usually associate them with children because that is where many of us first encountered them. But adults use them too. Actors, public speakers, teachers, broadcasters and language learners sometimes use them as speech exercises. They can be particularly useful for becoming conscious of articulation and pronunciation.

And, of course, they are simply fun.

Try saying:

She sells seashells by the seashore.

Or:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Now try them faster. The child in us comes back immediately!

From five senses to one funny question

Coming back to where I started:

We see with our eyes.
We hear with our ears.
We taste with our tongue.
We smell with our nose.
We feel with our skin.

And as a child, I wondered:

Don't we speak with our tongue?

Years later, phonetics gave me a much more complicated answer. But perhaps the simpler childhood answer still has some truth in it. The tongue is one of the important players in speech. And then came tongue twisters — those wonderfully mischievous little sentences that made me realise that speaking is not merely about knowing words. It is also about moving, listening, repeating, experimenting and having fun with those words. Perhaps that is their greatest charm. A tongue twister may begin as a classroom game.

It can become a pronunciation exercise.

It can introduce new vocabulary.

It can make children laugh.

It can build the confidence to speak.

And somewhere along the way, it may even make us fall a little more in love with language itself. After all, language doesn't always have to be serious to teach us something. Sometimes, we just need to twist our tongue!

 

Now it's your turn! Do you have a favourite tongue twister that you can say any number of times without making a mistake? Or perhaps a fun memory associated with tongue twisters? And do you remember which writer or book first introduced you to the world of tongue twisters?

( This blogpost is  a  part of Blogchatter's Half marathon  from a team member of Piyush Plotter's. details here ; https://www.theblogchatter.com/campaign-registrations/the-blogchatter-half-marathon-2026-version-2)

LOVE, MISMATCHED BY RAJANI TEWARI

 

 Author ; Rajani Tewari

Genre: fiction / Romance

Publisher: Nu voice press

Book buy link @Amazon

The author is a corporate warrior by day and a wordsmith by midnight. After penning GUILT TRIP and THE AUDACITY OF BEING ENOUGH, both featuring bold, hilarious and quirky female characters, she now turns the spotlight to love in its messy, mushy and magnificent everyday form.

The book LOVE, MISMATCHED is about Berry and Pea and their romance, which they think is losing its way. What makes them think so? What’s the big change that is happening these days, which makes them think that something is missing in their lives?

All these are answered in this book, though not in a direct conversation, but with certain situations, actions and reactions. An interesting take on love & romance, with realizations, reflections and reasons.

The longer we're married, the more we realize that money can make life more comfortable and bring many joyful moments. But true happiness can't be bought. It grows from gratitude, kindness, understanding, and choosing each other every single day. Berry and Pea are up to this.

A book of fiction that carries all the truly practical ones in the lives of a married couple. A book that makes you feel relatable, echoing and, at times, it’s you and him. This book comes as a relief in a time of stress, hyper things and too much drama.

Everybody, even new readers, will enjoy it too—if he/she is married—a reflection of the past for the old and a light on the future for the newly married.

LOVE, MISMATCHED is a book of truly a couple in an urban middle-class family. A love that is simply away from being dramatic, rather very practical, no humdrums, simply/casually the conversations, both spoken/unspoken words, that the meaning is fully understood only by the speaker or the listener; giver or taker; or one does and the other looks in.

The language of mute can be understood only by few who use their eyes and listen with their heart and soul. Though subtitles appear, it’s secondary. Only the visuals and the one present right in front of them in images matters more.

The link between love and poetry is well used by the author as a way to express their desires, thoughts and feelings relating to everyday things and objects. It makes reading a musical and joyful event and will leave the reader expecting more and wanting to complete the book soon.

Special features of the book

1.     Short and sweet.

2.     Poetic.

3.     Scene by scene.

4.     No exaggeration—a common man’s saga.

Family, couples, kids, career, housework and in between all these, romance often blooms but often gets unnoticed.

With the hype around in many vistas of life, romance/love has been described as something that can bloom only in .......... But a natural and pure way of loving each other—the romance of a husband and wife—exists in its simple form in everyday life.

As Ruskin Bond says, “Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much.” Likewise, in everyday life, its magic is required to find love and romance.

A quiet read to feel light, cool and feel the love.

(Received a copy of the book from reviewmybooks in return of an honest review)

(This blogpost is a part of blogchatter's half marathon from a team member of piyush plotters' . details here ; https://www.theblogchatter.com/campaign-registrations/the-blogchatter-half-marathon-2026-version-2)

A Note of Gratitude

  

I am deeply grateful to Anuradha for her responsiveness, for her help in preparing some of my books, for her insightful vision and flair for good literature, as well as for her loyalty to this very important passion of hers! We have known each other for several years now—ever since my first book—and she has always been not just a critic, but someone whose words have been a crucial source of support for me! I wish her to find the best books in the world and never give up! May life and this pursuit always bring true pleasure!

PROFILE :  

Egor Klopenko is an award-winning children’s author, storyteller and creator of The World of Kindness — an international literary and theatrical project inspired by his books.

The author of more than 20 books for children, Egor writes about kindness, courage, empathy, imagination, self-discovery and the quiet magic that connects people. His work has received international recognition, including the Children’s Book International 2026 American Writing Award, 2026 International Book Awards, The Golden Wizard Book Prize, International Author Excellence Award 2026, Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, Independent Author Awards 2026 and recognition from the Literary Global Children’s Book Awards and National Indie Excellence Awards.

His books have also received praise from literary critics, publishers and publishing professionals internationally. His work has been featured through NetGalley and is being developed for international publication and translation.

Egor is currently developing The World of Kindness into an international theatrical project, bringing his stories to the stage through puppetry, paper theatre, animation, projection, original music and live storytelling. The first productions are being developed for children and families in multiple languages, with the vision of bringing the world of his books to audiences around the globe.

His goal is simple: to create stories that leave a little more kindness and light in the world.

He can be reached through his Instagram handle : https://www.instagram.com/egorklopenko/

(This is the 3rd WEEK- 11TH YEAR- GUEST POST SERIES - POST 3)

7 Reasons to Follow Me

 

Answering Blogchatter’s prompt in the Half Marathon, here are my 7 reasons to follow me. Just like the seven colours of a rainbow, my blog too has seven different shades—each one distinct, yet together making it what it is: Stamina, Variety, Selection, Language, Substance, Source and Surprise.

 1.    I blog every day (stamina)

I have been daily blogging, so there is something new to discover regularly. Keeping up the habit of writing and publishing every day requires stamina and commitment. If you enjoy following a blogger's journey one post at a time, you can follow me through my blog or social media.

 Daily blogging! so there is always something new to read. Worth following, isn’t it?

2. You will never be stuck with just one topic (Variety)

I don’t restrict myself to one particular topic or write repeatedly about the same subject. I explore different topics and ideas, so there is always variety. You definitely won’t be bored!

3. Choose what interests you (selection)
There are nearly 10 labels/categories under which I write. You can simply pick the topics you enjoy reading and follow the ones that interest you most.

4. English and Hindi too (language)
Apart from these categories, I also write general pieces in English and Hindi. So, if you enjoy reading in Hindi as well, there is something for you too.

5. Always something new (substance)
I participate in various Blogchatter programmes, campaigns and challenges, which bring different themes and ideas to my blog. I try to make every post fresh and original rather than repeating old content.

6. Contests bring another kind of content (surprise)
I also participate in online writing contests. Some of my entries have won and have been published on the respective websites. These can be accessed through the publication List page on my blog and offer content different from my regular blog posts.

7. Something for young readers and parents too (source)

Children’s book reviews and content related to children’s programmes and activities are also part of my blog. So parents and young readers can find something interesting here too.

And one more reason:
I may not have the biggest number of followers or likes, but I put my best effort into every piece I write. For me, it is not only about numbers—it is about continuing to write, explore, learn and share something worthwhile every day.

“Seven reasons to follow me? Let me give you seven—and perhaps you’ll discover a few more while reading my blog!”

You can follow me through my blog, subscribe with your email ID, or connect with me on social media. All my details are available on the Contact page. Choose the way you find convenient and follow along!

(This blogpost is a part of Blogchatter's half marathon from a team member of piyush plotter's. Details here : https://www.theblogchatter.com/campaign-registrations/the-blogchatter-half-marathon-2026-version-2)

                                                       

BOOK REVIEW OF THE BLOOMSBURY BOOK OF GREAT INDIAN LOVE POEMS EDITED BY ABHAY .K

   

Author : Edited by Abhay .K.

Publisher: Blooms bury ,India

genre: poetry

Book buy link:  @Amazon

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” — T. S. Eliot

That is exactly what The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems does. Before you understand it completely, you will begin enjoying the poem. This book of great Indian love poems is exceptional in its selection, presentation, style, font, print, cover and what not! The whole book is indeed a treat to all the five senses, and it makes you use them thoroughly and properly.

For a poetry lover, there can be no greater treat than reading this book.

Poems from the Vedic period to the present day — what a vast expanse! The collection leaves you spellbound in its structure, meaning, message and, no doubt, love. Love, love-making and all kinds of love — every love, and just love, love, love.

Abhay K. says, “The focus of this anthology is on the poems instead of poets, and therefore, the anthology has been organised alphabetically with the titles of the poems, instead of popularity of the poet.”

Moreover, the editor adds, “All the poems included in the anthology have been voluntarily contributed by the poets and/or their translators. Permission to include the poems has been granted by the individual poets, translators and publishers.”

These too add a special focus to the book.

There are nearly 142 poems, from A to Y, translated from nearly 25 languages. That makes for a wide reading experience in just one book of poems.

Love poems range from lovers to love, seasons, biscoot, Raksha Bandhan, rain, Krishna, the Lord, and many more — a whole bunch of fragrances tied together with one beautiful theme: LOVE.

The poems vary in length — some are as deep as oceans, while a few are just a dew drop that leaves the reader chilled.

Here, I remember Emily Dickinson:

“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold
no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.”

The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems brings  languages such as Kokborok, Mising, Maithili, Braj Bhasha, Gondi, Sindhi, Persian, Khasi, Prakrit and Tibetan, apart from the regional languages of the subcontinent.

It is a wake-up call to every Indian to look into the beauty of our own motherland. For the rest of the world, it is a grand representation of a country with endless colours — colours that add love to life and make life into love.

Through translation and selection, these languages enter the lives of readers who may otherwise never have encountered them. With these baby steps, they will mingle with the larger literary world, and then we may no longer be able to find a single, particular colour. It becomes a beautiful mingling of many colours, languages and expressions of love.

Every poetry lover is sure to love this book and hold it dear.

Finally, this book is successful in doing what P. B. Shelley says:

“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world
and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”

The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems does exactly that — it lifts the veil and allows us to see love, language and India in many unfamiliar yet beautiful shades.

Do grab a copy of the book and start enjoying poetry!

(This blogpost is a part of Blogchatter's half marathon from a team member of Piyush plotters'. details here : https://www.theblogchatter.com/campaign-registrations/the-blogchatter-half-marathon-2026-version-2)