Today is International Tongue Twister Day

One day twelve years ago when my grands were at my house, my then four-year old grandson sat down and read several books . . . as you might imagine, there is no shortage of books at this grandma's house for boys to read! It made my heart happy to see him choose to take some time for himself to just enjoy reading books!

After a bit, he found me in the kitchen working on fixing lunch and said; "Grandma! I just read, Fox in Socks and my tongue is NOT numb!!!" If you have not read this classic book lately, on the back cover it asks, "Is Your Tongue Numb?" My sweet grandson was pretty happy he had read all those tongue twisters out loud and did not end up with a numb tongue! It made this grandma happy, too, and remembering this today it makes me happy again - because of the wonderful memory and because today is International Tongue Twister Day!

National Today (dot) com says - "Tongue twisters have technically been around since as early as the 19th century when John Harris published 'Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation,' which included a twisty tongue tango for every letter of the alphabet. And while the book was meant to help children learn the fundamentals of speech mechanics, its titular twister garnered quite the attention and inspired a lot of lore about its namesake.  Whether you’re trying to master Peter Piper, the woodchuck, or even 'The Guinness Book of World Records’ most difficult recorded tongue twister, 'The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick,' you’re sure to get your tongue endlessly tied." Let's look at a few tongue-twister fun facts and then ways to enjoy this with the children you love. Did you know . . .

• Tongue twisters are phrases which are difficult to pronounce by design. They function as a word game alongside exercises to improve pronunciation and articulation. 
• John Harris published his book “Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation,” which included a tongue twister for every letter of the alphabet. 
• The term ‘tongue twister’ was first coined in 1895. A considerable portion of tongue twisters rely on alternating similar but distinct phonemes to create the difficulty in articulation.
• The world's toughest tongue-twister is - “Pad kid poured curd pulled cod,” as declared by MIT.
• Some easier tongue twisters include “She sees cheese” and “He threw three balls.”
• The tongue is the only muscle which works without any support from the skeleton.
• And, just fyi - According to a research team at Cornell University, a woodchuck could actually chuck approximately 700 pounds of wood, and a peck is the modern-day equivalent of two gallons.

You will find more information about International Tongue Twister Day at this link.

So, how might you celebrate today? Whether the children you love live near or far, connect and share some tongue twisters! Have your own contest to see who is able to say them the best - have fun together, this is a great day to do so!