Fun with words

Tongue twister is an important medium of fun. But there are other important advantages of the funny tongue twisters. It helps in clear speech and proper pronunciation.

This is what I recently learnt in my school. One day during recess, we decided to hold a competition of tongue twisters.

One of the classmates said, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”

“Judges make writers write writs right,” said another.

“She saw Sherif’s shoes on the sofa. But was she so sure she saw Sherif’s shoes on the sofa?” came next.

Then came the difficult ones. “I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop. Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits,” said one of my classmates.

Another pronounced even more difficult one, “How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?”

Thus everyone began to say one tongue twister after another, which seemed to be more difficult than the previous one. It was fun and everyone was enjoying.

We were so engrossed that we couldn’t realise when the bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom. We all were dumb-struck and wondered what will happen next.

But to our surprise, she said, “You all can continue with your tongue twisters.”

Then, she explained. “Do you know why I allowed you? It is because tongue twisters help us in clear speech and proper pronunciation. Tongue twisters not only teach proper pronunciation but also add fun, interest and humour.”

So let’s follow Mr. Tongue Twister who tried to train his tongue to twist and turn, and twit an twat, to learn the letter “T”.
(Published in The Gulf Today on December 21, 2013)