Surfing the web, as I am wont to do, I found a Collection of Tongue Twisters in German, which pleased me. Germans call them Zungenbrecher which means "tongue breaker." Aufnahmeausschusssitzung!
I also learned that a shibboleth is "a word or phrase used as a test for detecting foreigners, or persons from another district, by their pronunciation." (OED, but cited on the Zungenbrecher page) Like "water" I guess.
And the word sewer has been in the English language unchanged since it's first recorded usage according to the OED, not counting an erroneous spelling, seward which apparently was somebody's idea that sewers were called that because they all flow sea-ward. Get it?
Am Zehnten Zehnten um zehn Uhr zehn zogen zehn zahme Ziegen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo.
If you don't like the German ones, try the English ones. Or try one in another language. Machts mir nix.
Posted by illovich at August 07, 2002 03:54 PM