French 'tongue twisters'

Sev
edited November 2011 in French
Every language of course has its complicated sentences called 'tongue twisters', sequences of words specifically designed for the speaker to 'bump' and stumble into. 

Try these very famous ones in French:

- 'Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches,
archi-sèches?'

- "Tes laitues naissent-elles? SI tes laitues naissent, mes laitues naîtront.'

- "Tu t'entêtes à tout tenter, tu t'uses et tu te tues à tant t'entêter."

- "Ces six saucissons-ci sont si secs qu'on ne sait si s'en sont."

- "Si ces six cents six sangsues sont sur son sein sans sucer son sang, ces six cents six sangsues sont sans succès."

Are there any other you have had difficulty with? Feel free to share them!

Comments

  • Christopher
    This isn't really a tongue-twister, but when I first went to France when I was about 16, the girl in the family I stayed with taught me: 

    Si ton tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.

    It's not exactly a useful phrase either, "if your uncle shears/cuts your uncle, your uncle will be shorn/cut."

    She also tortured me with the chaussettes de l'archiduchesse. I think her version had an "ou" in it: "...sont-elles sèches ou archi-sèches?'
  • Max2013
    Chris, I beg to differ: in an age of of family disintegration and with European history made mostly of family feuds, it is actually an useful phrase (history repeats itself). :)  
  • Christopher
    Ha! Tu es cynique, Massimo!
  • Sev
    Many songs from Boby Lapointe are composed exclusively of (poetic) tongue twisters.
    Here is an excerpt from Méli Mélodie:

    …Dînant d’amibes amidonnéesMais même amidonnée l’amibeMême l’amibe malhabileEmmiellée dans la bile humideL’amibe, ami, mine le bide… 
  • Sev
    A wonderful French classic... and a 'thorny' tongue twister song!

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