e: An Eloquent Orator (Reader Comments)

Tamara Munzner mentions a sung vocal warmup done in rehearsals for musicals. The lyrics go:

Many mumbling mice
Were making midnight music in the moonlight
Mighty nice

(I'm leaving out the tune for now, but repetitions of the verse start a half-step higher each time through.) Now that I think about it, I believe the words are from a Dr. Seuss book.

I've now seen The Court Jester and determined that the "What a to-do to die today" bit isn't from that movie. The search continues.

Mya Rorer contributes this delightful tongue twister, which I've never heard anywhere else:

Theophilos Thithle, the thistle sifter, sifted three sieves of unsifted thistles. If Theophilos Thithle, the thistle sifter, sifted three sieves of unsifted thistles, how many sieves of unsifted thistles did Theophilos Thithle sift?

This page wouldn't be complete without a link to the International Collection of Tongue Twisters.


(Last updated: 18 January 1999)


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