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Recently Released Research Reveals A Trying Tongue Twister

sfroehlich1121 via flickr Creative Commons

Ok, here it goes…

Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

From Sally and her shells, to Peter and his pickled peppers, tongue twisters have a long history of tripping up even the most professional of broadcasters. But these fun phrases offer more than simple entertainment. A team of MIT scientists recently released research on what tongue twisters reveal about human speech patterns and brain processes. Joining us is a member of that team, Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, principal research scientist with MIT’s speech communication group.

The Word of Mouth team tried the newly crowned 'hardest' tongue twister, but also decided to take on a few others. Try your hand at the following and tell us how you did!

MIT's tongue twister:

Pad kid poured curd pulled cod

WOM12162013WEB1.mp3
WoM team tries the MIT tongue twister.

Taylor's tongue twister creation:

Ipswich shellfish side-dish sandwich

WOM12162013WEB2.mp3
The team takes a crack at Taylor's tongue twister creation.

The tongue twister that trips up Logan:

The big black bug bled black blood

WOM12162013WEB3.mp3
Logan's pick for hardest tongue twister gets attempted.

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