Vaara, world-renowned linguist, admitted ümlaut lover, and former author of the late, great weblog Silt, checks in with the Review today, providing a link to “Finnish Tongue Twisters,” a phrase I would have thought was redundant.
A personal favorite: “Kokko, kokoo koko kokko kokoon!” “Koko kokkoko?” “Koko kokko.” It means: “Kokko, gather up the whole Midsummer fire!” “The whole fire?” “The whole fire.” (Kokko is a person’s name. Midsummer is a holiday.)
And this: järjestelmällistämättömyydelläänsäkäänköhän (43 letters), which is said to be the longest word in the Finnish language, although epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkään (also 43 letters), is reportedly cited by The Gu
And this: Saippuakippokukkakivikakkukoppikauppias, which must be the world’s longest single-word palindrome.
The home page of the site where these were found -- The First International Collection of Tongue Twisters -- also links to “Dutch Tongue Twisters,” another redundancy, I think, and to similar challenges in some 90 languages, including 18 different tongue twisters in Esperanto.
You know, you really can find anything on the web.
[Note: This article was published earlier today in a slightly different form at The Rittenhouse Review.]
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