'Round the Rugged Rock the Rude Rascal Ran

[joe greiner]

My late Grandfather (ca. 1885-1966) was fond of occasionally reciting some semi-nonsense phrases from (I guess) early studies in elocution or language training. He seemed to have one for every letter of the alphabet. The only one I remember was " 'Round the Rugged Rock the Rude Rascal Ran." I heard it again many years ago in a Bullwinkle cartoon, so I suppose it was part of the popular literature. Just now, Google wasn't much help in finding more examples.

Playing with language seems to be a favorite Australian sport. Does anybody remember more of them?

Cheers,
Joe

[ian]

Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled pepers, how many packs of pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

[ian]

I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate,
And I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late.
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son,
And I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.

[ian]

If Freaky Fred Found Fifty Feet of Fruit
And Fed Forty Feet to his Friend Frank
How many Feet of Fruit did Freaky Fred Find?

[ian]

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep.
The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
shilly-shallied south.
These sheep shouldn't sleep in a shack;
Sheep should sleep in a shed.

[ian]

Said the flea to the fly in the flue.
Said the flea. "Oh, what shall we do?"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.




I'll stop showing off now and post some links
Funny Tongue Twisters at American Folklore
Tongue Twisters
English tongue twisters

try googling "tongue twisters"

[tea lady]

Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled pepers, how many packs of pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Where's the rest of it?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

[joe greiner]

Thanks, Ian. Most of his were one-liners, but this is a good start.

Cheers,
Joe

[scrapwood]

Hi Joe,

A lady by the name of June factor published a collection of children's chants and rhymes called ALL RIGHT, VEGEMITE in 1985, and later followed it up with more releases. I have searched through the five publications I have and haven't found the type of verse you were after, but that doesn't mean to say that haven't been published in later books. The following excerpt about June is from Splatt: Rotten Rhymes. Maybe you Google her as another lead.

June Factor

June Factor is a writer and folklorist, with a special interest in childhood. For twenty-five years she was director of The Australian Children's Folklore Collection, now housed at Museum Victoria and listed on UNESCO's Australian Memory of the World Register. She co-edits the biannual web publication, Play and Folklore, and has produced a series of books of children's playground rhymes - the most recent titled Okey Dokey Karaoke! She is also the author of Kidspeak: A Dictionary of Australian Children's Words, Expressions and Games.

Dr Factor, recognised internationally for her knowledge of children's lore and language, is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.

[scrapwood]

Hi again Joe,
Just saw that you are based in Florida USA, my previous link may not be useful as it is Australian.

Norm

[ian]

one of my favourite rhymes is

"the elephant is a graceful bird,
it flits from bough to bough
it alights upon a mulbury bush
and whistles like a cow"

Edward Lear
(of The Owl and the Pussy Cat fame)

[artme]

Try This:

Cecil is a thistle sifter, Cecil's sister is a thistle sifter too.
Now say it quickly six times. This is a true tongue twister.

[Grumpy John]

Betty bought a bit of butter
But she found the butter bitter
So she bought a bit of better butter
To make the bitter butter better.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

[jimbur]

A pup ran up upper parliament street

kids love saying:

red lorry yellow lorry

say it over and over again.
Jim

[jmk89]

a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot