Some folks are more aware than others of viral TikTok dances. I was made aware of one that came out towards the end of 2023 because of my minor in German back in college. Comedian Bodo Wartke and music producer Marti Fischer turned a classic German tongue twister into a catchy song...
...and then of course a dance on TikTok...
@bodowartke Thank you to @Stephanie and @CHRISTINA STASII for the great choreography you came up with for our song, and many thanks to everyone around the world who is dancing to it, especially @Cost n’ Mayor and @KayCee Stroh for making it a worldwide phenomenon! @Marti Fischer and I are already working on the sequel…!
♬ Barbaras Rhabarberbar - Bodo Wartke & Marti Fischer
Barbara’s Rhubarberbar (Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar) stayed in the Zeitgeist right through a tongue twister I tripped over posted by Ontario Fish and Wildlife on Facebook: Sneaky squirrels snatch snacks in Ontario’s serene scenery.
And then, the recent hit TV series Only Murders in the Building starring Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin won the 2024 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for a song from Season 3 called Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It? It’s not a tongue twister like the previous two or like rubber baby buggy bumpers, but it is a patter song. And I’d argue that a patter song is the same kind of fun as a tongue twister. You’ll find patter songs are in classical music, pop music…impressive because of the quickness and the clever way with words!
One of the most well-known in classical music is I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General. Gilbert and Sullivan created over a dozen others. In fact, you can hear a sample from HMS Pinafore in Marty Wimmer’s recent BTPM Classical Interview with Lisa Berglund and Ted Smeltz folks from Opera-Lytes.
Mozart, Offenbach, and Rossini wrote patter songs too. Don’t forget the ubiquitous Largo al factotum from Rossini’s Il Barbiere de Siviglia (Barber of Seville). Funny, a BARBER, barbarians, and those barbarians’ beards all show up in Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar. Good times. In 1998, Barenaked Ladies, a band from Scarborough, Ontario released their song One Week—a pop patter song!
Lo and behold, International Tongue Twister Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in November. This year that’s Sunday, Nov 10, 2024. Why not? The experts on speech say it’s silly fun, good practice for speakers, and can strengthen muscles used for speaking. I’ve heard that some early broadcasters were tested with tongue twisters and other speech assessments. Makes for a good opportunity to roll out a tongue twister that is a complete sentence only using the word buffalo…lower case and upper case. From Wikipedia: “An expanded form of the sentence that preserves the original word order is: ‘Buffalo bison that other Buffalo bison bully also bully Buffalo bison’." Or…"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." Really works best to my ear as Buffalo buffalo who Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Barbara’s Rhubarber Bar…and the barbers, etc. may have found viral fame on TikTok, but TikTok started with dancing, not patter song or tongue twisters. Maybe tongue twisters are…dancing of the tongue? On International Tongue Twister Day let us all solemnly swear to try to speak clearly in public and on the radio! …and listen to some patter song! Happy International Tongue Twister Day!
