Tongue Twister -01: Buggy bumpers and woodchucks

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!Most of my podcasts are at least a little bit silly but this one is completely silly. It contains two tongue twisters which exist only to make you laugh at yourself and perhaps to help you with English pronunciation.  The first one is: Rubber baby buggy bumpers which you are to repeat three times as quickly as possible. The second one is: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (There's a longer version of this one but I prefer this one which is difficult enough.)Neither of these are things you would say when you meet new people, or if your children ask for help with their English homework, or in a job interview. Well, maybe in a job interview if the interviewer has an unusual sense of humor and you want to show off your language skills.First some vocabulary explanations and then we'll get to the practice part of the lesson.Part OneA baby buggy is a baby carriage. It has wheels and you put the baby in it and take him or her (or them if you have twins) for walks. Old time cars had metal bumpers on the front and rear to protect the body of the car from damage in an accident. And rubber is what balls and car tires are made of. So this tongue twister talks about bumpers made of rubber on a baby carriage or baby buggy.Let's practice this one first, and then we'll get to the woodchuck.Listen and repeat, and we'll learn it backwards starting with bumpers.[Lots of practice…]Part Two:Okay, now the woodchuck information.A woodchuck is a fat furry animal. We have them here in Maine: in fact my dog, Ollie, chased one up on a porch a few days ago when we were out for a walk. Search for image woodchuck on the internet to see photos .You probably know "wood"—it's what we get from trees. It can be burned in a wood stove in which case we usually call it firewood. Or the trees can be cut down and taken to a sawmill to make boards for construction. Then the wood is called lumber."Would" and "wood" are pronounced exactly the same in English. If you come to visit, I might ask "Would you like something to eat or drink?" I could invite you out: "Would you like to go out for dinner?" This is the would that you often hear in contracted form. "He'd have come, but one of his children got sick." [He'd have come is the short form of "He would have come"]Finally, to chuck something is to throw it. "Yeech, moldy bread? Chuck it out."So literally this tongue twister asks: How much wood would a woodchuck throw if a woodchuck could throw wood? A meaningless question since woodchucks do not go around throwing pieces of wood. But it's a good tongue twister!Now let's practice it. As before I'll start at the end and build it up backwards. Listen and repeat.[Lots of practice here……. ]And there you are. If you made it all the way to the end of this  podcast, then you are an official member of the silly club—which I am the  President of—and I congratulate you on your dedication to improving your English pronunciation.Stay well, tell your friends about this podcast if you like it, and I'll talk to you again soon. Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me:  [email protected] can now support my podcasts and classes:Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!