Theophilus Thistle is the title of a famous
tongue-twister
A tongue twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken (or sung) word game. Additionally, they can be used as exercises to improve pronunciation and fluency. Some tongue twisters p ...
, of which there are multiple versions.
One version reads as:
:''Theophilus Thistle, the thistle sifter,''
:''In sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,''
:''Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.''
:''Now if Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter,''
:''Thrust’s three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,''
:''Then success to the successful thistle sifter.''
While another version reads:
:''Theophilus Thistle, the successful Thistle sifter,''
:''In sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles,''
:''Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.''
:''If Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter,''
:''In sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles,''
:''Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.''
:''See that thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles,''
:''Thrust NOT three thousand thistles through the thick of THY thumb.''
:''Success to the successful thistle sifter!''
This tongue twister has been included in many tongue twister books and lessons, particularly in helping children and others with
speech impediment
Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is co ...
s to correctly pronounce the forward ''th'' and ''s'' sounds.
In the book ''
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit
''Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit'' is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1954 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 23 February 1955 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under t ...
'' by
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
, the character
Bertram Wooster asked
Jeeves
Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...
to repeat a version of the tongue-twister in order to prove that he was not intoxicated:
:''… ‘Intoxicated?’ I said. ‘At ten in the morning? A laughable theory. But the matter can readily be put to the test. Jeeves, say “Theodore Oswaldtwistle, the thistle sifter, sifting a sack of thistles thrust three thorns through the thick of his thumb”.’''
:''He did so with an intonation as clear as a bell, if not clearer.''
A version of this tongue twister was used in a song called ''Theophilus Thistler'' by Australian dance music group
Sonic Animation. Their variation of the tongue twister is as follows:
:''Theophilus Thistler,''
:''The thistle sifter,''
:''In sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,''
:''Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,''
:''Three thousand thistles.''
References
Tongue twisters
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