# What words tie your tongue in knots when you try to say them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903 "2005-11-20T08:56:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/21 "2005-11-20T21:45:20Z")
Despite having spoken French all my life, I have trouble with the word “arbre” (tree). It’s the rbr combo that kills me. It just stays stuck in my throat and I end up gargling the damn word! So I try to use the specific tree name instead, whenever I can. Yeah, and I don’t talk about Sherbrooke street much, either. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/22 "2005-11-20T21:50:19Z")
idea. Anytime I’m not careful, I always tend to add an “r” at the end. ---
**Author:** ![exastris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b38774/32.png) [@exastris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exastris)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/23 "2005-11-20T21:52:54Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > “Rodriguez” > > I end up sounding like a second grader with a listp trying to read an unfamiliar word: “Rodweegwes” :smack: . . . are you \* Tim Russert\*??? though I think that was Rodrigue, but same idea. . . ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/24 "2005-11-20T23:22:16Z")
Texts and phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![PinkNailFile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@PinkNailFile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkNailFile)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/25 "2005-11-20T23:30:51Z")
hiatus Luckily, on the rare occasions when I have to say it, someone jumps in and says it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/26 "2005-11-20T23:36:31Z")
Marlboro ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/27 "2005-11-21T01:03:28Z")
There aren’t any English ones that give me troubles, but damn, some in Spanish are just impossible. Desgastado and desagradable, especially. There are others I can’t think of, but I know they’re out there. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/28 "2005-11-21T01:19:26Z")
I hate the word superfluous. I still can’t pronounce it correctly half the time. I also have a great deal of trouble with exacerbate, which is unfortunate as I work in a hospital and it comes up a lot. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![sneezy5660](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@sneezy5660](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sneezy5660)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/29 "2005-11-21T01:36:27Z")
I have trouble with linoleum (naloleum), and tabernacle (tablnacker). I only need tabernacle when I am talking about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and for the other I just say floor covering. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/30 "2005-11-21T01:41:34Z")
I have trouble with the name “Royal York” (the subway station in Toronto where my video store is, among other things). Royal York. Royal York. Royal York. I can feel the back of my tongue trying to tie itself in knots. > [@Miakoda](#): > > **first post, hi ya’ll!** Welcome, **Miakoda**! Did you know that your username is perfect Esperanto? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/31 "2005-11-21T02:21:49Z")
Entrepreneur. I want to pronounce the E like an E, not an O. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/32 "2005-11-21T02:24:03Z")
Ententantunje It’s not a real word, naturally, but I have trouble saying it every time. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/33 "2005-11-21T02:40:04Z")
Edited …as in Ed-did-a-did-did as I pronounced it in a Tech writing position interview. :o ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/34 "2005-11-21T03:43:56Z")
During a college political science class, I was reading a passage from Thomas Hobbes’s _Leviathan_ aloud. I was doing perfectly well until I came to the word “ceaseth”, which I stumbled over repeatedly until the professor told me to just say “ceases” and move on. Fortunately, the word “ceaseth” is archaic, and I haven’t had cause to say it since that day a quarter-century ago. I have trouble with phrases that contain a rapid succession of several _r_ and _w_ sounds, which means I try to find alternatives to “one-run win” if talking baseball, or “white right-winger” when discussing politics. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/35 "2005-11-21T03:45:52Z")
“blood pressure” Not a phrase I have to say often, but the /l/ and /r/ close together trip me up. > [@](#): > > Marlboro Me too. Comes out like /mallboro/. Damn those letters in proximity to one another! For a scene in an acting class, I had a line that read “The soldiers’ll come!” I could not wrap my tongue around the middle word to save my life unless I went really super slow. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/36 "2005-11-21T04:56:54Z")
Sixths. The most unpronounceable consonant cluster in the English language. The word that forced me to give up a promising career as an elementary math teacher. You think English is bad, try Georgian or Tibetan. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/37 "2005-11-21T05:51:36Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > You think English is bad, try Georgian or Tibetan. _Vprtskni_? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/38 "2005-11-21T05:52:57Z")
> [@saramamalana](#): > > “blood pressure” > > Not a phrase I have to say often, but the /l/ and /r/ close together trip me up. > > Me too. Comes out like /mallboro/. Damn those letters in proximity to one another! > > For a scene in an acting class, I had a line that read “The soldiers’ll come!” I could not wrap my tongue around the middle word to save my life unless I went really super slow. I think I need to add your screenname to my list of tongue twisters 😛 I’m a bit surprised no one’s mentioned “specific”, I thought that was a fairly common one. Knew a girl a while back who used to fumble it so badly and often that she found it easier to say “pacific” and just explain herself afterward when someone asked. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/39 "2005-11-21T06:38:47Z")
Vprtskvni – ‘I am peeling it’. mkha’ 'gro bde chen rgyal mo - ‘Sky-faring Dakini Queen of Great Bliss’ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903/40 "2005-11-21T07:12:16Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Vprtskvni – ‘I am peeling it’. Okay, so I left out the second V. Sheesh. :: counts :: Yep. Nine-letter word, one vowel, the vowel at the end… I was amazed when my friend told me about it. 🙂 I suspect that at least the R and the first V are vocalic, no? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-tie-your-tongue-in-knots-when-you-try-to-say-them/331903.md?page=3)