Tongue twisterFiendish
Korean
Korean경찰청 철창살은 외철창살이고 검찰청 철창살도 외철창살이다. (Gyeongchalcheong cheolchangsal eun oe cheolchangsal igo, geomchalcheong cheolchangsal do oe cheolchangsal ida.)
Meaning: A 'cheong/cheol/chal' onslaught — Korean's aspirated stops and affricates in relentless sequence.
Literally: The police station iron bars are single iron bars; the prosecution iron bars are also single iron bars.
Origin: One of Korea's hardest certified twisters; feared even by native speakers.
More Korean tongue twisters
- 네가 그린 기린 그림은 못 그린 기린 그림이고 내가 그린 기린 그림은 잘 그린 기린 그림이다. (Nega geurin girin geurimeun mot geurin girin geurimigo, naega geurin girin geurimeun jal geurin girin geurimida.) geurin, girin and geurim rotate through nearly the same syllables with only the vowel mov…
- 앞 집 팥죽은 붉은 팥 풋팥죽이고, 뒷집 콩죽은 햇콩 단콩 콩죽이다. (Ap jip patjugeun bulgeun pat put-patjugigo, dwitjip kongjugeun haetkong dankong kongjugida.) Stacks Korean's aspirated p and k against the final consonants, so every word ends where…
- 저 분은 백 법학박사이고 이 분은 박 법학박사이다. (Jeo buneun Baek beopakbaksa igo, i buneun Bak beopakbaksa ida.) Baek and Bak are a single vowel apart, and 법학박사 piles four stop consonants into one title.
- 간장 공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장 공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다. (Ganjang gongjang gongjangjang eun Jang gongjangjang igo, doenjang gongjang gongjangjang eun Gang gongjangjang ida.) A 'gong/jang/gang' syllable storm — the two surnames (Jang/Gang) swap while the rest stay…
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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