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The Classic Tongue Twister

Sea Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore is a good example of the difference between the "sh" sound and the "s" sound. In some languages there is no difference between the "s" sound of the "sh" sound. This is a very important distinction because a common curse word in Korean begins with an "sh" sound so the "sh" sound has a kind of curse word feeling when speaking Korea and even when speaking English to Korean ears. I you ever say, "What the sh..?" in English it doesn't sound so bad but in Korean it sounds like you are saying the swear word that sounds like Shin-Bal (without the n).

The "S" and "Sh" difference was so serious that at one time in history you could lose your life for saying it wrong.

In the time of the Judges 1200 BC this is how the Ephraimites were sorted out. The Gileadites would say to them,

"Are you an Ephraimite?"

If they answer ,

"No."

Then they asked them to say

"Shibboleth".

If they said,

"Sibboleth"

They were identified as Ephrimites. The end for these guys who could not say "Shibboleth was pretty serious. They were taken and thrown in the Jordan River. (Judges 12)

“Shibboleth” is not a magic word in Hebrew. It just means corn, but the way you said would determine your fate.

The Brick Testament gives us a very clear example.

^{This image can be found on the https://thebrickbible.com by Elbe Spurling}

Give your tongue some exercise

Considering the seriousness of the mispronunciation of "Sh" around me and our fifth grade text book using the expression buy and sell seashells I thought it was a good time to do this recording. I think tongue twisters are great ways to practice English pronunciation but there are not enough tongue twister videos out there. I made this video mostly for my students to practice.

It is pretty fun to do tongue twisters and it is fun to make videos like this so have fun with this tongue twister challenge.

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