Betty Botter bought some butter,
But, she said, the butter's bitter;
If I put it in my batter
It will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better.
So she bought a bit of butter
Better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter
And the batter was not bitter.
So t'was better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
This tongue twister originated in 1899 by a Carolyn Wells - 1862-1942 who was an American writer and poet. This poem appears to now be in the public domain.
It doesn't appear (from my research) that this poem had any meaning more than a bit of nonsense in the era of Edward Lear (the Owl and the Pussycat, amongst others).
By the mid-20th century, Betty Botter's Butter was included in Mother Goose collections of poems and had become very popular. By the time I was growing up (1970s/80s), it had mostly fallen by the wayside again. I think it should come back.
I found it at some point, reading one of the books from my ex-husband's (very English) youth. I quickly discovered that this was a tongue twister I could actually say - and say very fast. It sounds cool when you do... so give it a try and tell me what you think.
Image Source - Pixabay
Crossposted on Uptrennd.
Origin of series:
Someone asked me on Discord to share some cultural bits from the countries I'm most familiar with (USA and UK)...
Lori Svensen
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