Red Leather Yellow Leather
Monday, July 24th, 2006… is a well known tongue twister, but it occurred to me that it might be twisting more than just one’s tongue. If you’re like me (and most people) you probably can’t say it much more than twice without screwing up, and if this is the case I invite you to try the following experiment:
Imagine someone speaking to you, someone with perfect enunciation (eg an actor, presenter etc), and imagine them saying that phrase, quickly and clearly, five times in a row. Starting now.
…
Any luck? It turns out this is something I can not do. In my head, even Stephen Fry says "Red leather yellow leather red lella yella lala…" If this tendency is normal (as I kind of hope it is) it seems to me a striking indication of a direct link between speech and thought— it’s almost enough to make me want to go back to university and finish my semiotics degree.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:32 am
I find I can do it very easily without an accent but with a beat. As in:
Red-[uh]-Leath-er
Yell-Ow-Leath-er
and as anyone who knows me will attest my timing is not exactly developed…
I suspect it’s the 3 syllables followed by the four syllables forms a big part of this tongue twister.
July 25th, 2006 at 9:09 am
I had exactly the trouble you describe when I said the words quickly parrot-fashion, ie. just repeating the sounds, but if I actually think of red and yellow leathers when I say the words they come out fine. ‘Ow queer!
July 25th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I still can’t do it even if I change it to “Redder leather Yellow Leather” — I am verbally challenged :(
July 25th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
I find it almost as hard to do in my head as it is to say. I have greater success if I say it in a (poor) impression of Mick Jagger, but the truth is I probably say it a bit slower when doing so.
Just yellow leather repeated on its own is enough to give me problems, actually. Throw in a few random red leathers as well, and it really goes off the rails.
I wonder if people who work on an assembly line sorting out the red leather from the yellow find it hard going for the first month or so…
July 25th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
I can’t say it myself out loud, but don’t seem to have any problem imagining Stephen Fry doing a relatively problem free recitation…
July 26th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I’ve been saying this up to about thirty times in a row - to others’ irritation - for years. It took a lot of practice though. And my tongue sticks out more than usual for the “th” sounds.
July 27th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
It must be a right brain thing - I have no problem with the saying or the thinking - or perhaps I was just very drunk at the time!
April 17th, 2007 at 4:55 am
This actually helped.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
We do this as a warm-up in Chorus, and it helps (with me) if I pitch all the syllables differently (as you would in Chorus).
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:46 pm
red leather yellow leather, lex luthor loves yellow leather leppenwolf, michael rosenburg
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
michael rosenboum played kip unger in the movie kickin it old school, where before he went on tv as a vj, he practiced his enunciation by saying red leather , yellow leather
December 20th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
my god, its true! Oh betty