"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck" (sometimes phrased with "could" rather than "would") is an American English-language tongue-twister.[1][2] The woodchuck, a word originating from Algonquian "wejack", is a kind of marmot, regionally called a groundhog.[3] The complete beginning of the tongue-twister usually goes: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood[1][2] The tongue-twister relies primarily on alliteration to achieve its effects, with five "w" sounds interspersed among five "ch" sounds,[4] as well as 6 "ood" sounds.
Answers
editA traditional, if nonsensical, "response" to the question is: "A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood".[5] Other—similarly unhelpful—responses include "So much wood would a woodchuck chuck as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood!", "He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.",[6] "He would chuck as much as a woodchuck could if a woodchuck could chuck wood.",[7] and "As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood!"
A 1957 Associated Press piece refers to the question as "a riddle which beats the Sphinx, since it's still unanswered".[8] A more concrete answer was published by the Associated Press in 1988, which reported that a New York fish and wildlife technician named Richard Thomas had calculated the volume of dirt in a typical 25–30-foot (7.6–9.1 m) long woodchuck burrow and had determined that if the woodchuck had moved an equivalent volume of wood, it could move "about 700 pounds (320 kg) on a good day, with the wind at his back".[9][10] Another study, which considered "chuck" to be the opposite of upchucking, determined that a woodchuck could ingest 362 cm3 (22 cu in)[11] of wood per day.[12]
Origin
editThe origin of the phrase is from a 1902 song "The Woodchuck Song", written by Robert Hobart Davis for Fay Templeton in the musical The Runaways.[13][14] The lyrics became better known in a 1904 version of the song written by Theodore Morse, with a chorus of "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?",[15] which was recorded by Ragtime Roberts, in 1904.[16]
The tongue-twister was documented as "folklore" in 1972 in Farmington, Michigan.[17] It is used in the title of Werner Herzog's 1976 film How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck, a documentation of the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in New Holland, Pennsylvania.
Popular culture
edit- Google features this tongue twister as an Easter egg in its search engine, as well as Google Now.[18][19][20] Several other virtual assistants, including Siri and Cortana, have their own unique, humorous responses to the phrase.[21][22]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Thomas A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music (1997): "Sometimes, tongue twisters utilize elaborate sound inversions in complex juxtapositions—for example, 'How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?'"
- ^ a b Elizabeth Tucker Children's Folklore: A Handbook 2008, Page 22. "Popular English tongue twisters include 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers', 'She sells seashells by the seashore', and 'How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?'.
- ^ Richard M. Hogg, Norman Francis Blake, Roger Lass, The Cambridge History of the English Language (1992), Vol. 6, p. 189. "The woodchuck, from Algonquian wejack, a marmot regionally called groundhog, has evoked in jocular folklore the unanswerable question: 'How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?'".
- ^ Sherrill B. Flora, Early Literacy Intervention Activities, Grades PK - K (2011), p. 79.
- ^ See, e.g., Florence Kingsland, In and Out Door Games: With Suggestions for Entertainments (1904), p. 250: "If a woodchuck could chuck, a woodchuck can't would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood." Variations abound, as in, Edward W. Mumford, compiler, Smiles in Rime (1904): "Well, If a woodchuck could chuck wood, a woodchuck would chuck all the wood that a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood!"; Helen Josephine Ferris, Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls (1957), p. 358: "He would chuck what wood a woodchuck would chuck, / If a woodchuck would chuck wood".
- ^ "Tongue Twister: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck", Repeat After Us; accessed 2018.06.27. Archived 2018-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Under "Pleasantries" in The Christian Register (September 12, 1901), p. 28.
- ^ Dion Henderson, "Groundhog Has His Annual Day Saturday; Move Over Mr. Bacon", Sarasota Journal (January 31, 1957), p. 14.
- ^ "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?", Spokane Chronicle (July 11, 1988), p. A9.
- ^ Press Won't Chuck That Woodchuck Story.
- ^ Giving this number without any error bars.
- ^ P. A. Paskevich and T. B. Shea (July–August 1995). "The Ability of Woodchucks to Chuck Cellulose Fibers". Annals of Improbable Research. 1 (4): 4–9.
- ^ The Tammany Times, Volumes 20–21, 1902, Page 305. "'How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, If a woodchuck would chuck wood?' That is the beginning of the refrain of a song that Mr. Robert Hobart Davis has written for Fay Templeton in The Runaways. Miss Templeton is trying the song..."
- ^ Hobbies, Volume 78, Issues 1–6, Page 119, Otto C. Lightner, Pearl Ann Reeder, 1973. "Mathias quotes Davis as saying he made $20,000 from the sale of 'The Woodchuck Song' (this must have been from sheet music, for royalties were not paid on record sales in those days) after he and Morse called at Fay Templeton's home..."
- ^ Tim Gracyk, Bob Roberts - Tenor. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- ^ Edison Amberola Monthly, Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1976, Volume 1, Page 8. "'The Woodchuck's Song' is a Record of Fay Templeton's song in The Runaways. made by Bob Roberts, a baritone who is thereby introduced to buyers of Edison Gold Moulded Records. This song has for its chorus the old query, 'How...'".
- ^ The James T. Callow Folklore Archive, Tongue Twister: How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck, Michigan; Farmington; 09-26-1972.
- ^ Nazarian, Robert (November 17, 2013). "Google Now Easter Egg collection". Retrieved April 3, 2014.
- ^ Knoll, Marc (November 8, 2013). "Awesome List Of Google Now Voice Commands". Retrieved April 3, 2014.
- ^ Shrestha, Ashesh (December 28, 2013). "Try These Google Now Easter Eggs". Nepal. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
- ^ Tillman, Maggie (2018-10-16). "Best Google Assistant Easter Eggs: Your guide to funny Assistant commands". Pocket-lint. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
- ^ O'Boyle, Britta, and Chris Hall (2015-12-29). "Siri vs Cortana: Which is the funniest assistant?". Pocket-lint. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
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