Siouan tongue twisters?

bruce Ingham shokoohbanou at YAHOO.CO.UK
Sat May 11 16:15:06 UTC 2013


One joke deserves another.  This one was told me by Jerome Kills Small of Vermillion.

An old Lakota man went into a shop with his grandson.   When he got in he felt tired and said to his son "Khul maƞkiƞ kte"  meaning "i'm going to sit down".  So the grandson did the shopping and when he had paid, the shop keeper, who was white and didn't understand Lakota, said to the boy "and tell your grandfather next time not to call me a 'cool monkey.'

This is the only Lakota joke I know.  Any more offerings?

Bruce

On 11 May 2013, at 15:54, Saul Schwartz <sschwart at PRINCETON.EDU> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Just wanted to share an amusing anecdote I encountered when I was in the American Philosophical Society Library recently going through Gordon Marsh's correspondence with Franz Boas. The following is in a letter from Marsh, dated August 6, 1936, updating Boas on the progress of his fieldwork with Chiwere speakers near Perkins, Oklahoma:
> 
> "I can say a few words and simple sentences and can ask for food at the table. The Indians get a great kick out of hearing me talk. Sometimes I read them parts of my text, a lot of which they have never heard, and they say it sounds very natural to them and they all understand it. They are pleased when I say 8888 for them. It is supposed to be the hardest thing to say and some of them say they can’t say it themselves. It is simply:
> 
> kóge glelábliⁿ gléblaⁿ húyaⁿ glelábliⁿnaⁿ gléblaⁿ glelábliⁿ aglíⁿ glelábliⁿ."
> 
> While I know that tongue twisters are a recognized form verbal play and source of amusement in many languages, this is the first time I've come across a Siouan one. If there are other examples of Siouan tongue twisters, I'd be interested to hear about them.
> 
> Be well,
> Saul

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