Betty Botter

"Betty Botter" is a tongue-twister of unknown origin.

Construction

The construction is based on alliteration, using four words in the English language which begin with "B" and end in "-ter" (batter, better, bitter, and butter), the fabricated surname Botter (which sounds like the phrase "bought a", used twice in the rhyme, and which allows all five English vowel sounds to be used in the "B-(vowel)-ter" pattern), and the name Betty (which sounds similar to "better").

Lyrics

"Betty Botter" has some variations, but most are very similar. A common one is:

: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 'twas better Betty Botter:Bought a bit of better butter.

The above was extracted from http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/b038.html

Similar wording can be found at the following links:::http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/wil/Betty_Botter_bought_some_butter.pdf:http://edahellocircle.homestead.com/toungetwistersbettey.html:http://www.theteachersguide.com/Songs/betty_botterbetty_botter_bought_.htm:http://www.mamalisa.com/house/betty.html

Some versions are paraphrases that have extraneous words like:"But, she said, this ... If I put it in my ..., That would make my ..."

The following version is tightly worded and may be closer to the original: :Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.:The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter:And made her batter bitter.:But a bit of better butter:Makes better batter.:So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,:Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better.

Another version is as follows:

:Betty bought a bit of butter,:But the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter.:So Betty bought a better bit of butter,:To mix with the bitter butter,:To make the bitter butter better

There is yet another version:

:Betty bought a bit of butter,:But the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter.:So Betty brought the bit of bitter butter back,:And bought a bit of better butter.

And another:

:Betty Botter bought a bit of bitter butter,:But the bit of bitter butter Betty bought was too bitter,:So betty botter bought a better bit of bitter butter, :Which was better than the bit of bitter butter Betty bought before.

Recitation

ee also

Tongue-twister