“Peter Piper” is one of the most popular tongue twisters and nursery rhymes original to England.
Although it was known earlier as well, it was first published in John Harris’s Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation in 1813, thus making it one of the oldest tongue twisters known to us.
Peter Piper may refer to a Mauritian government official called Peter Poivre, who examined Seychelles’s potential for the cultivation of spices.
As most tongue twisters, Peter Piper’s lyrics make it hard for anybody to rapidly articulate the rhyme. Its lyrics can be found below:
“Peter Piper” Lyrics
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Alternative Version
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick
if he picked a peck of pickled peppers?