If one doctor doctors another doctor
A riddle made almost entirely of one word, “doctor”, used both as a noun and as a verb. The sounds are simple, D, K, T and R, but the sentence is so tangled that most people lose their place long before their tongue gets tired.
If one doctor doctors another doctor, does the doctor who doctors the doctor doctor the doctor the way the doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does he doctor the doctor the way the doctor who doctors doctors?
More tongue twisters for the same sounds
- Doug's dog dug a deep ditch and decided to doze in the dirt.
- Good design takes time: draft it, test it, cut it, then decide.
- Tina tried to get the tiny kite to take off, but it kept dropping.
- Dina took the cake to the cottage, cut it and gave the kids a taste.
- The quick goalkeeper got a glove to the ball and kept the game tied.
- The teacher counted twenty kids, checked their coats and called the driver.
Other famous tongue twisters for these sounds
Where to breathe
- If one doctor doctors another doctor,
- does the doctor who doctors the doctor
- doctor the doctor the way
- the doctor he is doctoring doctors?
- Or does he doctor the doctor
- the way the doctor who doctors doctors?
What it means
“To doctor” here means to treat someone as a doctor. So the question is: when one doctor treats another doctor, does he treat the patient in the patient's own style, or in his own style? In plain words: does the treating doctor copy his colleague's methods or use his own?
Once you know which “doctor” is a person and which is an action, the line becomes a sentence with structure, not a list of the same word.
Where it trips the tongue
“Doctor” has a KT cluster in the middle, “dok-ter”. In fast speech the K is often dropped, and the word becomes “dotter” or “docker”. The word comes sixteen times, so these small losses add up.
The other trap is the plural and the verb form: “doctors” with S. Some of them are verbs, some are nouns, and the S changes the meaning. Dropping or adding one S is the most common error.
The hardest part is the end of the first question: “the doctor he is doctoring doctors”. Three forms in a row: noun, verb with -ing, verb with -s.
How to learn it
Mark the verbs. Read it slowly and stress every “doctor” that is an action: “if one doctor DOCTORS another doctor”. The stress gives the sentence a shape.
Learn it in six parts, as shown above, and breathe at each break. Then say the first question as one unit, the second as another.
Only after the meaning and the order are solid, work on speed. Keep the K in every “doctor”. If you hear “dotter”, slow down.
Questions about this tongue twister
- Can doctor be used as a verb?
- Yes. “To doctor” can mean to give medical treatment, though it is informal. It can also mean to change something dishonestly, as in “to doctor a photo”. In this tongue twister it means to treat.
Keep practicing
Practice with a timer
In DramaLab, the speed ladder is an exercise: it gives you tongue twisters one by one, walks you up the five steps and keeps time. No sign-up needed.