Susie works in a shoeshine shop
A short story in two sentences. The first sets the scene, the second turns into a mirror: “where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines”. The words swap places, and so do the sounds, SH and S, which is exactly what the tongue struggles with.
Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines.
More tongue twisters for the same sounds
- The busy shop assistant shows shoppers six shirts, seven scarves and a dozen shiny zippers, and sells them all by sunset.
- The zoo's zebras doze in the sun, the seals splash in the shallow pool and the visitors' shoes squeak on the shiny stones.
- Sam's shop sells sheets, shirts, socks and shoes.
- Rose's cousins use these reasons as easy excuses.
- The tailor sews zippers, sizes sleeves and shortens shirts.
- His dozen dazzling designs pleased the busy business owners.
Other famous tongue twisters for these sounds
- She sees cheese
- Selfish shellfish
- Sheep should sleep in a shed
- Sure the ship's shipshape, sir
- Irish wristwatch, Swiss wristwatch
- Six slippery snails
- Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches
- If a dog chews shoes
- Should such a shapely sash
- A noisy noise annoys an oyster
- Swan swam over the sea
- She sells seashells by the seashore
Where to breathe
- Susie works in a shoeshine shop.
- Where she shines she sits,
- and where she sits she shines.
Where shines and sits trade places
The name “Susie” is a little trap: it starts with S and has a Z in the middle, “Soo-zee”. Then come “shoeshine” and “shop”, with three SH sounds in two words. So the line switches from S and Z to SH right away.
The second sentence is the real test. “Shines” starts with SH and ends with Z. “Sits” starts with S and ends with TS. They keep trading places: shines, sits, sits, shines. Most people slip into “where she sits she sits” or “she shines she shines” and lose the order.
“She” appears four times, and each time it sits right next to “shines” or “sits”. When “she” is followed by “sits”, the SH tends to carry over into the S.
How to learn it
Say the first sentence on its own a few times. Keep the S of “Susie” bright and the SH of “shoeshine shop” rounded. It is the easy half, and it sets the rhythm.
For the second sentence, practice the pairs: “she shines, she sits”. Smile slightly on the S of “sits” and push the lips forward on the SH of “shines”. Then build the mirror: “where she shines she sits”, pause, “where she sits she shines”.
Breathe after “shop” and at the comma. Once the order is fixed in your head, the sounds become easier too. Add speed only when you can say the mirror half without stopping to think which word comes next.
Questions about this tongue twister
- What does where she shines she sits mean?
- Susie polishes shoes, and she sits in the same spot where she does that work. The second half just says it the other way around. The sentence is built to swap two words with similar sounds.
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.