Good blood, bad blood, good blood, bad blood
Good blood, bad blood, good blood, bad blood
Good blood, bad blood, good blood, bad blood
Why Is It Hard?
The bl cluster in blood must be repeated four times while alternating between the g sound of good and the b sound of bad. At speed, good blood runs together into one word while bad blood collides at the b-b boundary. Most speakers start correctly and then lose the alternation entirely by the third repetition.
History
Good blood bad blood is a classic minimal English tongue twister in the same tradition as red lorry yellow lorry and toy boat. These two-element alternating twisters test the brain’s ability to rapidly switch between nearly identical patterns. Good blood bad blood has been used in British and American speech training and appears in elocution manuals from the early 20th century.
Tips for Saying It
- Exaggerate the g in good and the d in bad to keep them distinct.
- Practise the bl cluster alone: bl-bl-bl until it is clean.
- Use the comma as a natural divider: good blood / pause / bad blood / pause.
More English Tongue Twisters
- Red Lorry Yellow Lorry — another alternating twister
- Hard Tongue Twisters — more challenges
- Tongue Twisters — full collection
Find hundreds more on alltonguetwisters.com.