Betty Botter

The construction is based on alliteration, using the repeated two-syllable pattern {{IPA|/'b__tə 'b__tə 'b__tə/}} with a range of vowels in the first, stressed syllable. The difficulty is in clearly and consistently differentiating all the vowels from each other. Except for {{IPA|/ɔː/}} (bought a), they are all short vowels:

• {{IPA|/æ/}} (batter)
• {{IPA|/e/}} (better, Betty)
• {{IPA|/ɪ/}} (bitter, bit o’)
• {{IPA|/ɒ/}} (Botta)
• {{IPA|/ʌ/}} (butter)

When it was first published in "The Jingle Book" in 1899, it read:{{cite web |last=Wells |first=Carolyn |date=1899 |title=The Jingle Book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24560 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112032231/https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24560 |archive-date=2014-11-12 |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Project Gutenberg}}

{{Poem quote|text=Betty Botta bought some butter;

“But,” said she, “this butter’s bitter!

If I put it in my batter

It will make my batter bitter.

But a bit o’ better butter

Will but make my batter better.”

Then she bought a bit o’ butter

Better than the bitter butter,

Made her bitter batter better.

So ’twas better Betty Botta

Bought a bit o’ better butter.|title=The Butter Betty Bought|source=The Jingle Book}}

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter, but the butter Betty Botter bought was bitter. So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter to make the bitter butter better. But the bitter make the better butter bitter.

Betty botter bought a bit of butter but the butter Betty bought was bitter so Betty bought a bit of better butter

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter

But the bit of butter Betty Botter bought was bitter

So Betty Botter bought a Bit of Better Butter

to make the bit of bitter butter better.

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter

but the bit of butter Betty Botter bought was bitter

Betty Botta bought a bit of better butter

to make the bit of bitter butter better.

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter but, she said, this butter's bitter; if I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. so she bought some better butter, and it made her bitter batter better.{{cite web |last=Smolkin |first=Laura B. |title=Webbing Into Literacy: Betty Botter Rhyme Card |url=http://curry.virginia.edu/go/wil/Betty_Botter_bought_some_butter.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207155704id_/http://curry.virginia.edu/go/wil/Betty_Botter_bought_some_butter.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-07 |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=University of Virginia}}

Betty Batta bought some butter, but she said "this butter's bitter if I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter". So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter put it in her batter and the batter tasted better.

Source:{{Cite web |last=Drummond |first=Ken |date=2017-02-12 |title=Betty Botter Bought Some Butter |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7wQLLtb68k |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/j7wQLLtb68k |archive-date=2021-12-06 |access-date=2021-12-15 |website=YouTube}}

Betty Botter bought some butter,

But Betty Botter found her butter bitter.

So Betty Botter bought some better butter.

A little bit of bitter butter didn't bother Betty.

But her better butter better not be bitter!

There was an animated version featured on the television channel PBS Kids, animated by Lynn Tomlinson. In this variation the rhyme is as follows:

Betty Botter bought some butter,

but the butter, it was bitter.

If she put it in her batter, it would make her batter bitter,

but a bit of better butter, that would make her batter better.

So, she bought a bit of butter, better than her bitter butter,

And she put it in her batter, and her batter was not bitter.

So, T'was better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

Betty Botter bought some butter...

Betty Botter bought some butter

but she said the butter was bitter

if I put it in my batter, it would make my batter bitter

but a bit of better butter would make my batter better

So, Betty Botter bought some butter better than her bitter butter

and if I put it in my batter it would make my batter better.

Betty bought a bit of butter, but the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter.

So Betty bought a better bit of butter, to make the bitter bit of butter better.

Betty bought a bit of butter, but she said this butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my bitter batter better.

Betty bought some butter, but the butter was bitter. So, Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better.

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Category:Tongue twisters