How much wood would/could a woodchuck chuck is an American English-language tongue-twister.[1][2] The woodchuck ‒ from the Algonquian word, "wejack" ‒ is a kind of marmot regionally called a groundhog.[3] The complete beginning of the tongue twister usually goes, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"[1][2] The tongue-twister relies primarily on alliteration to achieve its effects, with five "w" sounds interspersed among five "ch" sounds.[4]
Answers
A traditional, if nonsensical, "response" to the question is: "A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood".[5]
A 1957 Associated Press piece refers to the question as "a riddle which beats the Sphinx, since it's still unanswered".[6] A more concrete answer was published by the Associated Press in 1988, which reported that a New York fish and wildlife technician named Richard Thomas had calculated the volume of dirt in a typical 25–30-foot (7.6–9.1 m) long woodchuck burrow, and had determined that if the woodchuck had moved an equivalent volume of wood, it could move "about 700 pounds (320 kg) on a good day, with the wind at his back".[7] Another study, which considered "chuck" to be the opposite of upchucking, determined that a woodchuck could ingest 361.9237001 cubic centimetres (22.08593926 cu in) of wood per day.[8]
Another proposed response comes from the parody-filled video game Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, where the protagonist asks a carpenter the question and gets the response:
"A woodchuck would chuck no amount of wood since a woodchuck can’t chuck wood."[9]
Origin
The origin of the phrase is from a 1902 song, "The Woodchuck Song", written by Robert Howard Davis for Fay Templeton in the musical, The Runaways.[10][11] the lyrics became better known in a 1904 version of the song written by Theodore Morse, with a chorus of "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?",[12] which was recorded by Ragtime Roberts, in 1904.[13]
^ abThomas A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music (1997): "Sometimes, tongue twisters utilize elaborate sound inversions in complex juxtapositions—for example, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" "
^ abElizabeth Tucker Children's Folklore: A Handbook 2008 - Page 22 "Popular English tongue twisters include "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers," "She sells seashells by the seashore," and "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?."
^Richard M. Hogg, Norman Francis Blake, Roger Lass, The Cambridge History of the English Language (1992), Vol. 6, p. 189 "The woodchuck, from Algonquian wejack, a marmot regionally called groundhog, has evoked in jocular folklore the unanswerable question: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" "
^Sherrill B. Flora, Early Literacy Intervention Activities, Grades PK - K (2011), p. 79.
^See, e.g., Florence Kingsland, In and Out Door Games: With Suggestions for Entertainments (1904), p. 250: "If a woodchuck could chuck, a woodchuck can't would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood." Variations abound, as in, Edward W. Mumford, compiler, Smiles in Rime (1904): "Well, If a woodchuck could chuck wood, a woodchuck would chuck all the wood that a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood!"; Helen Josephine Ferris, Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls (1957), p. 358:"He would chuck what wood a woodchuck would chuck, / If a woodchuck would chuck wood".
^Dion Henderson, "Groundhog Has His Annual Day Saturday; Move Over Mr. Bacon", Sarasota Journal (January 31, 1957), p. 14.
^P.A. Paskevich and T.B. Shea (July–August 1995). "The Ability of Woodchucks to Chuck Cellulose Fibers". Annals of Improbable Research. 1 (4): 4–9.
^Can be found transcribed in this list of quotes or in the game.en.wikiquote.org
^The Tammany Times - Volumes 20-21 1902- Page 305 ""How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, If a woodchuck would chuck wood?" That is the beginning of the refrain of a song that Mr. Robert Howard Davis has written for Fay Templeton in The Runaways. Miss Templeton is trying the song...
^Hobbies - Volume 78, Issues 1-6 - Page 119 Otto C. Lightner, Pearl Ann Reeder - 1973 "Mathias quotes Davis as saying he made $20,000 from the sale of "The Woodchuck Song" (this must have been from sheet music, for royalties were not paid on record sales in those days) after he and Morse called at Fay Templeton's home..."
^Edison Amberola Monthly -Thomas A. Edison, Inc - 1976 Volume 1 - Page 8 ""The Woodchuck's Song" is a Record of Fay Templeton's song in The Runaways. made by Bob Roberts, a baritone who is thereby introduced to buyers of Edison Gold Moulded Records. This song has for its chorus the old query, "How...
