Woodchuck

"How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck" is a popular English-language tongue twister that originated from "The Woodchuck Song" written by Robert Hobart Davis and Theodore F. Morse. The song debuted in 1903 in the American summer hit comedy musical "The Runaways," which ran from May to October at New York City's Casino Theater. The tongue twister is built on alliteration, featuring multiple "w" and "ch" sounds, making it challenging to pronounce quickly. A "woodchuck" is another name for a groundhog, a type of marmot, and the word itself comes from the Algonquian word "wejack" or "wuchak." While woodchucks don't actually "chuck" or throw wood, they are known for burrowing and tossing aside dirt. In 1988, New York wildlife conservation officer Richard Thomas humorously estimated that if a woodchuck could chuck wood, it could move approximately 700 pounds—based on the amount of dirt one displaces when digging a burrow.