Betty Botter

Betty Botter is a tongue-twister of unknown origin.

Construction

The construction is based on alliteration, using four words in the English language which begin with "B" and end in "-ter" (batter, better, bitter, and butter). The surname Botter (which sounds like the phrase "bought a") is used twice in the rhyme, thus allowing five English vowel sounds to be used in the "B-(vowel)-ter" pattern.

Lyrics

"Betty Botter" has some variations, but most are very similar. A common one is:

Betty Botter bought some 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,

Better than the bitter butter

Will but make my bitter batter better."

So she bought a bit of better butter,

Better than the bitter butter,

and made her bitter batter better.

The following version is tightly worded:

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.

The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter

And made her batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter

Makes better batter.

So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,

Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better.

Another version is as follows:

Betty bought a bit of butter,

But the butter Betty bought was a bit bitter.

So Betty bought a bit of better butter,

To make Betty's bitter butter better.

There is yet another version:

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.

But the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter.

So Betty brought the bit of bitter butter back,

And bought a better bit of butter

Better than the bit of bitter butter Betty brought back.

And another:

Betty Botter bought a bit of bitter butter,

But the bit of bitter butter Betty bought was too bitter,

So Betty Botter bought a better bit of bitter butter,

Which was better than the bit of bitter butter Betty bought before.

An Australian variation includes:

Betty bought a bit of butter,

But the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter.

So, Betty bought a better bit of butter,

And made the bitter butter better.

And another:

Betty bought a bit of butter,

But the butter was too bitter,

So, Betty bought a better bit of butter,

To make the bitter butter better.

And here's yet ANOTHER version:

Betty Botter bought a bit of bitter butter,

But the bit of bitter butter made her batter bitter.

So Betty Botter bought a better bit of butter.

And the better butter made her batter better.

And one more:

Betty Botter bought some butter

"But," said she, "This butter's bitter!

If I put it in my batter,

It will make my batter bitter!"

So she bought a bit of butter

Better than the bitter butter

And it made her batter better

Than the bit of bitter butter.

And, yes, one more:

Betty Botter bought a bit of batter butter,

But Betty Botter's bought batter butter's bitter.

To make Betty Botter's bought bitter batter butter better,

Betty Botter bought a bit of better batter butter.

And another:

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!

But a bit of better butter will make my batter better."

So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,

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

So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

Yet another:

Betty bought some butter

But the butter Betty bought was bitter,

So Betty brought the bitter butter back

And bought some better butter

But the better butter Betty bought was bitter.

Here's another :

Betty Botter bought a bit of bitter butter

But the bit of bitter butter Betty Botter bought

baked a bitter batter.

So Betty Botter brought her bitter butter back

To buy a bigger better bit of butter

and baked a better bit of batter.

Paraphrases

Some versions are paraphrases that have extraneous words like: "But, she said, this ... If I put it in my ... That would make my ..." "I would like to make some ... tasted her butter and said... and threw away her ..."

A Caribbean paraphrase version is:

Betty Botter had a bit of butter and said,

"I would like to make some batter."

Betty Botter tasted her butter and said,

"If I put this in my batter it would make my batter bitter."

Betty Botter bought some fresher butter and threw away her bitter butter

Betty put her butter in her batter and it made her batter better.

Such paraphrases focus on the story content instead of the tongue-twister content.

Canadian writer Dennis Lee included an extended version entitled "The Sitter and the Butter and the Better Batter Fritter" in his classic children's poetry collection Alligator Pie.

Epilogue

Busy Betty bartered the bitter butter for better butter, but never bothered buying buckets of bartered butter for buttered batter.