Say that ten times fast.

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "International Tongue Twister Day."  I'm not sure why it's an international special day, but that's only because I don't remember enough high school French to create a non-English tongue twister.  Having said that, my all time favorite tongue twister is 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore.'  Even reading it, it's hard to say it ten times fast.  I grew up in Woodburn, Indiana (the smallest city {city because it has a city style of government} in Indiana) and our local favorite tongue twister was 'How much wood would Woodburn burn, if Woodburn would burn wood?'  As it happens, historically speaking, Woodburn burned quite a lot of wood.  Woodburn now stands in about the center of what was once referred to as the great black swamp, which spread for quite a distance from east of Fort Wayne into what is now Ohio, explaining why the land around this area is so flat.  When Woodburn was first settled, more than 160 years ago, enterprising farmers, mostly German, fresh from Europe where hard physical work was the norm, set to work clearing the swamp, and eventually tiling the fields to drain them, providing extremely fertile soil.  The challenge was that it was all heavily forested.  Those trees had to come down.  Some were used to build houses and barns, but many were simply burned, hence Woodburn.  In 1871 there was a forest fire which, according to one source, halted the growth of the little city but sealed its name as Woodburn (even though there were some attempted name changes later).  So how much wood would Woodburn burn?  Quite a lot as it turned out. An interesting side note - the earliest settlers would keep smudge pots smoldering and smoking under their tables to keep the mosquitoes away while they ate.  Life was not all fun and games back then.