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A Logical Solution to the Woodchuck Tongue Twister
“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
Woodchuck is another name for the groundhog (Marmota monax species), which is also known as “land beaver” or “whistle pig” (from the warning whistle they make to scare away predators and alert their brethren to danger). According to the University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web (article by Clinton Tobias), the name may have evolved from the indigenous North American Algonquian word wuchak, which roughly translates to “the digger.”
Woodchucks are lowland creatures seen mostly in the eastern half of the contiguous United States, much of Canada, and southern Alaska. They prefer fields, pastures, cultivated farms, and grassy clearings, but they also like low elevation forests for constructing their underground dens.
Bad Luck, Chuck
In American English, the verb chuck often has two meanings:
- To throw or toss (i.e. “Sarah chucked the Frisbee far across the field.”)
- To discard or reject (i.e. “Ben chucked the broken plate into the trash.”)
