How much wood would a woodchuck chuck - wikipedia How much wood would a woodchuck chuck For the film, see How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck ( film ). A woodchuck Sawn logs of wood How much wood could a woodchuck chuck is an American English - language tongue - twister. The woodchuck from the Algonquian word `` wejack '' is a kind of marmot regionally called a groundhog. The complete beginning of the tongue - twister usually goes : `` How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood ? '' The tongue - twister relies primarily on alliteration to achieve its effects, with five `` w '' sounds interspersed among five `` ch '' sounds. Contents 1 Answers 2 Origin 3 Popular culture 4 See also 5 References Answers The traditional `` response '' to the question is : `` A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood ''. This answer is considered nonsensical for being a tautology. A 1957 Associated Press piece refers to the question as `` a riddle which beats the Sphinx, since it 's still unanswered ''. 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 ''. Another study, which considered `` chuck '' to be the opposite of upchucking, determined that a woodchuck could ingest 361.9237001 cm ( 22.08593926 cu in ) of wood per day. 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 ca n't chuck wood. '' Origin The origin of the phrase is from a 1902 song `` The Woodchuck Song '', written by Robert Hobart Davis for Fay Templeton in the musical The Runaways. 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 ? '', which was recorded by Ragtime Roberts, in 1904. The tongue - twister is documented as `` folklore '' in 1972 at Farmington, Michigan. It is used in the title of Werner Herzog 's 1976 film How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck, a documentation of the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in New Holland, Pennsylvania. The woodchuck is also known as a groundhog, leading to the alternate version How much ground could a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground ? Popular culture Google features this tongue twister as an Easter egg in its Google search and Google Now. A slight variation was featured in the video game `` Monkey Island 2 : LeChuck 's Revenge ''. Wolfram Alpha features an easter egg when asked the query `` How much wood could a woodchuck chuck ? '' Ludacris incorporates this tongue twister in the Chamillionaire single `` Creepin ' ( Solo ) ''. See also Alliteration Announcer 's test Malapropism Spoonerism Theophilus Thistle References ^ Jump up to : Thomas 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 could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood ? ' '' ^ Jump up to : Elizabeth Tucker Children 's Folklorgue 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 ? '. Jump up ^ 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 ? ' ''. Jump up ^ Sherrill B. Flora, Early Literacy Intervention Activities, Grades PK - K ( 2011 ), p. 79. Jump up ^ See, e.g., Florence Kingsland, In and Out Door Games : With Suggestions for Entertainments ( 1904 ), p. 250 : `` If a woodchuck could chuck, a woodchuck ca n'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 ''. Jump up ^ Dion Henderson, `` Groundhog Has His Annual Day Saturday ; Move Over Mr. Bacon '', Sarasota Journal ( January 31, 1957 ), p. 14. Jump up ^ `` How much wood would a woodchuck chuck ? '', Spokane Chronicle ( July 11, 1988 ), p. A9. Jump up ^ Press Wo n't Chuck That Woodchuck Story. Jump up ^ Giving this number without any error bars. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Can be found transcribed in this list of quotes or in the game.en.wikiquote.org Jump up ^ 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 Hobart Davis has written for Fay Templeton in The Runaways. Miss Templeton is trying the song... '' Jump up ^ 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... '' Jump up ^ Tim Gracyk, Bob Roberts - Tenor. Retrieved 16 May 2013. Jump up ^ 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... ' ''. Jump up ^ The James T. Callow Folklore Archive, Tongue Twister : How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck, Michigan ; Farmington ; 09 - 26 - 1972. Jump up ^ Nazarian, Robert ( November 17, 2013 ). `` Google Now Easter Egg collection ''. Retrieved April 3, 2014. Jump up ^ Knoll, Marc ( November 8, 2013 ). `` Awesome List Of Google Now Voice Commands ''. Retrieved April 3, 2014. Jump up ^ Shrestha, Ashesh ( December 28, 2013 ). `` Try These Google Now Easter Eggs ''. Nepal. Retrieved April 3, 2014. Jump up ^ `` 100 + Google Now Voice Commands and Easter Eggs ''. Retrieved June 4, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Monkey Island 2 : LeChuck 's Revenge ( 1991 Video Game ) Quotes ''. Jump up ^ `` Wolfram Alpha woodchuck easter egg ''. Jump up ^ `` Chamillionaire -- Creepin ( Solo ) Feat. Ludacris Lyrics ''. YouTube. March 13, 2011. p. 3 : 20. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=How_much_wood_would_a_woodchuck_chuck&oldid=799940055 '' Categories : Fictional squirrels Tongue - twisters 1902 songs Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 10 September 2017, at 18 : 38. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote how much wood could a woodchuck chuck
Answer: a 1902 song "The Woodchuck Song"