Specific Pacific: A Tongue Twister With a Tricky C

Terrific Pacific, specific Pacific is a twister with one repeated ending and a letter C that says S.

Terrific Pacific, specific Pacific.

Three words end the same way, and one of them is said twice. The loud part sits in the middle of each word.

👅 Sounds to Practise

S /s/, as in Pacific and specific. The tip of the tongue sits close to the ridge behind the top teeth, and air hisses out.
C says S in Pacific and specific, because it comes before the letter i: pa-ci-fic is said pa-SIF-ic.
The stress falls on the part just before the ending: ter-RIF-ic, pa-SIF-ic, spe-SIF-ic.

Quick test: say sip, then ship. For sip the tongue stays forward. For ship it pulls back.

Say each chunk slowly.

Terrific Pacific,
specific Pacific.

Say it at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:

ter-RIF-ic pa-SIF-ic, spe-SIF-ic pa-SIF-ic.

Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:

Terrific Pacific, specific Pacific.

If it falls apart, that is normal. Slow down and try again. Keep the loud part in the middle of every word.

The three words look different but they share an ending, and the stress is always in the same place.

terrific / pacific / specific

In Pacific and specific, the c before the i says S, but the last c says K. Your eyes may push you toward the wrong sound.
The twister repeats the ending so quickly that the stress can slip to the wrong part.
Pacific appears twice, so the tongue goes round the same turn again.

These pairs change when S becomes SH:

Even stranger, some words that look alike are not said alike. Special is said with SH, but specific is said with S.

Say each pair slowly. Pull the tongue back for SH.

Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:

Special spices, specific spices.