Informant: My informant, S. G., is 19 and was born and raised in Southern California. S.G. lives in Chino Hills and has two mothers who both work as P.E. teachers for high school and middle schools. She has one older sister and one younger brother with the family having ties to its Swedish heritage.
Folklore: “How no brown cow, green green grass.” This piece of folklore is a nonsense phrase meant to be practiced by young children to learn proper annunciation when speaking. Sawyer and her siblings were all taught this phrase growing up from their parents and were meant to repeat it at least once a day. S.G. claims she was forced to practice the phrase until she reached 6th grade.
Analysis: There is no actual proof that this phrase will actually correct a child’s annunciation, but I suppose there is no harm in practicing anyway. S.G. and both her siblings all pronounce their words perfectly so there is no proof to say it doesn’t work.