On Tue, 8 Feb 2000, JRhodes wrote:

> Therefore, for the record, Jerry Lewis stated, ""Nine apathetic,
> sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked
> propensity toward procrastination and sloth."  Just after, "Eight
> brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt." etc. etc.

Jerry Lewis used it, but I think the composition (?) predates that.
Supposedly it was used in auditions for radio announcers in the 1930s.

I can't find a definitive version, but here's something close to it:


   One hen.
   Two ducks.
   Three squawking geese.
   Four Limerick oysters.
   Five corpulent porpoises.
   Six pairs of Don Alverzos tweezers.
   Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array.
   Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt.
   Nine sympathetic, apathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a
marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth.
   Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul quay
around the quo of the quivvy of the quarry, all at the same time.



---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com