Post by nikki on Nov 29, 2005 15:31:57 GMT 5.5
A Spoonerism is a play on words in which corresponding consonants or vowels are switched and named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency. Some of his famous quotes from the chapel include "The Lord is a shoving leopard," "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride," and "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?." (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?) The spoonerism is a now legendary 'slip of the tongue.'
Other gaffes worth mentioning are his angry speech to a student, "You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain," actually intending to say "missed history", "lighting fire", "wasted terms", and "down train", respectively. During a college reception, he remarked to one lady "You'll soon be had, as a matter of course", when he meant to say "Mad as a Hatter, of course". A few more which you can probably work out for yourself include "We must drink a toast to the queer old Dean", "We'll have the hags flung out", "a half-warmed fish" and "Is the bean dizzy?"
Spooner is also recorded by Littlewood as having proposed a toast to "The Boar's Head" (a pub), but this was emphatically not a spoonerism.
It should be pointed out at this juncture that many of the quotes attributed to Spooner are apocryphal - The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) only lists one substantiated Spoonerism - "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer"
In modern terms, spoonerism is any changing of sounds in this manner. While simple enough to do, a clever spoonerism is one that results in a funny phrase or sentence. "Flutterby" is an oft-cited example of a spoonerism that has not lost its original meaning.
When dealing with letters that correspond to produce a different sound than their seperate connotations such as 'sh', 'ch', 'ph', ect... both letters are moved to preserve the original verbal sound. For example, 'Cheer for Dennis' would be 'Deer for Chennis'.
Other gaffes worth mentioning are his angry speech to a student, "You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted two worms, you will leave by the next town drain," actually intending to say "missed history", "lighting fire", "wasted terms", and "down train", respectively. During a college reception, he remarked to one lady "You'll soon be had, as a matter of course", when he meant to say "Mad as a Hatter, of course". A few more which you can probably work out for yourself include "We must drink a toast to the queer old Dean", "We'll have the hags flung out", "a half-warmed fish" and "Is the bean dizzy?"
Spooner is also recorded by Littlewood as having proposed a toast to "The Boar's Head" (a pub), but this was emphatically not a spoonerism.
It should be pointed out at this juncture that many of the quotes attributed to Spooner are apocryphal - The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) only lists one substantiated Spoonerism - "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer"
In modern terms, spoonerism is any changing of sounds in this manner. While simple enough to do, a clever spoonerism is one that results in a funny phrase or sentence. "Flutterby" is an oft-cited example of a spoonerism that has not lost its original meaning.
When dealing with letters that correspond to produce a different sound than their seperate connotations such as 'sh', 'ch', 'ph', ect... both letters are moved to preserve the original verbal sound. For example, 'Cheer for Dennis' would be 'Deer for Chennis'.