What's In a Name?
What are we to make of this fascinating form of wordplay that we know and love as the 'Spoonerism'? The word itself derives from the humerous, yet unintentional slip-ups of one Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930). Spooner maintained an association with Oxford University and held several roles there; lecturing in divinity, history and philosophy, serving as a Dean from 1876 to 1889 and later as Warden from 1903 to 1924.
Despite being known (albeit unjustly) for his comical habit of mixing up words, Reverand Spooner was a highly gifted individual and it has been suggested that his tongue had great difficulty keeping up with the quickness of his mind. Certainly a gentleman worthy of great respect for his wisdom and intelligence but also a man who should be fondly remembered for his gentle humour…by all accounts he was greatly admired.
Some claim that many of the examples of Spoonerisms shown below were contrived by clever and enthusiastic members of the University itself, and that while Reverand Spooner did have a habit of reversing speech, it was more that entire words would be transposed, rather than the individual phonemes within words. It would seem appropriate to list the spoonerisms on this page with the understanding that they were only purportedly spoken by Reverand Spooner himself…but still worthy of mention I'm sure youll agree!
Spoonerisms of an Apocryphal Nature
Some of the more well known slip-ups are said to include the time when he toasted Queen Victoria: "three cheers for our queer old Dean!." On another occasion he roasted a poor student for "fighting a liar in the quadrangle."
Being a man of the cloth, however, even the most sacred of subjects held no immunity to such tongue-in-cheek transpositions; meaning to speak of "our Lord as a loving shepherd" he alternatively enthused that "our Lord is a shoving leopard."
Social occasions, rather embarrassingly, often provided unwanted opportunity for Reverand Spooner and his fiddly faux pas. In the midst of a College reception he remarked to a lady "you'll soon be had as a matter of course" (meaning to say "you'll soon be mad as a Hatter of course.")
In giving a speech to a school of girls, stated: "what am I to to tell this audience of beery wenches?" He meant, of course, to say "what am I to do with this audience of weary benches?"—the girls had been enduring the discomfort of hard seats at the time!
Reverand Spooner was also known, in his time, to have uttered the following twisted sentences; "work is the curse of the drinking classes" ("drink is the curse of the working classes"); "you have hissed my mystery lectures" ("you have missed my history lectures); "you have tasted the whole worm" ("you have wasted the whole term"); "it is now kisstomary to cuss the bride" ("it is now customary to kiss the bride."); "which of us has not felt in is heart a half-warmed fish?" ("which of us has not felt in is heart a half-formed wish?.")
The Anatomy of a Spoonerism
A spoonerism is the switching of consonants and/or vowels within one or more words to form a secondary, humerous word or phrase but specifically it is the sounds that are switched. Let's use the following example to demonstrate a switching of initial consonants:
a kit for the match — a mitt for the catch
In this instance the initial letters of kit and match are switched around but note how the spoonerized term retains a meaning all of it's own and one which can be clearly understood even when seen outside of the context of its parent term. This by no means represents the full range of a spoonerism, as more than a single letter may be used:
walking stick — stalking wick
Here, the initial letter of walking and the initial two letters of stick are switched to form a funny little phrase. Again, the spoonerized term retains a meaning that's quite clearly understood.
The switching of vowels is another way in which a spoonerism may be created - take a look at the following term as an example:
seeing with new eyes — sighing with new ease
In the above example, the 2nd and 3rd letter of seeing and the initial three letters of eyes are switched to form an entirely new phrase that, you'll agree, has its own unique charm.
Even larger and more complex parts of a word may be used, as in the following:
flying in a straight line — straying in a flight line
In the above, the 1st and 2nd letters of flight are switched with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th letters of straight, giving another example.
A spoonerism or a Spelling Mistake?
What gives spoonerisms they're charm and humour? Well primarily, its the way they sound. They would make little sense if letters were switched without any consideration for phonetics. For example, when spoonerizing the phrase "shocking news" which of these do you find funnier?:
knocking shews or knocking shoes?
Ok, ok…this isn't exactly a hilarious example of a funny phrase but it's a suitable way to get a point across. Just about everyone knows what shoes are, but what's a shew? Well, although not everyone may agree, this author would undoubtedly eschew the shews in favour of the shoes!
Homonym Harmony
Just a quick note for the observant: a 'homonym' is a noun that describes one or more words that share the same pronunciation but that have very different meanings (i.e. brake and break or sea and see) and needless to say, the humble homonym is used liberally on this site in the listing of spoonerisms (in the above: 'knocking shoes' could have easily been 'knocking shoos' but this author found shoes to be a much more agreeable phrase).
Yes, This Is Just a Hobby Site!
This is a hobby site devoted to the author's love of spoonerisms, and as such only represents one individual's take on the subject; it is far from being a definitive resource. All spoonerisms listed in the main categories menu are researched with the aforementioned points in mind.