Wikipedia

Spoonerism

Aspoonerismis an occurrence of speech in which correspondingconsonants,vowels,ormorphemesare switched (seemetathesis) between two words of a phrase.[1][a]These are named after the Oxford don and priestWilliam Archibald Spooner,who reportedly commonly spoke in this way.[2]

An example of spoonerism on a protest placard in London, England: "Buck Frexit" instead of "FuckBrexit"

An example is saying "blushing crow" instead of "crushing blow", or "runny babbit" instead of "bunny rabbit". While spoonerisms are commonly heard as slips of the tongue, they can also be used intentionally as aword play.

The first known spoonerisms were published by the 16th-century authorFrançois Rabelaisand termedcontrepèteries.[3]In his novelPantagruel,he wrote"femme folle à la messe et femme molle à la fesse"( "insane woman at Mass, woman with flabby buttocks" ).[4]

Etymology

edit
Spooner as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) inVanity Fair,April 1898

Spoonerisms are named for the ReverendWilliam Archibald Spooner(1844–1930), Warden from 1903 to 1924 ofNew College, Oxford,who was allegedly susceptible to this mistake.[5][6][7] TheOxford English Dictionaryrecords the wordspoonerismas early as 1900.[8] The term was well-established by 1921. An article inThe Timesfrom that year reports that:

The boys of Aldro School,Eastbourne,... have been set the following task for the holidays: Discover and write down something about: The Old Lady of Threadneedle-street, a Spoonerism, a Busman's Holiday...[9]

An article in theDaily Heraldin 1928 reported spoonerisms to be a "legend". In that piece Robert Seton, once a student of Spooner's, admitted that Spooner:

...made, to my knowledge, only one "Spoonerism" in his life, in 1879, when he stood in the pulpit and announced the hymn: 'Kinkering Kongs their Titles Take' [ "Conquering Kings their Titles Take" ]...Later, a friend and myself brought out a book of "spoonerisms".[10]

In 1937,The Timesquoted a detective describing a man as "a bricklabourer's layer" and used "Police Court Spoonerism" as the headline.[11]

A spoonerism is also known as amarrowskyormorowski,purportedly after an 18th-centuryPolishcount who suffered from the same impediment.[12][8]

Examples

edit
Caricature ofCharles H. Workman.The accompanying biography reads, "The only part of him which gets tired is his tongue, and occasionally the oft-repeated lines have got muddled. 'Self-constricted ruddles', 'his striggles were terruffic', and 'deloberately rib me' are a few of the spoonerisms he has perpetrated."

Most of the quotations attributed to Spooner are apocryphal;The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations(3rd edition, 1979) lists only one substantiated spoonerism: "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer" (instead of "rate of wages" ). Spooner himself claimed[5]that "The Kinquering Congs Their Titles Take" (in reference to a hymn)[13]was his sole spoonerism. Most spoonerisms were probably never uttered by William Spooner himself but rather invented by colleagues and students as a pastime.[14]Richard Lederer,calling "Kinkering Kongs their Titles Take" (with an alternative spelling) one of the "few" authenticated Spoonerisms, dates it to 1879, and he gives nine examples "attributed to Spooner, most of them spuriously".[15]They are as follows:

  • "Three cheers for our queer old dean!" (while giving a toast at a dinner, whichQueen Victoriawas also attending)[15]
  • "Is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?" (as opposed to "customary to kiss" )[15]
  • "The Lord is a shoving leopard." (instead of "a loving shepherd" )[15]
  • "A blushing crow." ( "crushing blow" )[15]
  • "A well-boiled icicle" ( "well-oiled bicycle" )[15]
  • "You were fighting a liar in the quadrangle." ( "lighting a fire" )[15]
  • "Is the bean dizzy?" ( "Dean busy" )[15]
  • "Someone is occupewing my pie. Please sew me to another sheet." ( "Someone is occupying my pew. Please show me to another seat." )[15]
  • "You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm. Please leave Oxford on the next town drain." ( "You have missed all my history lectures. You have wasted a whole term. Please leave Oxford on the next down train." )[15]
edit

In modern terms,spoonerismgenerally refers to any changing of sounds in this manner.

Comedy

edit
  • The long-running British comedy television showThe Two Ronniesregularly featured segments withRonnie Barkerdelivering a mock-serious speech littered with spoonerisms, written by Barker.

Writing in tribute for the inauguralRonnie Barker Talk,Ben Eltonwrote:

What an honour. I grew up loving Ronnie Barker and can only hope the news that I am to give a talk in his name doesn’t leave him spitting spiritedly splenetic spoonerisms in comedy heaven.[16]

  • The Washington, D.C. political comedy groupCapitol Steps[17]had a long-standing tradition of performing a routine named "Lirty Dies"[18]during every performance, which features a typically 10-minute-long barrage of rapid-fire topical spoonerisms. A few examples over the years range from "Resident Pagan" (President Reagan) and the US's periodic practice of "Licking their Peaders" (Picking their leaders) to the NSA "poopin' on Snutin" (Snoopin' on Putin) and "phugging everybody's bones" (bugging everybody's phones).
  • ComedianJane Acewas notorious for her spoonerisms and other similar plays on words during her time as main actress of the radio situation comedyEasy Aces.[19]

Literature

edit
  • ComedianF. Chase Taylorwas the main actor of the 1930s radio programStoopnagle and Budd,in which his character, Colonel Stoopnagle, used spoonerisms. In 1945, he published a book,My Tale Is Twisted,consisting of 44 "spoonerised" versions of well-known children's stories. Subtitled "Wart Pun: Aysop's Feebles" and "Tart Pooh: Tairy and Other Fales," these included such tales as "Beeping Sleauty" for "Sleeping Beauty".The book was republished in 2001 by Stone and Scott Publishers asStoopnagle's Tale is Twisted.[20]
  • In 2005,HarperCollinspublished the late humoristShel Silverstein'sRunny Babbit: A Billy Sook,a book about a rabbit whose parents "Dummy and Mad" gave him spoonerized chores, such as having to "Dash the wishes" (for "wash the dishes" ).[21]
  • In his poem "Translation,"Brian P. Clearydescribes a boy named Alex who speaks in spoonerisms (like "shook a tower" instead of "took a shower" ). Humorously, Cleary leaves the poem's final spoonerism to the reader when he says:

He once proclaimed, "Hey,belly jeans"
When he found a stash of jelly beans.
But when he says hepepped in stew
We'll tell him he should wipe his shoe.

— Cleary, Brian P.Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry.Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda, 2004.
  • InD.H. Lawrence & Susan his Cow(1939), literary criticWilliam York Tindalldescribed behavioral psychologists as "occupied with nothing more spiritual than pulling habits out of rats".[22](This quip is commonly cited toDouglas Bush,who used it in a lecture[23]two years later.)

Music

edit

Radio

edit

On the 3 December 1950 episode ofThe Jack Benny Program,Jack mentions that he ran into his butler Rochester while in his car that was on a grease rack. Mary Livingston was supposed to say "How could you run into him on a grease rack?" but flubbed her line with "How could you run into him on a grass reek?" The audience laughed so much that Jack was unable to reply as the show ran out of time.[35]

False etymology

edit

Spoonerisms are used sometimes infalse etymologies.For example, according to linguistGhil'ad Zuckermann,some wrongly believe that the English wordbutterflyderives from'flutterby'.[36]: p.78 

Kniferisms and forkerisms

edit

As complements tospoonerism,Douglas Hofstadterused thenonce wordskniferismandforkerismto refer to changing, respectively, the vowels or the final consonants of two syllables, giving them a new meaning.[37]Examples of so-called kniferisms include a British television newsreader once referring to the police at a crime scene removing a 'hypodeemic nerdle'; a television announcer once saying that "All the world was thrilled by the marriage of the Duck and Doochess of Windsor";[38]and during a live radio broadcast in 1931, radio presenterHarry von Zellaccidentally mispronouncing US PresidentHerbert Hoover's name as "Hoobert Heever".[38][39]

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^The definition of Spoonerism in the 1924 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is: "An accidental transposition of the initial sounds, or other parts, of two or more words."

References

edit
  1. ^Eric Donald Hirsch; Joseph F. Kett; James S. Trefil (2002).The New dictionary of cultural literacy.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 160–.ISBN978-0-618-22647-4.Retrieved20 May2013.
  2. ^Brown, Keith (2006).Encyclopedia of Language & Logistics(2nd ed.). Elsevier Ltd.ISBN978-0-08-044854-1.
  3. ^https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/59126/dalrev_vol46_iss4_pp457_465.pdf?sequence=1:Rabelais gives perhaps the earliest literary example: "II n'y a point d'enchantement. Chascun de vous l'a veu. Je y suis maistre passé. A brum, a brum, je suis prestre Macé." Rabelais, instead of repeating "maître passé" (past master), wrote "prêtre Macé" (priest Mace), the name of the historian René Macé, a monk whose name was synonymous with simple or foolish.
  4. ^"The art of spoonerism".France Alumni.The first written proof dates back to the 16th century, with François Rabelais: in his famous novel "Pantagruel", the writer plays with the sound similarity between "femme folle à la messe" (insane woman at mass) and "femme molle à la fesse" (woman with flabby buttocks). At the time, this joke was not only funny; it was a way to upset proper etiquette. Under a supposedly serious sentence, a salacious innuendo is hiding.
  5. ^ab"Names make news".Time.29 October 1928. Archived fromthe originalon 14 January 2009.Retrieved20 September2008.
  6. ^"Spoonerism Message Lost in Translation".Toledo Blade.3 November 1980.
  7. ^Compare:"Obituary: Dr WA Spooner".The Manchester Gurdian.Guardian News & Media Limited. 1 September 2010 [1 September 1930].Retrieved23 May2022– via The Guardian archive.In 1879 it was a favourite Oxford anecdote that Spooner from the pulpit gave out the first line of a well-known hymn as 'Kinkering Kongs their titles take.' [...] The anecdote is well enough authenticated, but according to most people who knew Spooner well that was the only "Spoonerism" he ever made – the essence of a "Spoonerism" being, of course, lack of intent, – though later when, thanks to indefatigable undergraduate and alas! graduates and dignified Fellows of colleges, the legends had become legion, he often used deliberately to 'indulge in metathesis,' to live up to his reputation.
  8. ^ab"spoonerism".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)
  9. ^"Every Schoolboy Knows",The Times,Dec 8, 1921, pg. 7.
  10. ^' "Spoonerisms" a Legend' inDaily Herald28/9/1928.
  11. ^The Times,29 October 1937, pg. 9.
  12. ^Chambers Dictionary 1993ISBN0-550-10255-8
  13. ^Bartlett, John(1992) [1855].Justin Kaplan(ed.).Bartlett's Familiar Quotations(16th ed.).Little, Brown and Company.pp.533.ISBN0-316-08277-5.
  14. ^Quinion, Michael (28 July 2007)."Spoonerism".World Wide Words.Retrieved19 September2008.
  15. ^abcdefghijLederer, Richard (1988).Get Thee to a Punnery.Charleston, South Carolina:Wyrick & Co. pp. 137–148.
  16. ^"Ben Elton to give inaugural BBC comedy lecture The Ronnie Barker Talk".BBC.21 April 2017.Retrieved1 April2024.
  17. ^"The Capitol Steps – We put the MOCK in Democracy".capsteps.com.
  18. ^"Capitol Steps – Lirty Dies!".capsteps.com.
  19. ^Sterling, Christopher H., ed. (2003).Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set.Routledge. p. 1696.ISBN1-57958-249-4.Retrieved1 March2011.
  20. ^"Stoopnagle's Tale is Twisted, by Ken James".Archived fromthe originalon 6 October 2008.Retrieved3 November2008.
  21. ^Rogak, Lisa (2007),A Boy Named Shel,Thomas Dunne Books,ISBN978-0-312-35359-9
  22. ^Tindall, William (1939).D.H. Lawrence & Susan his Cow.Columbia University Press. p. 196.Retrieved25 June2023.
  23. ^Bush, Douglas (1953)."Life, Letters, and Education".In Smithberger, Andrew T. (ed.).Essays British and American.Houghton-Mifflin. p. 465.Retrieved25 June2023.originally given as a lecture at Smith College (Nov 13 1941) and Wellesley College (Dec 2 1941), Massachusetts.
  24. ^Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.:Van der Graaf Generator – The Book,page 128. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005.
  25. ^Smyth, David (26 November 2020)."Virtually Famous: Ritt Momney".Evening Standard.Retrieved2 October2020.
  26. ^"Music – Review of Com Truise – Galactic Melt".BBC.5 July 2011.Retrieved9 July2017.
  27. ^"Mord Fustang – About".Retrieved5 July2021.
  28. ^"Loyle Carner: Why the South London rapper's album may have you in tears".NME.18 January 2017.Retrieved17 August2018.
  29. ^Bassil, Ryan (20 May 2016)."ADHD Isn't My Disorder, It's More Like My Superpower".Noisey.Vice.Retrieved2 October2019.
  30. ^Hind, John (17 November 2018)."Loyle Carner: 'I grew up with ADHD, and for me cooking is close to meditation'".The Guardian.Retrieved2 October2019.
  31. ^"Interview: Carson Pace of 2022 Mathcore Sensation The Callous Daoboys".28 February 2023.Retrieved19 September2023.
  32. ^"San Holo is Ready For the Next Episode".Hypebeast.18 March 2016.Retrieved14 January2024.
  33. ^"Metallica: Cunning Stunts(1998)- DIRECTED BY: Wayne Isham".Letterboxd.16 August 2024.Retrieved16 August2024.
  34. ^"GOLF WANG".Golf Wang.Retrieved2 November2024.
  35. ^"Jack Benny's" Grass Reek "Punch Line Discovered After 65 Years".cleanslatefilms.com. 19 March 2015.Retrieved15 June2021.
  36. ^Zuckermann, Ghil'ad(2003),Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew.Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN9781403917232/ISBN9781403938695[1]
  37. ^Hofstadter, Douglas (1995).Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Human Thought.NY: Basic. p.117.
  38. ^abSimonini, R. C. (December 1956). "Phonemic and Analogic Lapses in Radio and Television Speech".American Speech.31(4). Duke University Press: 252–263.doi:10.2307/453412.JSTOR453412.
  39. ^"snopes.com: Harry von Zell and Hoobert Heever".Retrieved2 February2009.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spoonerism&oldid=1257537655"