spoonerism
noun

- a transposition of usually initial sounds of two or more words — as in tons of soil for sons of toil.

- an accidental transposition of the initial sounds, or other parts, of two or more words; named after Rev. W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who was reputed to make such errors habitually.

- the transposition of the initial consonants or other sounds of two or more words, either as a speech error (e.g. it is kisstomary to cuss the bride) or as a deliberate witticism."

Merriam-Webster, Oxford English Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The word is a proper eponym — a term built directly from a real person's name. The Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930) was Warden of New College, Oxford, a respected classicist whose poor eyesight gave him a slightly other-worldly air. He was also, apparently, a man whose mouth regularly outpaced his brain.

His most reliably verified slip occurred in 1879, when he announced a hymn from the pulpit as "Kinkering Kongs Their Titles Take" instead of "Conquering Kings Their Titles Take." Students and colleagues found this delightful — and started collecting more. By 1900, the Oxford English Dictionary records "spoonerism" already in print.

The linguistic phenomenon itself is ancient. The 16th-century French author Rabelais used it for comic effect in Pantagruel, and the French still call it a contrepèterie. The Polish term is marrowsky, after an equally tongue-tangled Polish count. In German, the Schüttelreim takes the same sound-swapping impulse and turns it into deliberate verse.

What Spooner gave the world was not the error itself — that is as old as speech — but the name for it. A hapless Oxford clergyman became immortal through his mistakes.

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MINGUISTIC LISTAKES

The Reverend William Archibald Spooner became famous for hilarious slips of the tongue such as:

"Is the bean dizzy?" (is the dean busy?), "you have tasted two worms and hissed all my mystery lectures."(wasted two terms and missed my history lectures), "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride," (It is customary to kiss 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?) and Spooners most famous example, "Let us raise our glasses to the queer old Dean," (dear old queen).

The Middle Common Room at New College, Oxford contains a social space informally known as “The Rew Nooner Spoom,” a spoonerised tribute to the college’s former warden.

Psychological stress or lack of concentration can cross anyone's linguistic wires: A French Canadian announcer, once stated "This is the Dominion Network of the Canadian Broadcorping Castration," and an announcer on BBC Radio once introduced the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Stafford Cripps as "Sir Stifford Crapps", Harry Von Zell once introduced Herbert Hoover, the President of the United States at that time as "Hoobert Heaver", and Banjo player Eddie Peabody was once introduced with, "Mr. Eddie Playbody will now pee for you."

If you have any personal examples, we’d love to hear from you,… just mend us a sail at: paul@smith.de :-)

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

blooper, brain-mouth disconnect, contrepèterie, fluffed line, foot-in-mouth moment, fumbled phrase, howler, lapsus linguae, lingual slip, linguistic inversion (slip, transposition), marrowsky, metathesis, mix-up, phoneme swap, phonetic transposition, phonological error, Schüttelreim, slip of the tongue, sound inversion (reversal, swap, transposition), speech blunder (error), SPOONERISM, tongue fumble (tangle, tie), tongue-tangler, tongue-twister mistake, verbal bloomer (blunder, fumble, gaffe, inversion, mix-up, slip, stumble, tangle), word muddle

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

"It's interesting that SPOONERISMS are are to be found in many languages and far back into our linguistic past."

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