Sometimes people get their words twisted—which often results in funny speech errors. One such slip of the tongue is spoonerism, where the sounds of two or more words in a phrase are swapped. It is also called metaphasis or marrowsky.
Spoonerisms usually happen by accident, which leads to mostly comic effects. Oddly enough, sometimes they make some kind of sense! They occur mostly in everyday speech, though can also be found in literature. An example is “belly jeans” when the intended words are “jelly beans.”
Origin of Spoonerism
Spoonerisms take their name from the Reverend William Archibald Spooner, a scholar who held a leadership role for more than 20 years in Oxford’s New College. He was notorious for frequently making this kind of verbal slip, to the point of being named after him.
The extent of his tendency to speak in spoonerisms is highly debated though. Some say that he habitually transposed word segments while others (including Spooner himself) claim he only did it once (“Kinquering Congs” instead of “Conquering Kings”).
Other spoonerisms attributed to him are:
- “A blushing crow” (A crushing blow)
- “The town drain” (The down train)
- “kistomary to cuss the bride” (Customary to kiss the bride)
- “The Lord is a shoving leopard” (The Lord is a loving shepherd)
- “Is the bean dizzy?” (Is the Dean busy?)
Examples of Spoonerisms
Many instances of spoonerisms occur every day. Sometimes you don’t even catch yourself making such a verbal mistake. As a result, thousands of spoonerisms are created daily. The end is listless!
| Spoonerism | Actual Phrase |
|---|---|
| cakeing a bake | baking a cake |
| tease my ears | ease my tears |
| wave the sails | save the whales |
| It's roaring with pain | It's pouring with rain |
| fighting a liar | lighting a fire |
| our queer old dean | our dear old queen |
| know your blows | blow your nose |
| sealing the hick | healing the sick |
| flutter by | butterfly |
| bedding wells | wedding bells |
| cop porn | popcorn |
| bye all | eyeball |
| soul of ballad | bowl of salad |
| chewing the doors | doing the chores |
| munning his routh | running his mouth |
| track of all jades | jack of all trades |
| doe on a gate | go on a date |
| chipping the flannel | flipping the channel |
| a lack of pies | a pack of lies |
| hails of bay | bails of hay |
Uses in Popular Culture
Spoonerisms may be happy little accidents but many have used them in different contexts. Here are just a few:
Comedy
- Comedian Tim Vine: “If I ever find out what a Spoonerism is, I’ll heat my cat.”
- Capitol Steps, a political satire group, often performed a spoonerism segment called Lirty Dies.
- Comedian F. Chase Taylor had a radio program named Stoopnagle and Budd, where a character often used spoonerisms. He also published “spoonerized” versions of well-known stories such as Beeping Sleauty.
Literature
- Shel Silverstein’s Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook in which every name, action, and location is spoonerized.
- Brian P Clearly’s poem, Translation features a boy who only speaks in spoonerisms.
- William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Caliban is a deliberate spoonerism of cannibal.
- Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita:
“What’s the katter with misses?” I muttered (word-control gone) into her hair. “If you must know,” she said, “you do it the wrong way.” “Show, wight ray.” “All in good time,” responded the spoonerette.
Music
- Aerosmith’s album, Night in the Ruts
- NOFX’s Punk in Drublik
- Kenny Wheeler Quintet’s Flutter by, Butterfly
- Few Nolder’s New Folder
- Kevin Gilbert’s The Shaming of the True
Why Spoonerisms Happen
A lot of spoonerisms happen because you’re either distracted while speaking, trying to make someone laugh, or simply talking too fast. All three interfere with your “speech plan”, or how your brain makes your mouth move to create the correct sounds.
Think of it as having a specific frame you follow in speaking a certain phrase. A spoonerism occurs when your brain begins following another frame without finishing the first, likely due to external or internal stimuli (sudden loud noises, nervousness).
Studying spoonerisms has made psychologists realize a few things about the brain. When spoonerisms occur, the transposed sounds are usually in the same positions. The beginning of a word never swaps with the end of another. The resulting spoonerisms are also rarely nonsense. Scientists think that this happens because your brain still makes an effort to speak correctly despite disruptions.
There’s still a lot to be learned about the part of the brain in charge of developing and delivering words. As such, psycholinguists are looking to use spoonerisms to further study how the brain processes languages.
What are your personal spoonerisms? Share them in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 11 Common Eggcorns and the Real Phrases Behind Them
- Malapropisms: Definition and Examples
- Mondegreen: Why We Mishear Song Lyrics
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
