Have you ever notice that sometimes we say words wrongly by swapping initial consonants or syllables? For instance, instead of saying ‘slip of the tongue; we say instead, ‘tip of the slung’. Similarly, you may have heard friends saying ‘nix the muts’ when they actually wanted to say, ‘mix the nuts’
This kind of oral abberation is called spoonerism in English. Spoonerism was named after Reverend William Archibald Spooner who was prone to muddle up his words while giving sermons as he could not see properly. Some of his fumbles were extremely laughable.
He was heard once to have said ‘It is kisstomary to cuss the bride.’ Then there was that time when he said 'Pardon me, padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?’
Then there was this lecturer in college who was also into spoonerism. There was a time when he said to a student, "You have hissed all my mystery lectures!’ Having tasted two worms, you will have to leave by the next town drain".
Thent there was that school disciplinary teacher who chastised two boys ‘for fighting a liar’ when he actually meant ‘lighting a fire!’
And what about some people who habitually said raining ‘dats and cogs’ when they could not attend classes at college or go out?
So, have you heard of any good spoonerisms lately?
