Spoonerisms are words or phrases in which letters or syllables get swapped. This often happens accidentally in slips of the tongue (or tips of the slung as Spoonerisms are often affectionately called! For example:

A lack of pies (A pack of lies)
or
Wave the sails (Save the whales)

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HISTORY OF SPOONERISM:
Spoonerisms are named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) who was the Dean and Warden of New College in Oxford, England. He is reputed to have made these verbal slips frequently. He is famous for his verbal somersaults, that would turn a well - oiled bicycle into a well boiled icicle

Born in 1844 in London, W. A. Spooner became an Anglican priest and a scholar. During a 60-year association with Oxford University, he lectured in history, philosophy, and divinity. From 1876 to 1889, he served as a Dean, and from 1903 to 1924 as Warden, or president.

Spooner was an albino, small, with a pink face, poor eyesight, and a head too large for his body. His reputation was that of a genial, kindly, hospitable man. He seems also to have been something of an absent-minded professor. He once invited a faculty member to tea "to welcome our new archaeology Fellow."
"But, sir," the man replied, "I am our new archaeology Fellow."
"Never mind," Spooner said, "Come all the same." - [ Source - reproduced from February 1995 edition of Reader's Digest Magazine.]

Reverend Spooner's tendency to get words and sounds crossed up could happen at any time, but especially when he was agitated. He reprimanded one student for "fighting a liar in the quadrangle" and another who "hissed my mystery lecture." To the latter he added in disgust, "You have tasted two worms." Check here for many more original Spoonersaults

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More on Spoonerism :
Spoonerisms are phrases, sentences, or words in language with swapped sounds. Usually this happens by accident, particularly if you're speaking fast. Come and wook out of the lindow is an example.

Of course, there are many millions of possible Spoonerisms, but those which are of most interest (mainly for their amusement value) are the ones in which the Spoonerism makes sense as well as the original phrase, like Go and shake a tower

Since Spoonerisms are phonetic transpositions, it is not so much the letters which are swapped as the sounds themselves. Transposing initial consonants in the speed of light gives us leed of spight which is clearly meaningless when written, but phonetically it becomes the lead of spite.

It is not restricted simply to the transposition of individual sounds; whole words or large parts of words may be swapped: to gap the bridge to bridge the gap

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Spoonerism in Literature:
In the 1930s and 1940s, F. Chase Taylor – under his pseudonym of Colonel Stoopnagle – wrote many spoonerism fairy tales which appeared both in print and on his radio show. The original ones were printed in the Saturday Evening Post and he eventually published a collection of the stories in 1946 – a book which is now sadly out of print and much sought after.

Though if you are interested, you can enjoy them here :
Prinderella and the Cince by Colonel Stoopnagle.
Beeping Sleauty by Colonel Stoopnagle.
Ali Theeva and the Forty Babs by Colonel Stoopnagle.

And here are some more Tairy Fales:
Goldybear and the Three Locks
The Pea Little Thrigs by Mark Fitzsimmons

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ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Rude Spoonerisms Positively comes with a disclaimer, which everybody should please read.
More Funny Spoonerisms
The shog and his Dadow (Skip the visit to the Sponsor)


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The creader lied, "Sess Cloazamee!" and the shore swung dutt. (Wasn't that a trifty nick?)
-- Colonel Stoopnagle, from Ali Theeva and the Forty Babs.

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much love, light and laughter,
ananya.

*~Come play with my children feel the peace and Scatter some joy.~*
~*Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter.*~
*** Who put these fingerprints on my imagination? -- Elvis Costello ***

Hm. Thank you Ananya for such a wonderful lesson. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this. I for one can because of my speech impediment and my terrible penchant [] to read really quickly.

Never knew what it was called, so again, thank you.

________________

i believe that harmonies are colours
every time i paint it sharpens my harmony.
yesterday i tried to paint you,
but the colours weren’t beautiful enough.
~Beyonce Knowles.

________________
-LaLi

[This message was edited by ConcernedBrotha on 10-31-04 at 08:30 PM.]

I'm very guilty of these, especially when I get excited. It happens more often when I talk, but occassionally when I type. Tis slightly annoying to me, but extrememly funny to everyone else.

I'd actually learned about this as a kid. I can remember catching my siblings and my parents in spoonerisms, and know what that meant in fifth grade.

-Harv
Stella Splendens
December 22, 1985-March 27, 2003

I won Kari!!!