Bloonerisms Spog

Spoonerisms

Continuing with my word based themes for this blog I am going to talk about Spoonerisms. Betty Swollocks is a well known modern spoonerism.

Spoonerisms are named after the Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844-1930) who was Dean and Warden of New College in Oxford, England. He is reputed to have made these verbal slips frequently. A number of genuine Spoonerisms – those which are believed to have been said by Reverend Spooner can be found at the end of the article.

Born in 1844 in London, 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. After a Sunday service he turned back to the pulpit and informed his student audience: "In the sermon I have just preached, whenever I said Aristotle, I meant St. Paul."

The reverend Spooner was a very quick witted man who could make up these slips of the tongue. His brain was so quick to think his tongue had real difficulty keeping up. There is actually a Greek word for switching things around and it’s called metathesis. He could mix the sounds of words up at any time especially if he was flustered or angry. He once berated one of his students who had “Hissed his Mystery lecture”. And then accused him of having “tasted two worms”. But this wasn’t just angry slips of the tongue in a toast to Queen Victoria he said “Three Cheers for our queer old dean. For the boys returning from World War 1 he said “We will have the hags flung out”. Here are some quips reportedly said by the good professor.

fighting a liar lighting a fire
you hissed my mystery lecture you missed my history lecture
cattle ships and bruisers battle ships and cruisers
nosey little cook cosy little nook
a blushing crow a crushing blow
tons of soil sons of toil
our queer old Dean our dear old Queen
we'll have the hags flung out we'll have the flags hung out
you've tasted two worms you've wasted two terms
our shoving leopard our loving shepherd
a half-warmed fish a half-formed wish
Is the bean dizzy? Is the Dean busy?