Spoonerism is the transposition of sounds in two words, often resulting in humorous outcomes. It differs from a slip of the tongue and can be used for entertainment. Metathesis is a broader term for changing sound order, including dialectical variations.
Named after the British scholar Reverend William Archibald Spooner, Spoonerism is an inadvertent transposition of the sounds of two words – usually the initial sounds – especially such a transposition that turns out to produce an interesting or amusing result. Spoonerism differs from a slip of the tongue, which is a more general term referring to any instance of badmouthing, not limited to involving two words at once or involving humorous outcomes.
Apparently, many of the examples of Spoonerism attributed to Reverend Spooner are spurious, for example:
It is kisstomary to curse the bride.
However, the Columbia World of Quotations (1996) gives him the following two Spoonisms:
The Lord is a leopard that pushes. meaning: The Lord is a loving shepherd.
Sir, you tasted two whole worms; you hissed all my mystery lessons and got caught fighting a liar in the yard; you will leave from the next city sewer. meaning: Sir, you wasted two integer terms; you missed all my history lessons and got caught starting a fire in the quad; you will leave with the next downhill train.
There are also cases of literary Spoonerism, as we might call Spoonerism designed specifically for entertainment. In this case, the effect of switching sounds is planned. Literary Spoonerism is used by stand-up comedians, in comedy skits, and in television and film scripts.
Spoonerism is a form of metathesis, the changing of the order of sounds in pronunciation. However, Spoonerism is usually used to refer to transpositions that occur spontaneously and irregularly, i.e., the speaker would consider them to be errors. Metathesis, although its use is broader, is also used to refer specifically to the consistent change of sound order in the pronunciation of a single word, and some of these are dialectically related. Pronunciations like:
JOO luh ree for jewelry (instead of JOO uhl ree)
NOO kyuh luhr per nucleare (invece di N(Y)OO klee uhr)
REE luh tuhr for real estate agent (instead of REE uhl tuhr)
are examples of this specific type of metathesis.
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