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Spoonerism
Definitions
- 1 A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.
"Undergraduates at Oxford University were playfully fond of Spooner, whom they nicknamed "the Spoo". They also coined the term "spoonerism" around 1885, after Spooner had been a fellow at New College for almost twenty years. By 1892, his reputation for absentmindedness was well known; students came to New College expecting to hear a spoonerism."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of spoonerism. alt-of
"A Spoonerism may sometimes alter the whole tenor of a person’s career. An extremely bashful man was asked to find the elderly daughter of the house, who was in the garden, and ask her to make tea. “Miss Florence,” he said, when he discovered her in the rosery, “I have come to ask if you will take me?” And she did!"
- 3 transposition of initial consonants in a pair of words wordnet
Etymology
From Spooner + -ism, named after Oxford don Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who is supposed to have habitually made such slip-ups.
See also for "spoonerism"
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Unscramble this word: spoonerism