"One swell foop" is a Spoonerism, "the flaw in the ointment" is a Farberism.
Source: tatoeba (2027730)
Spoonerism
//ˈspuː.nəɹˌɪ.zəm//
Synonyms for "spoonerism" (56 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (12)
Strong matches (16)
Related words (28)
Related word relations
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1 entriesSynonyms
1 entriesRelated terms
1 entriesderived from
1 entriesis a
2 entriesrelated to
6 entriesTranslations
31 translations across 20 languages.
Breton
1 entries- treuzviezadenn noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Catalan
2 entries- antístrofa noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- contrapet noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Chinese Mandarin
1 entries- 首音互换 noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Danish
1 entries- bakke snagvendt noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Dutch
1 entries- spoonerisme noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Esperanto
1 entries- kontraŭknalo noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Finnish
1 entries- sananmuunnos noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
French
2 entries- contrepet noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- contrepèterie noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Greek
1 entries- παραδρομή γλώσσας noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Hungarian
2 entries- szavakon átívelő metatézis noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- szpúnerizmus noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Italian
1 entries- spoonerismo noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Japanese
1 entries- 語音転換 noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Korean
1 entries- 두음전환 noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Manx
1 entries- Spooneraght noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Polish
2 entries- gra półsłówek noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- spuneryzm noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Portuguese
3 entries- antístrofe noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- spoonerismo noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- trocadilho noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Russian
3 entries- каламбу́р noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- спунери́зм noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- спунери́зм noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Spanish
3 entries- espunerismo noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- espunerismos noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- retruécano noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Thai
1 entries- คำผวน noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Vietnamese
2 entries- (phép) nói lái noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
- (phép) nói trại noun (phrase where sounds are transposed)
Sample sentences
7 total sentences available.
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.
Source: wiktionary
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!
Source: wiktionary
I am not going to put on any weight until I’m fifty, when I shall allow myself to become matronly, ready to be a follower of ‘soda and gobbly matrons’, as enjoined by the marriage service. (A good Spoonerism that, created quite involuntarily by my mother some years ago.)
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 7 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.