spoonerism

See also: Spoonerism

English

WOTD – 20 June 2006

Alternative forms

• Spoonerism

Etymology

From Spooner +‎ -ism, named after Oxford don Reverend W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), who is supposed to have habitually made such slip-ups.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspuːnəɹɪzəm/, enPR: spo͞onʹərĭzəm

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

Examples
“The queer old dean” (for “the dear old Queen”) Reports of a shortage of snacks at the spoonerism conference turned out to be a complete lack of pies.

spoonerism (plural spoonerisms)

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.

   Synonym: marrowsky

Related terms

• spooneristic

Translations

phrase where sounds are transposed

• Breton: treuzviezadenn (br) f
• Catalan: contrapet (ca) m, antístrofa
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 首音互换 (shǒuyīn hùhuàn)

• Danish: bakke snagvendt c
• Dutch: spoonerisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: kontraŭknalo
• Finnish: sananmuunnos (fi)
• French: contrepèterie (fr) f, contrepet (fr) m
• Greek: παραδρομή γλώσσας f (paradromí glóssas)
• Hungarian: szpúnerizmus, szavakon átívelő metatézis
• Italian: spoonerismo m
• Japanese: 語音転換 (goon tenkan)
• Manx: Spooneraght f
• Polish: gra półsłówek f, spuneryzm m
• Portuguese: trocadilho (pt) m, spoonerismo m, antístrofe f
• Russian: спунери́зм (ru) m (spunerízm), спунери́зм (ru) m (spunɛrízm), каламбу́р (ru) m (kalambúr)
• Spanish: espunerismo m, espunerismos m pl, retruécano (es)
• Thai: คำผวน (th) n
• Vietnamese: (phép) nói lái (vi), (phép) nói trại (vi)

Further reading

• spoonerism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• promession