spoonerism

American  

[spoo-nuh-riz-uhm] / ˈspu nəˌrɪz əm /

noun

1. the transposition of initial or other sounds of words, usually by accident, as in a blushing crow for a crushing blow.

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spoonerism British  

/ ˈspuːnəˌrɪzəm /

noun

1. the transposition of the initial consonants or consonant clusters of a pair of words, often resulting in an amusing ambiguity of meaning, such as hush my brat for brush my hat

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spoonerism Cultural  

1. A reversal of sounds in two words, with humorous effect. Spoonerisms were named after William Spooner, an English clergyman and scholar of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In one spoonerism attributed to him, he meant “May I show you to another seat?” but said, “May I sew you to another sheet?”

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Etymology

Origin of spoonerism

First recorded in 1895–1900; after W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), English clergyman noted for such slips; see -ism

Explanation

A spoonerism is a speech error in which the speaker switches the initial consonants of two consecutive words. If you say "bunny phone" instead of "funny bone," you've uttered a spoonerism. "Jelly beans" becomes "belly jeans." "Son, it is now kisstumary to cuss the bride." You get the idea. We owe the invention of the spoonerism, or at least its great fame, to a nineteenth-century English reverend named Archibald Spooner, who was famous for mixing up his words. The first two examples above, by the way, are modern spoonerisms. The last? A 100% genuine original spoonerism.

Example Sentences

Still running — deadline Monday night, Nov. 29: Our contest for spoonerism jokes.

From Washington Post • Nov. 24, 2021

This week: Write an original Q-A joke featuring a spoonerism, the transposition of the beginnings of different words, as in the entries above from our 1995 contest.

From Washington Post • Nov. 18, 2021

In a spoonerism you're transposing two sounds from two different words.

From Slate • Oct. 16, 2012

A spoonerism is the transposition of two sounds, or of the first letters of two words, in a simple sentence.

From Time Magazine Archive

A deliberate spoonerism for creeping featurism, meant to imply that the system or program in question has become a misshapen creature of hacks.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.