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; -ism

Example Sentences

She would sit with me for hours on the couch, pointing to words in books and magazines, and patiently enunciating them, bantering with me in an inexhaustible volley of puns, spoonerisms and goofy double entendres.

From Scientific American

Bush, famously, is a gaffe specialist, the purveyor of scrambled-hash syntax, madcap circumlocutions, spoonerisms and other “Bushisms” that have haunted the internet — or as Bush would have it, internets — for decades.

From New York Times

In Week 1463 the Empress asked for Q&A jokes involving spoonerisms — in which the first sounds of two different words are switched.

From Washington Post

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

From Washington Post

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