Spoonerism & Spoonerisms

  Dr. Spooner of New College, Oxford, has been credited with accidentally uttering a number of amusing verbal transpositions such as :- " Kinquering congs their titles take "

It seems however that although Spooner had an occasional tendency towards such verbal transposition this habit was seized upon, circa 1885 when the word Spoonerism was coined in association with Spooner's little slips, such that students began devising transpositional puns and attributing them to Dr. Spooner.

The several examples of Spoonerism that have been sometimes attributed to Dr. Spooner include such gems as :-

• "Blushing crow" for "crushing blow"
  
  
• A well-boiled icicle" for "well-oiled bicycle."
  
  
• "I have in my bosom a half-warmed fish" (for half-formed wish).
  
  
• He raised this toast to Her Highness Victoria: "Three cheers for our queer old dean!"
  
  
• Upon dropping his hat: "Will nobody pat my hiccup?"
  
  
• At a wedding: "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride."
  
  
• Paying a visit to a college official: "Is the bean dizzy?"
  
  
• Addressing farmers as "ye noble tons of soil"
  
  
• Visiting a friend's country cottage: "You have a nosey little crook here."
  
  
• He reprimanded one student for "fighting a liar in the quadrangle"
  
  
• Another stern reprimand to a misbehaving student:- "You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted two worms. Pack up your rags and bugs, and leave immediately by the town drain!"
  
  and
  
  
• "Mardon me padom, you are occupewing my pie. May I sew you to another sheet?"
  
  

Dr. Spooner of Oxford
An outline biography