View source for Spoonerism

{{Short description|Humorous muddled words}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}

[[File:People's Vote March 2018-10-20 - BUCK FREXIT I LOVEU.jpg|thumb|An example of spoonerism on a protest placard in [[London]]: "Buck Frexit" instead of "Fuck [[Brexit]]"]]
A '''spoonerism''' is an occurrence of speech in which corresponding [[consonant]]s, [[vowel]]s, or [[morpheme]]s are switched (see [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]]) between two words of a phrase.<ref name="HirschKett2002">{{cite book|author1=Eric Donald Hirsch|author2=Joseph F. Kett|author3=James S. Trefil|title=The New dictionary of cultural literacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GAzOg4eQl2YC&pg=PA160|access-date=20 May 2013|year=2002|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-618-22647-4|page=160–}}</ref>{{efn|The definition of Spoonerism in the 1924 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is: "An accidental transposition of the initial sounds, or other parts, of two or more words."}} These are named after the Oxford don and priest [[William Archibald Spooner]], who reportedly commonly spoke in this way.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Keith |title=Encyclopedia of Language & Logistics |date=2006 |publisher=Elsevier Ltd. |isbn=978-0-08-044854-1 |edition=2nd |publication-date=2006}}</ref>

Examples include saying "blushing crow" instead of "crushing blow", or "runny babbit" instead of "bunny rabbit". While spoonerisms are commonly heard as slips of the tongue, they can also be used intentionally as a [[word play]]. Since the rise of the [[Internet]] and [[Wordfilter|wordfilters]], spoonerisms have also become deliberately used as filter-avoidance spellings of filtered terms.

The first known spoonerisms were published by the 16th-century author [[François Rabelais]] and termed {{lang|fr|[[wikt: contrepèterie|contrepèteries]]}}.<ref>https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/59126/dalrev_vol46_iss4_pp457_465.pdf?sequence=1 : Rabelais gives perhaps the earliest literary example: "II n'y a point d'enchantement. Chascun de vous l'a veu. Je y suis maistre passé. A brum, a brum, je suis prestre Macé." Rabelais, instead of repeating "maître passé" (past master), wrote "prêtre Macé" (priest Mace), the name of the historian René Macé, a monk whose name was synonymous with simple or foolish.</ref> In his novel ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel|Pantagruel]]'', he wrote {{lang|fr|"femme folle à la messe et femme molle à la fesse"}} ("insane woman at Mass, woman with flabby buttocks").<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=The art of spoonerism |url=https://www.francealumni.fr/en/static/the-art-of-spoonerism-6968 |website=France Alumni |language=en |quote=The first written proof dates back to the 16th century, with François Rabelais: in his famous novel "Pantagruel", the writer plays with the sound similarity between "femme folle à la messe" (insane woman at mass) and "femme molle à la fesse" (woman with flabby buttocks). At the time, this joke was not only funny; it was a way to upset proper etiquette. Under a supposedly serious sentence, a salacious innuendo is hiding.}}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:William Archibald Spooner Vanity Fair 1898-04-21.jpg|thumb|150px|Spooner as caricatured by Spy ([[Leslie Ward]]) in [[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|''Vanity Fair'']], April 1898]]
Spoonerisms are named for the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden from 1903 to 1924 of [[New College, Oxford]], who was allegedly susceptible to this mistake.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine|title=Names make news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928998,00.html?iid=chix-sphere|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114084438/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928998,00.html?iid=chix-sphere|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 January 2009|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=29 October 1928|access-date=20 September 2008}}</ref><ref name="Toledo">{{cite news|date=3 November 1980|title=Spoonerism Message Lost in Translation|work=Toledo Blade|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=8_tS2Vw13FcC&dat=19801103&printsec=frontpage&hl=en}}</ref><ref>Compare:{{cite news|orig-date=1 September 1930|title=Obituary: Dr WA Spooner|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/sep/01/archive-obituary-dr-wa-spooner|work=The Manchester Guardian|publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited|publication-date=1 September 2010|access-date=23 May 2022|via=The Guardian archive|quote=In 1879 it was a favourite Oxford anecdote that Spooner from the pulpit gave out the first line of a well-known hymn as 'Kinkering Kongs their titles take.' [...] The anecdote is well enough authenticated, but according to most people who knew Spooner well that was the only "Spoonerism" he ever made – the essence of a "Spoonerism" being, of course, lack of intent, – though later when, thanks to indefatigable undergraduate and alas! graduates and dignified Fellows of colleges, the legends had become legion, he often used deliberately to 'indulge in metathesis,' to live up to his reputation.}}</ref>
The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' records the word ''spoonerism'' as early as 1900.<ref name="oed|spoonerism">{{Cite OED|spoonerism}}</ref>
The term was well-established by 1921. An article in ''[[The Times]]'' from that year reports that:
<blockquote>
The boys of Aldro School, [[Eastbourne]], ... have been set the following task for the holidays: Discover and write down something about: The Old Lady of Threadneedle-street, a Spoonerism, a Busman's Holiday...<ref>"Every Schoolboy Knows", ''The Times'', Dec 8, 1921, pg. 7.</ref>
</blockquote>
An article in the ''Daily Herald'' in 1928 reported spoonerisms to be a "legend". In that piece, Robert Seton, once a student of Spooner's, claimed that Spooner:

<blockquote>
...made, to my knowledge, only one "Spoonerism" in his life, in 1879, when he stood in the pulpit and announced the hymn: 'Kinkering Kongs their Titles Take' ["Conquering Kings their Titles Take"]...Later, a friend and myself brought out a book of "spoonerisms".<ref>'"Spoonerisms" a Legend' in ''Daily Herald'' 28/9/1928.</ref>
</blockquote>

In 1937, ''The Times'' quoted a detective describing a man as "a bricklabourer's layer" and used "Police Court Spoonerism" as the headline.<ref>''The Times'', 29 October 1937, pg. 9.</ref>

A spoonerism is also known as a ''marrowsky'' or ''morowski'', purportedly after an 18th-century [[Polish people|Polish]] count who suffered from the same impediment.<ref>Chambers Dictionary 1993 {{ISBN|0-550-10255-8}}</ref><ref name="oed|spoonerism" />

==Examples==
[[File:Charles Workman Vanity Fair 31 March 1910.jpg|thumb|200px|Caricature of [[Charles H. Workman]]. The accompanying biography reads, "The only part of him which gets tired is his tongue, and occasionally the oft-repeated lines have got muddled. 'Self-constricted ruddles', 'his striggles were terruffic', and 'deloberately rib me' are a few of the spoonerisms he has perpetrated."]]
<!--Additional items, unless attributed to Spooner,AND RELIABLY CITED as such, will be speedily removed.-->Most of the quotations attributed to Spooner are apocryphal; ''[[The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations]]'' (3rd edition, 1979) lists only one substantiated spoonerism: "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer" (instead of "rate of wages"). Spooner himself claimed<ref name="Time" /> that "The Kinquering Congs Their Titles Take" (in reference to a hymn)<ref>{{cite book|last=Bartlett|first=John|author-link=John Bartlett (publisher)|editor=Justin Kaplan|title=[[Bartlett's Familiar Quotations]]|orig-year=1855|edition=16th|year=1992|publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]]|isbn=0-316-08277-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/familiarquotatio1992bart/page/533 533]|editor-link=Justin Kaplan}}</ref> was his sole spoonerism. Most spoonerisms were probably never uttered by William Spooner himself but rather invented by colleagues and students as a pastime.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-spo4.htm|title=Spoonerism|work=[[World Wide Words]]|last=Quinion|first=Michael|date=28 July 2007|access-date=19 September 2008}}</ref> [[Richard Lederer (writer)|Richard Lederer]], calling "Kinkering Kongs their Titles Take" (with an alternative spelling) one of the "few" authenticated spoonerisms, dates it to 1879, and he gives nine examples "attributed to Spooner, most of them spuriously".<ref name="punnery">{{cite book|last=Lederer|first=Richard|title=Get Thee to a Punnery|publisher=Wyrick & Co.|location=[[Charleston, South Carolina]]|year=1988|pages=137–148}}</ref> They are as follows:

<!--This section is RESTRICTED to the nine examples given by Lederer. Additions will be removed.-->
* "Three cheers for our queer old dean!" (while giving a toast at a dinner, which [[Queen Victoria]] was also attending)<ref name="punnery" />
* "Is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?" (as opposed to "customary to kiss")<ref name="punnery" />
* "The Lord is a shoving leopard." (instead of "a loving shepherd")<ref name="punnery" />
* "A blushing crow." ("crushing blow")<ref name="punnery" />
* "A well-boiled icicle" ("well-oiled bicycle")<ref name="punnery" />
* "You were fighting a liar in the quadrangle." ("lighting a fire")<ref name="punnery" />
* "Is the bean dizzy?" ("Dean busy")<ref name="punnery" />
* "Someone is occupewing my pie. Please sew me to another sheet." ("Someone is occupying my pew. Please show me to another seat.")<ref name="punnery" />
* "You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm. Please leave Oxford on the next town drain." ("You have missed all my history lectures. You have wasted a whole term. Please leave Oxford on the next down train.")<ref name="punnery" /><!--Additional items, unless attributed to Spooner, AND RELIABLY CITED as such, will be speedily removed.-->

==Usage==
In modern terms, ''spoonerism'' generally refers to any changing of sounds in this manner.

===Comedy===
* The long-running British comedy television show ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'' regularly featured segments with [[Ronnie Barker]] delivering a mock-serious speech littered with spoonerisms, written by Barker.
Writing in tribute for the inaugural [[Ronnie Barker Talk]], [[Ben Elton]] wrote:
<blockquote>
What an honour. I grew up loving Ronnie Barker and can only hope the news that I am to give a talk in his name doesn't leave him spitting spiritedly splenetic spoonerisms in comedy heaven.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 April 2017 |title=Ben Elton to give inaugural BBC comedy lecture The Ronnie Barker Talk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/ronnie-barker-lecture |access-date=1 April 2024 |website=[[BBC]]}}</ref>
</blockquote>
* The Washington, D.C. political comedy group [[Capitol Steps]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capsteps.com|title=The Capitol Steps – We put the MOCK in Democracy|work=capsteps.com}}</ref> had a long-standing tradition of performing a routine named "Lirty Dies"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.capsteps.com/lirty/|title=Capitol Steps – Lirty Dies !|work=capsteps.com}}</ref> during every performance, which features a typically 10-minute-long barrage of rapid-fire topical spoonerisms. A few examples over the years range from "Resident Pagan" (President Reagan) and the US's periodic practice of "Licking their Peaders" (Picking their leaders) to the NSA "poopin' on Snutin" (Snoopin' on Putin) and "phugging everybody's bones" (bugging everybody's phones).
* Comedian [[Jane Ace]] was notorious for her spoonerisms and other similar plays on words during her time as main actress of the radio situation comedy ''[[Easy Aces]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4XJQD4O_TkC&q=jane+ace&pg=PA839|title=Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set|editor-last=Sterling|editor-first=Christopher H.|publisher=Routledge|pages=1696|year=2003|isbn=1-57958-249-4|access-date=1 March 2011}}</ref>
* The Season 3 ''[[Ted Lasso]]'' episode "[[Signs (Ted Lasso)|Signs]]" sees Rebecca Welton bump into her ex-boyfriend who is referred to as a "shite in nining armor", a spoonerism of "knight in shining armor".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hood |first=Cooper |date=2023-04-20 |title=3 Psychic Predictions That Came True For Rebecca In Ted Lasso Season 3 |url=https://screenrant.com/ted-lasso-season-3-rebecca-psychic-predictions-came-true/ |access-date=2025-09-29 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Glassman |first=Julia |date=2023-06-01 |title=Uh Oh, There's a Second Green Matchbook in 'Ted Lasso' |url=https://www.themarysue.com/lets-feverishly-speculate-about-rebeccas-green-matchbook-in-ted-lasso/ |access-date=2025-09-29 |website=The Mary Sue |language=en}}</ref>

===Literature===
* Comedian F. Chase Taylor was the main actor of the 1930s radio program ''[[Stoopnagle and Budd]]'', in which his character, Colonel Stoopnagle, used spoonerisms. In 1945, he published a book, ''My Tale Is Twisted'', consisting of 44 "spoonerised" versions of well-known children's stories. Subtitled "Wart Pun: Aysop's Feebles" and "Tart Pooh: Tairy and Other Fales," these included such tales as "Beeping Sleauty" for "[[Sleeping Beauty]]". The book was republished in 2001 by Stone and Scott Publishers as ''Stoopnagle's Tale is Twisted''.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://stoneandscott.com/stoopnagle.asp|title=Stoopnagle's Tale is Twisted by Keen James|access-date=3 November 2008|url-status=dead| via= stoneandscott.com| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081006042511/http://stoneandscott.com/stoopnagle.asp|archive-date=6 October 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
* In 2005, [[HarperCollins]] published the late humorist [[Shel Silverstein]]'s ''[[Runny Babbit|Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook]],'' a book about a rabbit whose parents "Dummy and Mad" gave him spoonerized chores, such as having to "Dash the wishes" (for "wash the dishes").<ref name="Rogak">{{citation|title=A Boy Named Shel| last=Rogak |first=Lisa| publisher=[[Thomas Dunne Books]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-312-35359-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/boynamedshellife00roga}}</ref>
* In his poem "Translation," [[Brian P. Cleary]] describes a boy named Alex who speaks in spoonerisms (like "shook a tower" instead of "took a shower"). Humorously, Cleary leaves the poem's final spoonerism to the reader when he says:
{{Poem quote|He once proclaimed, "Hey, '''belly jeans'''"
When he found a stash of jelly beans.
But when he says he '''pepped in stew'''
We'll tell him he should wipe his shoe.<ref>{{cite book| last= Cleary| first= Brian P. | title= Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry| place=  Minneapolis| publisher= Carolrhoda| year= 2004| isbn= }}</ref>}}
* In ''D. H. Lawrence & Susan his Cow'' (1939), literary critic [[William York Tindall]] described behavioral psychologists as "occupied with nothing more spiritual than pulling habits out of rats".<ref>{{cite book|last=Tindall|first=William|date=1939|title=D. H. Lawrence & Susan his Cow|publisher=Columbia University Press| page=196 |url= https://archive.org/details/dhlawrencesusanh0000unse/page/196/mode/1up?q=%22habits+out+of+rats%22|access-date=25 June 2023}}</ref> (This quip is commonly cited to [[Douglas Bush]], who used it in a lecture<ref>{{cite book |last=Bush|first=Douglas|date=1953|editor-last=Smithberger|editor-first=Andrew T.| title=Essays British and American|publisher=Houghton-Mifflin| page=465|chapter=Life, Letters, and Education|chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/essaysbritishame0000unse/page/465/mode/1up?q=%22habits+out+of+rats%22|access-date=25 June 2023}} originally given as a lecture in Massachetts at both Smith College (November 13, 1941) and Wellesley College (December 2, 1941).</ref> two years later.)

===Crosswords===
Spoonerisms are used in [[Cryptic crossword|cryptic crossword clues]] and use a [[Word play|play on words]], in which the initial sounds or syllables of two words are switched to provide a solution. The clue type is generally indicated by a direct reference to 'Spooner', or 'Rev', although more tricky examples might use such phrases as 'in a manner of speaking', or 'slip of the tongue', etc. Uniquely, in cryptic crosswords the words used to create the Spoonerism might only be hinted at, not explicitly stated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2009/04/spoonerisms.html|title=Spoonerisms|last=Shuchi|date=30 April 2009|website=Crossword Unclued|access-date=4 May 2025}}</ref>

Example: ''"Spooner's criminal with nurse finding hiding places."'' (4,3,6)

Solution: NOOK AND CRANNY (Spoonerism of CROOK AND NANNY).

===Music===
* The title of the [[Van der Graaf Generator]]'s 1971 album ''[[Pawn Hearts]]'' resulted from a spoonerism by [[David Jackson (musician)|David Jackson]], who said one time: "I'll go down to the studio and dub on some more porn hearts", meaning to say 'horn parts'.<ref>Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: ''Van der Graaf Generator – The Book'', p. 128. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005.</ref>
* American indie rock musician [[Ritt Momney]]'s name is a spoonerism of the name of the American politician [[Mitt Romney]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/music/virtually-famous-ritt-momney-a4561951.html|title=Virtually Famous: Ritt Momney|work=[[Evening Standard]]|access-date=2 October 2020|date=26 November 2020|last=Smyth|first= David}}</ref>
* American synthwave musician [[Com Truise]]'s name is a spoonerism of the name of American actor [[Tom Cruise]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/qznv/|title=Music – Review of Com Truise – Galactic Melt|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=2011-07-05|access-date=2017-07-09}}</ref>
* Estonian [[Electro house#Complextro|complextro]] musician [[Mord Fustang]]'s name is a spoonerism of the well-known [[Ford Mustang]] muscle car.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mordfustang.com/biography|title=Mord Fustang – About|access-date=2021-07-05}}</ref>
* English rapper [[Loyle Carner]]'s stage name is a spoonerism of his [[Double-barrelled name|double-barrelled]] surname Coyle-Larner as well as a reference to his childhood struggle with his [[Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder|ADHD]] and [[dyslexia]] diagnoses.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nme.com/features/loyle-carner-south-london-rappers-album-may-tears-1949521|title=Loyle Carner: Why the South London rapper's album may have you in tears|date=18 January 2017|work=[[NME]]|access-date=17 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/adhd-isnt-my-disorder-its-more-like-my-superpower/|title=ADHD Isn't My Disorder, It's More Like My Superpower|last=Bassil|first=Ryan|date=20 May 2016|website=[[Noisey]]|publisher=[[Vice Media|Vice]]|access-date=2 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="cooking">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/17/loyle-carner-life-on-a-plate-adhd-cooking-meditation-ottolenghi|title=Loyle Carner: 'I grew up with ADHD, and for me cooking is close to meditation'|last=Hind|first=John|date=17 November 2018|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2 October 2019}}</ref>
* American [[mathcore]] band [[The Callous Daoboys]] is a spoonerism of the [[Dallas Cowboys]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://idioteq.com/interview-carson-pace-of-2022-mathcore-sensation-the-callous-daoboys/|title=Interview: Carson Pace of 2022 Mathcore Sensation The Callous Daoboys|website= idioteq.com|date=28 February 2023|access-date=19 September 2023}}</ref>
* Dutch electronic musician [[San Holo]]'s name is a spoonerism of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' character [[Han Solo]]. This led [[Walt Disney Pictures]] to send a [[cease and desist]] letter for [[copyright infringement]] with potential penalty estimated between $5 million and $10 million.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-18 |title=San Holo is Ready For the Next Episode |url=https://hypebeast.com/2018/3/san-holo-interview |access-date=2024-01-14 |website=Hypebeast}}</ref>
* American [[thrash metal]] band [[Metallica]] released a live concert DVD in 1998, titled ''[[Cunning Stunts (video)|Cunning Stunts]]'', with it being meant as a spoonerism for "stunning cunts".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-16 |title=Metallica: Cunning Stunts(1998)- DIRECTED BY: Wayne Isham |url= https://letterboxd.com/film/metallica-cunning-stunts/ |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=Letterboxd}}</ref>
* American hip-hop artist [[Tyler, the Creator]]'s [[Streetwear|street-wear]] brand, [[Golf Wang]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=GOLF WANG |url=https://golfwang.com |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=Golf Wang |language=en}}</ref> is a spoonerism of LA hip-hop [[Musical collective|music collective]] "[[Odd Future|Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All]]", which he was a former member of.
* The title of American [[punk rock]] band [[NOFX]]'s fifth studio album, [[Punk in Drublic]], is a spoonerism of the phrase [[Public intoxication|"drunk in public"]].

===Radio===
On the 3 December 1950 episode of ''[[The Jack Benny Program]],'' Jack mentions that he ran into his butler Rochester while in his car that was on a grease rack. Mary Livingston was supposed to say "How could you run into him on a grease rack?" but flubbed her line with "How could you run into him on a grass reek?" The audience laughed so much that Jack was unable to reply as the show ran out of time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cleanslatefilms.com/PopCultureConnection/?p=33|title=Jack Benny's "Grass Reek" Punch Line Discovered After 65 Years|publisher=cleanslatefilms.com|date=19 March 2015|accessdate=15 June 2021}}</ref>

===False etymology===
Spoonerisms are used sometimes in [[False etymology|false etymologies]]. For example, according to linguist [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]], some wrongly believe that the English word ''[[butterfly]]'' derives from '''{{em|fl}}utter {{em|b}}y'''.<ref name="language">[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann|Zuckermann, Ghil'ad]] (2003), [[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]]. [[Palgrave Macmillan]]. {{ISBN|9781403917232}} / {{ISBN|9781403938695}} [https://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232]</ref>{{rp|p.78}}

== Scientific research ==
Spoonerisms are not only observed in popular culture but have also been studied extensively in laboratory settings. Researchers have used spoonerisms to investigate mechanisms of self-monitoring in speech production. One common experimental method is the '''SLIP test''' (''Spoonerism of Laboratory-Induced Predisposition''), which attempts to elicit controlled speech errors. In a SLIP task, participants view a series of word pairs that are constructed so that exchanging the initial consonants is likely to produce a spoonerism; for example, the pair "balm peach" is intended to prime the response "palm beach".<ref>
{{cite journal
 | last=Nooteboom
 | first=S. G.
 | year=2005
 | title=Lexical bias revisited: Detecting, rejecting and repairing speech errors in inner speech
 | journal=Speech Communication
 | volume=47
 | issue=1–2
 | pages=43–58
 | doi=10.1016/j.specom.2005.02.003
}}
</ref>

SLIP paradigms have been used to examine psychological and linguistic processes, including differences in error production between individuals with high and low defensiveness.<ref>
{{cite journal
 | last1=Thieffry
 | first1=L.
 | last2=Olyff
 | first2=G.
 | last3=Pioda
 | first3=L.
 | last4=Detandt
 | first4=S.
 | last5=Bazan
 | first5=A.
 | year=2023
 | title=Running away from phonological ambiguity, we stumble upon our words: Laboratory induced slips show differences between highly and lowly defensive people
 | journal=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
 | volume=17
 | pages=17
 | article-number=1033671
 | doi=10.3389/fnhum.2023.1033671
| doi-access=free
 | hdl=2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/364602
 | hdl-access=free
 }}
</ref> SLIP tasks have also been combined with electroencephalography (EEG) to examine neural activity involved in suppressing taboo or socially inappropriate speech.<ref>
{{cite journal
 | last1=Wagner-Altendorf
 | first1=T.
 | last2=Gottschlich
 | first2=C.
 | last3=Robert
 | first3=C.
 | last4=Cirkel
 | first4=A.
 | last5=Heldmann
 | first5=M.
 | last6=Münte
 | first6=T. F.
 | year=2020
 | title=The suppression of taboo word spoonerisms is associated with altered medial frontal negativity: An ERP study
 | journal=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
 | volume=14
 | pages=8
 | article-number=368
 | doi=10.3389/fnhum.2020.00368
| pmid=33088266
 | doi-access=free
 | pmc=7498727
 }}
</ref>

Research using spoonerisms has also explored their relationship to working memory<ref>
{{cite journal
 | last1=Benso
 | first1=F.
 | last2=Noemi
 | first2=M.
 | last3=Carlo
 | first3=C.
 | last4=Eleonora
 | first4=A.
 | last5=Venuti
 | first5=P.
 | last6=Pasqualotto
 | first6=A.
 | year=2025
 | title=Spoonerism Beyond Language: A Multi-Componential Perspective on Phonological Awareness
 | journal=Brain Sciences
 | volume=15
 | issue=8
 | pages=878
 | doi=10.3390/brainsci15080878
| pmid=40867209
 | pmc=12384087
 | doi-access=free
 }}
</ref> and has been incorporated into the study of phonological awareness in both typical and atypical language development.<ref>
{{cite journal
 | last1=Smail
 | first1=L.
 | last2=Sana
 | first2=T.
 | last3=Yamina
 | first3=B.
 | last4=Rebai
 | first4=M.
 | year=2022
 | title=Phonological awareness deficits in children with dyslexia: The impact of working memory as a function of modality of test administration
 | journal=Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties
 | volume=38
 | issue=2
 | pages=184–197
 | doi=10.1080/10573569.2021.1936712
}}
</ref>

==Kniferisms and forkerisms==
As complements to ''spoonerism'', [[Douglas Hofstadter]] used the [[nonce word]]s ''kniferism'' and ''forkerism'' to refer to changing, respectively, the vowels or the final consonants of two syllables, giving them a new meaning.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hofstadter|first1=Douglas|title=Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Human Thought|url=https://archive.org/details/fluidconceptscre00doug_859|url-access=limited|date=1995|publisher=Basic|location=NY|page=[https://archive.org/details/fluidconceptscre00doug_859/page/n126 117]}}</ref> Examples of so-called kniferisms include a British television newsreader once referring to the police at a crime scene removing a "hypodeemic nerdle"; a television announcer once saying that "All the world was thrilled by the marriage of the Duck and Doochess of Windsor";<ref name="Simonini">{{cite journal|title=Phonemic and Analogic Lapses in Radio and Television Speech|journal=American Speech|volume=31|issue=4|pages=252–263|publisher=Duke University Press|date=December 1956|jstor=453412|doi=10.2307/453412|last1=Simonini|first1=R. C.}}</ref> and during a live radio broadcast in 1931, radio presenter [[Harry von Zell]] accidentally mispronouncing U.S. President [[Herbert Hoover]]'s name as "Hoobert Heever".<ref name="Simonini" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harry-von-zell-hoobert-heever|title=snopes.com: Harry von Zell and Hoobert Heever|access-date=2 February 2009}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Blooper]]
* [[Blend word]]
* [[Bushism]]
* [[Crash blossom]]
* [[Freudian slip]]
* [[Malapropism]]
* [[Metathesis (linguistics)|Metathesis]]
* [[Mondegreen]]
* ''[[Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde]]''
* [[Parody]]
* Phonemic [[paraphasia]]
* [[Sananmuunnos]]
* ''[[Smart Feller Fart Smeller]]: And Other Spoonerisms'' (book)
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|spoonerism|b=no|n=no|s=no|v=no}}
* [https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2010/who-was-dr-spooner-of-spoonerism-fame The Straight Dope: Who was Dr. Spooner?]

{{Figures of speech}}
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[[Category:Culture in Oxford]]
[[Category:Figures of speech]]
[[Category:Humour]]
[[Category:Speech error]]
[[Category:Wordplay]]
[[Category:Terms for quotations of notable persons]]
[[Category:Eponyms]]
[[Category:1920s neologisms]]