Spoonerisms

Spoonerism

n. the transposition of initial or other sounds of words, usually by accident. (1895-1900 after W. A. Spooner (1844-1930), English clergyman noted for such slips). -Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged

Attributed to Reverend Spooner:

• "Three cheers for our queer old dean!"
• "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride."
• "Those girls are sin twisters."
• "Is the bean dizzy?"
• "The Lord is a shoving leopard."
• "When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out."
• "Let me sew you to your sheet."
• "The enemy fled quickly from the ears and sparrows."
• "She joins this club over my bed doddy."
• "The old revival hymn, 'Shall We Rather At the Giver?'"
• "There is no peace in a home where a dinner swells."
• "I see before me tons of soil." -- A greeting to a group of farmers; he meant to say, "sons of toil."
• "We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish inside us." -- A statement made when he meant to say, "Half-formed wish."
• "You have hissed my mystery lectures; you have tasted the whole worm."