Spoonerism

A Spoonerism is a play on words in which corresponding consonants or vowels are switched (see metathesis), named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency. Some of his famous (and possibly apocryphal) quotes from the chapel include "The Lord is a shoving leopard," "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride," and "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?." (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?) The spoonerism is a now legendary 'slip of the tongue.'

Examples in modern entertainment

• The dwarf Doc, voiced by comedian Roy Atwell, provided spoonerism comedy in Walt Disney's film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.
• The Capitol Steps have successfully done a few political comedy routines ("Lirty Dies") based on this premise.
• The comedian Ronnie Barker played the Reverend in a sketch on The Two Ronnies TV show.
• An alleged spoonerism led to the nickname "the Canadian Broadcorping Castration."
• The Shel Silverstein book Runny Babbit, published posthumously in 2005, consists entirely of poetry (and illustrations) filled with spoonerisms.