Crossword clues for spoonerism
spoonerism
- Burly chassis for Shirley Bassey, say?
- "Let me sew you to your sheet," e.g
- What each of the other four longest answers in this puzzle is
- Silly sound transposition
- Loose Brie, for example
- Lack of pies, say
- Hated the book, perhaps
- Chewing the doors, for example
- A slip of the tongue? — no promises (anag)
- "Blushing crow" for "crushing blow."
- ''Let me sew you to your sheet,'' e.g
- "Hoobert Heever," e.g.
- Trump the jack, e.g.
- Fighting a liar, e.g.
- Transposition of initial consonants in a pair of words
- Comical transposition
- Something said by self-described birdwatcher?
- No promises to be broken? It sounds the wrong way round
- A slip of the tongue? - no promises
- Like this good clue, it might have you stuck!
- Reverend's mistake: lovey-dovey type is married
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1900, but according to OED in use at Oxford as early as 1885, involuntary transposition of sounds in two or more words (such as "shoving leopard" for "loving shepherd," "half-warmed fish" for "half-formed wish," "beery work speaking to empty wenches," etc.), in reference to the Rev. William A. Spooner (1844-1930), warden of New College, Oxford, who was noted for such disfigures of speech. A different thing from malapropism.
Wiktionary
n. A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.
WordNet
n. transposition of initial consonants in a pair of words
Wikipedia
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase.
An example is saying "The Lord is a shoving leopard" instead of " The Lord is a loving shepherd." While spoonerisms are commonly heard as slips of the tongue resulting from unintentionally getting one's words in a tangle, they can also be used intentionally as a play on words.
Usage examples of "spoonerism".
Two other special interest groups are SIGVOICE, concentrating on topics ranging from accents to spoonerisms, and SIGTRAN, dedicated to the art of translation.