spoonerisms
Switched initial sounds
Spoonerisms are slips of the tongue where sounds from two words get swapped, usually the initial consonants: "a blushing crow" for "a crushing blow," "you have hissed all my mystery lectures" for "missed all my history lectures." Named after William Spooner, an Oxford dean notorious for such verbal tangles.
The effect is usually comic, and some spoonerisms are crafted deliberately for humor.
Swapping positions of elements
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- slipMinor error or misstep
- metathesisSound reordering in words
- reversalComplete change of direction
consonant · vowel · syllable · pronunciation · articulation · speech error · word play · verbal
Wordplay using double meanings
- wordplayVerbal wit techniques
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- jokeHumorous statement seeking laughter
- witClever, inventive humor
funny · laughter · absurdity · double meaning · entertainment · amusement · clever · silly
Winged insect from caterpillar
- flutterbyPlayful butterfly mispronunciation
- crushing blowOverwhelming, decisive strike
Historic English university town
- VictorianOf a prim era
- donPut on attire
- wardenSupervisory custodian of place
- AnglicanChurch of England member
sermon · clergy · anecdote · apocryphal · legend · attribution · namesake · nineteenth century
transposition
Swapping positions of elements
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- slipMinor error or misstep
- metathesisSound reordering in words
reversal · consonant · vowel · syllable · pronunciation · articulation · speech error · word play · verbal · utterance
pun
Wordplay using double meanings
wit · funny · laughter · absurdity · double meaning · entertainment · amusement · clever · silly · whimsical
butterfly
Winged insect from caterpillar
- flutterbyPlayful butterfly mispronunciation
- crushing blowOverwhelming, decisive strike
Oxford
Historic English university town
Anglican · sermon · clergy · anecdote · apocryphal · legend · attribution · namesake · nineteenth century · academic
- comedy stylesjokes, sarcasm, puns, irony, parody
- jokesjokes, joke, puns, one-liners, pun
- word playpuns, palindrome, anagrams, anagram, pun
- speech errorsslip of the tongue, mispronunciation, malapropism, malapropisms, Freudian slip
- psycholinguisticslanguage processing, language comprehension, word recognition, tip of the tongue, tip-of-the-tongue
- secret slangargot, cant, secret language, Cockney rhyming slang, prison slang
spoonerismsmalapropisms
Confused word substitutions
eggcorns · mondegreens · Freudian slips · grammatical errors · solecisms