And now for something completely different…
Our freewrite this week in the online writing workshop:
A “spoonerism” is sometimes good inspiration for a humor poem or nonsense verse. Named after W.A. Spooner (1844-1930), a spoonerism is the swapping of the initial sounds of two words to create two different words.
A few examples: “bird watcher” –> “word botcher”
“right time” –> “tight rhyme”
“words are spoken” –> “spurreds are woken”
Half-spoonerisms are imperfect spoonerisms. For example: “God bless” –> “blood guess”
Get into the freewriting mindset (turn your internal editor off), and try to come up with a list of ten spoonerisms off the top of your head. See if any of them inspire a longer poem.
OK, I didn’t come up with ten, but here are mine. Many are half-spoonerisms. If that. In fact, I’m afraid that most of these pairs contain no more than 25% of spooneristic content. Ah well.
You, my invisible friends, get to vote on your favorite spoonerism from the list, and I will write a poem that incorporates it somehow. I don’t promise it will be a good poem.
gladhand
had a gland
ice cream
Christ seem
breastfeed
fest breed
tuna roll
ruin a toll
podcast
cod past
night shirt
shiite nerd
honeydew
Done E. Who?
bath mat
math bat
water park
potter work
bed time
ted, buy ‘im.
14 Responses to “spoonerisms”
Leave a Reply
Search
Asides
» It’s National Procrastination Week (who comes up with these things?), and in honor of people like me who like to celebrate NPW all year long, here’s a good article.
» Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves? Well, that’s kind of a silly question, but I’ve come this far with the blog challenge… I did get this Gelaskin for my laptop. If you see me in the coffee place, say hi.
» When did you get your best rush of the year? Here.
Links
Join | List | Prev | Next Random | Prev5 | Next5
Skip Prev | Skip Next
Join | List | Prev | Next |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
I always liked the one my father would say
Rindercella slopped her dripper.
Then there was the Pee Little Thrigs.
I vote for Cod Past…
and for some odd reason, I’ve always giggled at
Fanana’s bossed her.
I like math bat, but I guess I’m a purist.
night shirt
shiite nerd
splutter …
(sounds Scottish to me, grin)
but I loved the ice cream one and think you could write a GREAT poem from that
Fun start to my Thursday - now to look at ecumenical studies - wondering if that’s a spoonerism -of sorts -too
PS one of our lecturers - great woman - in Estonia this session was called Pil-le Valk. I kept getting it wrong - and referring to her as Vil-le (boys name) Palk. Hoping that Palk wasn’t a swear word in Estonian - it sounds as if it might be somehow
I never realized that for something to be a spoonerism it actually had to spell two real words. I’m constantly spoonerisming accidentally. The director of music and his wife are Kerry and Marilee and I am forever referring to them as Mary and Karilee. My neighbors across the street are Sunshine and Mandy, and I always say Munshine and Sandy. I think Mandy gets the better end of that bargain
I liked bed time, ted, buy ‘im… cause it’s bed time!
Can I sew you to your sheet? asked the usher at the wedding
while out on the hillside hoardes of hearses were grazing.
Both those really happened to me in recent times! God bless Dr Spooner - long may his memory inspire giggles.
I like “Donnie Who?” and “shite nerd”
I think in honor of the impending birth of BB it can only be:
breastfeed
fest breed
night shirt
shiite nerd
fun! I vote for water park ~ potter work
Fest Breed is my choice!
My daughter always watches the “tween” T.V. show Drake & Josh.
I don’t think I have ever gotten “Jake & Drosh” correct!
I really like podcast, cod past.
From the list, in honor of my SportsQueen who had “summer” homework, bath mat = math bat
not from the list: fast pastor = past faster
A little late, but cod past strikes me as funny.
I’m famous here for saying “noses moo” during a sermon instead of “Moses Knew.”