Is Spoonerism a Real Word?

According to Dictionary.com, the Word of the Day for March 23, 2009 is Spoonerism. This funny sounding word is actually the name of something we all have done when speaking. The word comes from the name of a clergyman in the early 1900s. The Rev. William Archibald Spooner was noted for his often transposition of the initial sounds of a pair of words. He did this so frequently that doing this became known as a 'spoonerism.'

This is how it happens: When speaking, the words sometimes get twisted up and the first letter or initial sounds of one word are transposed onto a second word and vice-versa. For example, if you mean to say, "Is the dean busy?" but what comes out is really "Is the bean dizzy?" you have committed a spoonerism. Another example: "We will have the hags flung out." What you are trying to say here is "We will have the flags hung out."

Try to think of some spoonerisms you have committed. I am sure you have done this at least once. Now the next time you do this or you hear someone else doing it, you can say, "You have just committed a spoonerism!"