spoonerism
Noun
Meaning
Examples
spoonerism (plural spoonerisms)
A play on words on a phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are transposed.
Synonym: marrowsky
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Most of the quotations attributed to Spooner are apocryphal ; The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) lists only one substantiated spoonerism: "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer" (instead of "rate of wages").
Humorously, Cleary leaves the poem's final spoonerism up to the reader when he says, He once proclaimed, "Hey, belly jeans" When he found a stash of jelly beans.
Popular use In modern terms, "spoonerism" generally refers to any changing of sounds in this manner.
The heavy metal band Metallica released the concert video Cunning Stunts in 1998, the title being a spoonerism of "stunning cunts".
The phrase is a double entendre : if read at face value, indicates the sport ("puck") and the Plattsburgh team playing "flat;" read as a spoonerism, it is a veiled profane insult.
The song "Washington On Your Side" from hip-hop musical Hamilton rhymes the phrase "fits of passion" with its spoonerism "pits of fashion".