THERE IS A SPOONERISM IN YOUR FUTURE

Spoonerisms have nothing to do with playing the spoons, which is a way of producing sounds coming from vibrating spoons, instead of from the vibrations of a string or a membrane, and is a type of idiophone. 

Spoonerisms involve the transposition of sounds or words made famous by William Archibald Spooner, a 19th century professor at Oxford University. They were known as Spoonerisms or Fain Brarts (brain farts). 

The most famous one involved a toast to Queen Victoria where he is said to have uttered “Three cheers for our queer old dean” at a university gathering instead of “dear old Queen.” 

They aren’t necessarily accidental. Dorothy Parker who knew about alcoholic self medication is reputed to have said “I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”  

The famous childrens author Shel Silverstein once titled a book Runny Babbitt: A Billy Sook. Among Runny Babbitt’s friends were Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat, Dungry Hog, Snerry Jake and others.  

One of Shel’s poems from Runny Babbitt:

  Runny Babbitt lent to wunch,

  And heard the saitress way

  “We have some lovely Stabbit Rew –

  Our special for today.” 

Spoonerisms give important clues about how language is acquired, structured, added, and retrieved and how language disabilities such as dyslexia may be treated or cured. 

They have assisted cognitive neurologists to comprehend how the brain produces language and have found that the brain creates groups of words before they are uttered rather than one word at a time.  

Current brain mapping projects may shed even more light on this. “Three cheers to the future of Fain Brarts.”

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Herbert Hess is the founder of Hess Associates, a recruitment firm involved in placing contract and permanent staff in the IT, Medical Device, and Biotechnology sectors.

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