Bismarck daily tribune., 1912-06-18
A TRICKY TONGUE.
It Won Dean Spooner a Reputa-
ton Far Unconscious Humor.
QUEER BLUNDERS OF SPEECH


QUEER BLvNDERS OF SPEECH
Some Of the Gems Attributed to the
b Old Desn's Habit Of lntsrchansins
the First Letters Or syIlablss Of
Words- "spoonsrisms."
"spoonerisms" is a recognized and
accepted word used In the best circles
Of English society. even though It has
not yet found its way into tho die.
honaries. Derived from the last name
Of the Rev. william A. spooner. ward
en- Of New college. Oxford. it charac.
terizes a curious sort Of blunder that
Is habitual with that man-the uncon-
scious interchanging Of the first letters
OF syllables Of words With what dre
often directly humorous results-
The most famous Of all the stories
about him tells how be once thundered
out from the pulpit. Jehovah was not
on the side Of the kinkering congs,"
meaning. of course, ''conquering kings"
At another time be convuked, his au.
dience BY boldly stating that be held
concealed half wormed 6sh (half
formed wishI In bis bosom.
At a university dinner given at the
dme of Queen Victoria's diamond jubi.
lee he proposed. Three cheers for the
~.,o>. o1a a.>nu orA <hov mana n@von
With a will. In honor not only Of the
dear old queen whom he had wished
TO- remember, but Of the queer old
dean who had forgotten himself
Exasperated by would be humorist
among bis pupils. be Informed him
that be had a "weeble it," not mean-
ing any new disease. but the old. old
complaint OF feeble wit
TO another who had been mainly oc-
cupied in wasting two terms ut college
be complained. "Yon have been incor.
rightly lazy and. to top 1t all. you have
tasted two worms"
In quoting the familiar text, "Bow
not thy knee to an IDOL" he made It,
Bow not thine eye to a needle"
One day he discovered stranger sit.
ding 10 his family pew. madam"
whispered be-. do you intend to occu'
pew this pie?"
Also he could bIunder a. blithesome-
~ In action as 10 speech. One windy
day. as be was walking down High
street In Oxford, bis hat blew OF. he
stopped 10 pick it up. but at that very
moment hen hurried by. he set OF
In full pursuit and never stopped until
be had caught bold Of the luckless hen
on Magdalen bridge Then and there
be soiemnly tried to put the bird on
his head.
Such are few Of the blunders In
word and deed that have been attrib-
uted to the "dear old dean" Must We
accept them all a. genuinef Not II We
are to believe a contributor to NJ. A.
p, who Informed that paper that at a
church congress a well known delegate
said to him:
"Have you ever noticed how spooner-
tsms have died out since Canon Liddon
II no more? | will tell you how 1t is
Liddon and 1 used to make them up.
One Of our best. which Is always at
tributed to Spooner. u From lceland's
Greasy Mountains
Spoonerisms at all events existed be
fore Spooner himself was born. Some
meritorious ones may be found In
Moore's Diary. There II the story. for
example. of an old actor named Parker.
who used always to say the "coisoned
pup'' instead OF the ''poisoned cup" One
night when he spoke 1t right the au'
dience said ''No. nor and called for
the other reading. Another actor men,
toned In Moore made great hit with
the misquotation:
How sharper than q serpsnts thanks It u
TO have q toothless child
John Kemble was one night perform.
ing favortte part in country theater
when be was interrupted from time to
time by the squalltng OF a child In the
gallery. At length, angered BY this
rival performance. Kemble walked
with solemn step to the front OF the
stage aud. addressing the audience In
bis most tragic tones, said, Ladies and
gentlemen. unless the play II stopped
the child cannot possibly 60 on"
America itself 70 not without itS
spooners and its consequent spooner-
isms. There must have been at least
three SpoODers In the western court
where the following scene 10 said to
have taken place:
"How far Is It between these two
townsT' asked the lawyer.
"About four miles a. the dow cries.
replied the wimesA
You mean as the cry dows."
NO." put In the Judge: "he means
a. the dy Crows"
And then they all looked at one an
other. feeling that something was
wrong.
A sort OF conscious spoonerism was
that brilliant Jest credited to Dean
Briggs OF Harvard During the year
when the slogan ITO bell With Yaler'
6rst became popular among Cam
bridge undergraduates the dean. In