[f. the name of the Rev. W. A. Spooner (1844–1930).] An accidental transposition of the initial sounds, or other parts, of two or more words.

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  Known in colloquial use in Oxford from about 1885.

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1891.  Yorkshire Herald, 8 Sept., 6/1. Catholics prize their nuns and hold them dear as the apple of their eye in spite of the decrepit ‘spoonerism’ of the Times, aye.

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1894.  Punch, 7 April, 166/3.

        The proofs were there; they could be seen;
  It drove me nigh to pessimism,
This fruit of lawless rites between
  A Malaprop and Spoonerism!

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1895.  Leeds Mercury, 25 May, 7/2. Most of the ‘Spoonerisms’ have been manufactured for, and fathered upon, their reputed author, by clever undergrads.

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1900.  Globe, 5 Feb. To one unacquainted with technical terms it sounds as if the speaker were guilty of a spoonerism.

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