Monday was the birthday of the Reverend William Spooner who would have been 169.
Why should you care?
Because the good Rev is the father of the term Spoonerisms, the accidental rearranging of word sounds resulting in unintentionally funny phrases.
A professor at Oxford, Spooner was notoriously absent-minded. A story is told of Spooner inviting a man to tea, “to welcome our new archaeology Fellow.”
Puzzled, the man replied, “But, sir, I am our new archaeology Fellow.”
“Never mind,” Spooner said, “Come all the same.”
My very favorite example of his malaprops:
For now we see through a dark, glassly…
Very glassly indeed!
h/t S.Weasel
