Folly Bridge

Glossary of Oxford terms.

Spoonerism: The accidental or deliberate transposition of the initial letters etc. of two or more words in a phrase. E.g., “You have tasted a whole worm. You have hissed my mystery lectures. You were caught fighting a liar in the quad. You will leave by the next town drain.” Named after Revd. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) who was Warden of New College, although many ‘original’ spoonerisms are now known to be apocryphal.