SPOONERISM CORNER:

A Tribute: Reverend Dr. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930).

William Archibald Spooner was born in London on 22 July 1844. When he was only eighteen, he won a scholarship to New College, Oxford, through which he took two first-class degrees - in classical moderations and humanities. It was rumoured at the time that Spooner’s success at winning this scholarship was based in part on his outstanding footballing ability (the Dean of the college maintained a keen interest in young boys, particularly those with an athletic stature). His connections with the college remained for over 60 years in various capacities ultimately as warden and revered founder member of the College’s six-a-side team.

 As has become well known, Spooner had a nervous tendency to sometimes transpose initial letters or half-syllables in speech. These sometimes hilarious transpositions became known in 1885 as Spoonerisms. Dr. Spooner's occasional transpositions created a craze of imitation amongst his students that spread like filed wire. 

His famous speech lapses are thought to have resulted from the difficulty he may have had reading. Spooner was an albino and as such, suffered from defective eyesight - he was also short in stature with a head disproportionately large in relation to his body. Indeed his appearance has on more than one occasion been likened to that of a rabbit or perhaps a weasel. This tendency towards Spoonerism led many people to mistakenly presume that the man was a sandwich or two short of a picnic, however it is now widely recognised that he was instead a smart feller but occasionally a shining wit.

 Perhaps one of Dr. Spooner’s most well known and authentic transpositions was recorded when the great man was entertaining fellow Oxford Alumni in the refectory of New College. He was heard to say when regaling his peers with colourful stories “The way that she cradled my bunky chollocks gave me to enjoy perhaps the west bank I ever did have”.

 In a 1970 memoir historian Bill Gore wrote, "In spite of [his eccentricities] . . . , he became a worthy and respected Warden, and successfully managed the college's six-a-side football team for many years. Indeed he was in his day a player of great stature in his own right, feared by defenders from around the country, his array of skills and cunning stunts entertained the large crowds that came to watch”.

 Dr Spooner however was unusually coy about his footballing talent, choosing not to discuss any aspect of the game when off the field. Who could have predicted then that some 65 years after the befuddled weasel’s passing that this footballing legend could live on. He never could have guessed that his absent minded ramblings could provide the inspiration behind the forming of the greatest football team Shenley has ever known and over a decade of kinship that is Bunky Chollox. 

Some popular Spoonerisms.

• "Blushing crow" for "crushing blow"

• A well-boiled icicle" for "well-oiled bicycle."  

• "I have in my bosom a half-warmed fish" (for half-formed wish), supposedly said in a speech to Queen Victoria

• A toast to "our queer dean" instead of to "our dear queen."

• Upon dropping his hat: "Will nobody pat my hiccup?"

• At a wedding: "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride."

• Paying a visit to a college official: "Is the bean dizzy?"

• Addressing farmers as "ye noble tons of soil"

• A stern reprimand to a misbehaving student: "You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted two worms…leave immediately by the town drain!"

• Have you seen her sick duck?   

Want your favourites adding?  Check the Spoonerism thread on the forum and the Webmaster will update here in time.....