Thursday 28 January 2010

Spoon Fed

"I'm NOT a pheasant plucker;
I'm a pheasant plucker's son.
Nonetheless, I pluck pheasants all day
Until the pheasant plucking is done."

Phew, I made it. Not one slip-up, despite the traps lying in the schoolyard rhyme, each one spring-loaded by the Reverend William Spooner.

He's the Oxford don who said "shoving leopard for loving shepherd."


Nowadays, we call such gaffes spoonerisms. Even when Spooner was among the living, the term had made the dictionary, the source himself still lecturing at New College, saying tasted worms instead of wasted terms, and worse.


"Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon."
~~ E. M. Forster English Novelist and Essayist, 1879-1970



Another Sculpture by the Sea photo taken in November 2007. The artist Tomas Misura called it "Twisted Reality"

16 comments:

McMGrad89 said...

I just taught my students:

The big black bug but the big black bear, made the big black bear bleed blood.

Shew, that was even hard to type.

We also say:

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers; Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

Seriously, my day is full of Spoonerisms. I usually find myself tongue tied.

Jennifer Chronicles (jenx67.com) said...

That was a seriously creative post. I just loved it. Just brilliant, Peg. I never knew they were called spoonerisms. Love the photo, too.

Constance said...

Those tongue twisters always make me laugh. Creativity comes in so many forms!

Happy Wednesday to you, dear Peggy.

I like it when my spoon has large pearl tapioca on it - or creme brulee with fresh raspberries:)

HappyOrganist said...

That is awful Peggy. I think you just ruined my innocence.

Christine said...

if I knew about spoonerisms, I had forgotten. I think I am prone to those, especially in middle age!

Anonymous said...

Of course I can't think of any now.... oh yeah, one of my favourites is flutterbys (instead of butterflies) cos it makes sense! Hang on will consult hubby - he knows some dirty ones (hope it is ok to post - I won't be offended if you 'remove' this!!)

Mary Hinge - now that is just Rude!!!!! ;o)

MrsPeel said...

I'm always spoonering, not only with the labguage, but with things I do in the day, like putting the butter under the sink and the bleach in the fridge, or calling the dishwasher microwave...
love that sculpture...do you know where exactly is it?

love your posts, Pegs, you are amazing!(and the music,never fails to make me travel to some amazing places in memory)
Huggzzz

Hybrid J said...

What does a spoon look like??? :D
(I love E M Forstser!)

Anonymous said...

This is a very cool sculpture.

Roban said...

You're always thinking up something new to share! I hadn't heard of "spoonerisms," so that's a new one for me. Of course, I've heard of tongue twisters. "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

I'm constantly getting words mixed up, especially when a headache is coming on.... I guessed I've been spooned....

(Lovely photo by the way. Are the sculptures there all the time or was that just one exhibit?)

miruspeg said...

Loved reading your comments guys and thanks for adding your own spoonerisms.

HO sorry to have ruined your innocence. Here are a couple more just for you:

hiss and lear = listen here
fighting a liar = lighting a fire
sealing the hick = healing the sick
this is the pun fart = this is the fun part

I took the photo of the spoon at Scultures by the Sea in Bondi, Sydney. They have been running exhibitions there each year since 1997. They exhibit the sculptures for 2 weeks in late November and I have been lucky enough to attend each year since 2000. On my sidebar there are a couple of links to the scrapblogs I created of the 2007 and 2008 sculptures if you want to check them out.

eye ball....bye all !

Cozyflier said...

Gosh, I just it was my dyslexia! I do this all the time and have to proof typing very carefully!

Thanks for enlightening me.

Hugs!

Mommy2Twinkies-Deb said...

Love love love this! I had totally forgotten about spoonerisms! Thanks! Love the pics.

imbeingheldhostage said...

This was fun!!

Laura said...

a delightful post...I must say I love that spoon sculpture sparkling by the sea side. (now say that 10 times fast!)

miruspeg said...

I did Laura and it came out "I love the skoon sculpture....." :)