Do you know the story of the original Spooner?

Question

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/spoonerisms-best-spooner-lines/

And here is another depraved one:

What's the difference between a skinny girl and a three-dollar bill?

A three-dollar bill is a phony buck. 

Answer 1

I think this is what you're referring too. Reverend Spooner and his "spoonerisms?  

Spoonerisms > History of spoonerisms - Fun With Words

Comments

@ Rooster,

Yep, he's the one.  Your link is more thorough than the one I posted, but has a lot of the same Spoonerisms.

Answer 2

O'Tink, I cannot remember a whole lot of Spooner's original story...but I do recall I first learned of him around 1980 because I can see myself now, just where I was sitting and studying...in conjunction with something about Charles Dickens and his famous Mrs. Malaprop...I like to incorporate these spoonerisms just for fun, or even sometimes to camouflage my inclination for profanity (big innocent smile).

...but I know that Spooner was a clergyman, and would spout his verbal acrobatics from his pulpit...and it was not long until his name came to designate that figure of speech! I was unable to open the TELEGRAPH link, but could get to Rooster's link...quite fascinating...

Here is what Merriam Webster has to say! ...that Spooner "lived from 1844 to 1930, often had to speak in public, but he was a nervous man and his tongue frequently got tangled up. He would say things like "a blushing crow" when he meant "a crushing blow." Spooner's letter reversals became the stuff of legend-and undoubtedly gave his listeners many a laugh. By1900 his name had inspired the term spoonerism, which lives on to this day."

Oh, and that the first known usage of the word SPOONERISM was in 1892...

Comments

@ Virginia,

I can't help thinking, Spooner may have done at least some of his Spoonerisms on purpose, to enhance his humorous image as an eccentric professor.

Maybe he got the idea for his role as a paregoric of virtue from Mrs. Malaprop.

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O'Tink, I truly hope he DID do that...go Rev. Spooner! I did see in Rooster's link that he was well-loved and highly regarded...and apparently an albino? He lived a long life...I don't recall, but does albinism associate with shortened lifespan?

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Virginia, I don't think albinism necessarily shortens life expectancy, though it does often entail vision problems, and of course exposure to sunlight needs to be carefully limited.

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001479.htm

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Seems you are correct there, O'Tink! I found this on Quora, posted by a man with three children with albinism...that lower life expectancy is seen ONLY when the albinism is itself an expression of a life-impacting genetic illness. Since Spooner lived to something like 87? ...his albinism was apparently the simple lack of melanin...

"A person with a OCA variety that is simply due to a lack of melanin can have the same life expectancy as anyone else. However if the albinism is caused by something like Hermansky Pudlak Syndrome (HPS), then this can be life impacting by the nature that if often presents with pulmonary fibrosis, and creates nodules in the lungs, requiring a transplant around the third decade of life (obviously highly dependent case by case).

"There are other diseases that can cause albinism, some impact life expectancy, and some don't. The important thing to know in order to answer this accurately is the genetic cause of the albinism."