William Archibald Spooner used to make funny verbal slips which later
came to be known as ‘Spoonerisms.’
Spooner's Spoonerisms
Fighting a liar Lighting
a fire
Tons of soil Sons
of toil
Our
queer old Dean Our dear old Queen
You've tasted two worms You've
wasted two terms
Our shoving leopard Our loving shepherd
Is the
bean dizzy? Is the Dean busy?
Some of my friends have already given good
examples. Here are some more for you to enjoy.
· It is pouring
with rain. (It is roaring with pain.)
· Tease my ears (Ease my tears)
· Go and shake a
tower ( Go and take a shower)
· Chipping the
flannel ( Flipping the channels)
· Chewing the
doors (Doing the chores)
· Trim your snow
tail (Trim your toe nails)
· Plaster man (Master plan)
While talking about spoonerisms, I am reminded of
the question my daughter asked me when she was three or four. ‘Why is a ‘butterfly’
called so? Is it made of butter?’ I couldn’t give her a convincing reply and
drew her attention to something more interesting. However, after many years, I got a convincing
though not an authentic explanation for this. These insects flutter by. When
the tongue slips and the consonants are interchanged, ‘flutter by’ becomes ‘butter
fly’. If any of you have a more logical explanation, please let me know.
Srikanth
Tamraparni wanted me to explain the difference in the use of ‘Until’ and ‘till.’
‘Until’
and ‘till’ can be used interchangeably as far as the meaning is concerned.
However,
a sentence does not begin with ‘till’.
We can
say,
·
‘Wait
till you hear from me. Don’t take any rash decision’.
‘Until’
can be used in the beginning as well as in the middle.
·
‘Until
you finish your homework, I will not let you watch the T.V.’
·
Unless
and until you focus on what you are doing, you will not be able to do it
well.
·
I
waited until it stopped raining and then left.
* What
is serendipity? How is it connected to Srilanka?
No comments:
Post a Comment