An Eggcorn and Spoonerism Race

No, this is not a weird kind of sports day, although I did make it sound that way to get your attention. Perhaps you’ve heard of spoonerisms, but there are a few other types of funny linguistic errors that I thought worth a mention.

I was fortunate enough to go and see Countdown’s Susie Dent in her touring show in Brighton recently and she talked about spoonerisms, malapropisms, eggcorns and mondegreens. I hadn’t heard of eggcorns or mondegreens, and I thought the whole thing was more than worthy of a blog post, so here we are.

Firstly comes a type verbal howler many of you will have heard of, spoonerisms. Named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner, who had a reputation for mixing up words, a spoonerism is when you transpose the initial sound or letter of two or more words. This can result in words that don’t exist being used, such as ‘lalling in fove’ instead of ‘falling in love’. But the funniest type of spoonerism, I think is where the swapped-around words are still real words, such as ‘I’m feeling a wit boozy’ instead of ‘I’m feeling a bit woozy’, or ‘I’d like some keys and parrots’ instead of ‘I’d like some peas and carrots’.

You may have heard of malapropisms, too. The name comes from a French phrase meaning ‘badly for the purpose’. Playwright Richard Sheridan used the word when he named a character in his play ‘The Rivals’ Mrs Malaprop (she famously often mixed up her words). A great example from the fictional Mrs Malaprop herself is when she describes someone as,  ‘the very pineapple of politeness’ instead of ‘the very pinnacle of politeness’. Sometimes people use malapropisms on purpose, for comedic effect.

Thirdly, we have mondegreens. These are similar to malapropisms, but happen when you mishear something and create a new meaning. The phrase originated when a writer named Sylvia Wright misheard a line from a Scottish ballad which should have been ‘and laid him on the green’, thinking it was ‘and Lady Mondegreen’. I do this ALL THE TIME with song lyrics: ‘Beelzebub’s got the devil for a sideboard’ etc etc etc. Other examples from songs are ‘Every time you go away/you take a piece of meat with you’ (instead of ‘a piece of me’), and ‘I wear goggles when you are not near’ (instead of ‘My world crumbles when you are not near’).

Finally, we come to eggcorns (remember those from the title of this blog?) The word comes from someone apparently using the word ‘eggcorn’ instead of ‘acorn’ (it’s actually fairly logical when you think about it – an acorn is egg-shaped, isn’t it?) It means replacing a whole word with another similar-sounding one. Some more examples are ‘biting my time’ instead of ‘biding my time’, ‘to all intensive purposes’ instead of ‘to all intents and purposes’, and ‘pass mustard’ instead of ‘pass muster.’ It’s particularly easy to understand how these come into existence, and even take over from the original phrase, when the ‘correct version’ uses words no longer in common use (like ‘muster’).

I hope you’ve enjoyed my Susie Dent-inspired wander through verbal mishaps. Maybe you’d like to message/email me with some of your favourite verbal misadventures!

Photo by Joe Skillington on Unsplash

Shipshape and Bristol Fashion

While I was talking to a friend the other day, they described something as being ‘Shipshape and Bristol Fashion’. It made me wonder about the origin of that phrase (I mean it was to do with Bristol and ships obviously, but in what way?) So I went on a little wander around the internet to find the origins of that and a few other place-related phrases. Here’s what I discovered:

The term “Shipshape and Bristol Fashion” is used to convey that something is in good order. The phrase originated in the 19th century and references ships using Bristol harbour on the River Avon. At that time, Bristol harbour had the second highest tidal range in the world, fluctuating more than 30 feet between low and high tide. At receding tide, ships would run aground, falling to one side because of the shape of their keels. If everything was not stowed away or properly secured, cargo would slide around and could be spoiled. As a result, visiting ships had to be of sturdy construction, and the goods they carried securely stowed. Those able to withstand the challenge were dubbed “Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.”

The phrase “Sent to Coventry” means to deliberately ostracize someone, typically by not talking to them, avoiding their company, and acting as if they no longer exist. The phrase is thought to date back to the 17th century, arising from incidents in the Civil War in the 1640’s. Royalist troops were captured in Birmingham and taken to Coventry, where they were ostracised by the Parliamentarian-leaning population. There is also a common belief that the phrase originated during World War II: British intelligence had deciphered encrypted German communications indicating that a devastating air raid on Coventry was being planned. But the government were reluctant to inform the general public in Coventry about the planned attack in case the Germans discovered their cover had been blown and developed a more sophisticated form of encryption. Therefore, the people of Coventry were kept in the dark. However, people who were alive before the war say the phrase was in usage before that.

The phrase “In a New York Minute” is used to convey a sense of urgency, relating to what we stereotypically know of the fast-paced nature of life in New York City. The phrase seems to have originated during the 1960’s in Texas, when Texans poked fun at New Yorkers and their fast pace of life, stating that what New Yorkers could do in an instant would take someone in Texas a whole minute.  Johnny Carson, the infamous T.V. personality and talk show host, once said that a New York minute is “the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn”.

The phrase “When in Rome… (do as the Romans do)” means it is best to follow the traditions or customs of a place being visited. The phrase originated from Saint Ambrose’s advice to Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine had just arrived in Milan and was shocked to discover the clergy did not fast on Saturdays, as was usual in Rome. When he asked Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, for explanation, the Saint told him that one should adapt to follow the customs of the places one visits.

“Stockholm Syndrome” is the tendency of a hostage to bond, identify or sympathize with his or her captor. The Swedish criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot originally coined the term to explain something that happened during a bank robbery in Stockholm in 1973. The robber, Jan-Erik Olsson, took four bank employees hostage and remained (with his accomplice, Oloffson) in the bank with the four hostages during a six-day stand-off with police. After the hostages were released, they were found to have developed strong emotional bonds with their captors, reporting that Olsson and Oloffson treated them kindly and did not physically harm them. They defended their captors and refused to testify against them.

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” refers to scandalous activities that happen away from home, which shouldn’t be discussed with others afterwards. It originates from the official advertising slogan of Las Vegas (“What Happens Here  Stays Here”) which was thought up in 2003 at a brainstorming meeting in the Las Vegas tourism department and an advertising agency.

So there we are. Back to work now – I mean me, not you.

Photo by David Dibert on Unsplash

Literary Cats and Dogs Mini-Quiz Answers

My last blog was a mini-quiz with 10 questions and two bonus questions. Here’s the link to the quiz, for anyone who missed it https://sianturnerauthor.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/literary-cats-and-dogs-mini-quiz/

Here are the answers:

Name the cat or dog (I’ll tell you which) from each of these books:

1. Oliver Twist (dog): Bullseye
2. TWO from the Harry Potter stories: (dogs) Fang, Fluffy or Ripper: (cats) Crookshanks or Mrs Norris
3. The Call of the Wild (dog): Buck
4. The Wizard of Oz (dog): Toto
5. The 101 Dalmatians (BOTH adult dogs): Pongo and Missis (I’ll also allow Perdita in place of Missis – from the Disney film adaptation)
6. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (cat): Cat
7. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (cat): Dinah or Cheshire Cat
8. The Tale of Tom Kitten (Any cat except Tom Kitten): Either of Mittens or Tabitha Twitchit
9. The Discworld books by Terry Pratchett (cat): Greebo
10. David Copperfield (dog): Jip (short for Gypsy)

Bonus points for naming the following Cats from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats: The Theatre Cat (Gus); The Railway Cat (Skimbleshanks) (1 point for each)

How many did you get right (12 points max score)? Drop me a line and let me know.

Literary Cats and Dogs Mini-Quiz

Name the cat or dog (I’ll tell you which) from each of these books (NO cheating!):

1. Oliver Twist (dog)
2. TWO from the Harry Potter stories (dogs OR cats – there are 5 in total to choose from)
3. The Call of the Wild (dog)
4. The Wizard of Oz (dog)
5. The 101 Dalmatians (BOTH adult dogs)
6. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (cat)
7. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (either of the two cats)
8. The Tale of Tom Kitten (any cat except Tom Kitten – there are two more to choose from)
9. The Discworld books by Terry Pratchett (cat)
10. David Copperfield (dog)

Bonus points for naming the following Cats from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats: The Theatre Cat; The Railway Cat (1 point for each)

Answers next time I post a blog! Hope you like the photo of my own (not very literary) cat.