Happy! - July 22 (Spooner of Spoonerisms)

Subject: Happy! - July 22 (Spooner)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 10:59 AM


Happy Birthday!

7/22/1844: There was born in London, the Rev. William Archibald Spooner, warden of New College, Oxford (d1930). Relatively few have been honored by having their own name enter the language as a widely accepted concept (eponym). Some come & go, like Quisling, some get basic, like Caesar(ian,) some "officially" selected like Volta, some reflect essential human need, like the world's great genius inventor, Thomas Crapper (I know - controversial. Never mind), many medical examples such as Münchhausen's mammae syndrome (a woman with normal breasts and without symptoms who demands over-frequent examination of her breasts)...

Spoonerisms might have been called "metatheses," but who ever heard of them?

                        A hunter was out shooting game in the wilds of Africa. When he
                        came to a certain part of the jungle, all of his native bearers
                        bolted in panic, save one -- his most faithful companion. When
                        the hunter asked the remaining bearer why the others had fled, he
                        replied, "You are about to enter the territory of the Great and
                        Terrible Foo Bird. The Foo Bird has sixty-four teeth and a
                        hundred-foot wingspan, but the worst thing is that, if you step on
                        his turf, he will shit on your head. And if you wipe it off, you
                        die." "Bosh," replied the hunter, and took another step. Immediately
                        the sky darkened and the Great and Terrible Foo Bird swooped down
                        and planted a huge turd on the hunter's head.

                        Afraid to wipe off the Foo Bird pat that now sat upon his head,
                        the hunter lived with it for five years. But it stank horribly
                        and had an incredibly long half-life. Finally, the hunter could
                        stand the stench no longer and proceeded to wipe off the turd.

                        And his head fell off, and he died.

                                                *** MORAL: If the Foo shits, wear it. ***

                                                R. Christopher in Best of Maledicta

Copyright © 2005, Abby Sale - all rights reserved
What are Happy's all about? See Clicky

Subject: RE: Happy! - July 22 (Spooner)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 03:36 PM

Picture of Spooner and wife
Doesn't he look really happy!

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Happy! - July 22 (Spooner)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 07:45 PM

:-) Only 57 years old. No wonder he was tongue-tied.