William Archibald Spooner

File:William Archibald Spooner Vanity Fair 1898-04-21.jpg

Spooner as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, April 1898

William Archibald Spooner (22 July 1844 – 29 August 1930) was a British clergyman and long-serving Oxford don. He was most notable for his absent-mindedness, and for supposedly mixing up the syllables in a spoken phrase, with unintentionally comic effect. Such phrases became known as spoonerisms, and are often used humorously. Many spoonerisms have been invented and attributed to Spooner.

Life and career

William Archibald Spooner was born on 22 July 1844 at 17 Chapel Street, Grosvenor Place, London. He was the eldest son of William Spooner and Jane Lydia nee Wilson,<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> who were married in Leeds in Q4 1841.<ref>FreeBMD.org.uk</ref> He was educated at Oswestry School (where he was a contemporary of Frederick Gustavus Burnaby) and New College, Oxford,<ref name="Obit" /> even though he was not a Wykehamist.

He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1872 and priest in 1875. In 1878, he became chaplain to Archbishop Archibald Tait.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

William Spooner married Frances Wycliffe Goodwin on 12 September 1878.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They had five children: William Wycliffe, Frances Catharine, Rosemary, Ellen Maxwell, and Agnes Mary.

Spooner remained at New College for more than sixty years, serving as fellow (1867), lecturer (1868), tutor (1869), dean (1876–1889) and warden (1903–1924).<ref name="Obit">Template:Cite news</ref> He lectured on ancient history, divinity and philosophy (especially on Aristotle's ethics).

Spooner was well liked and respected, described as "an albino, small, with a pink face, poor eyesight, and a head too large for his body". It was said that "his reputation was that of a genial, kindly, hospitable man".<ref name="RD">Reader's Digest (February 1995); John Hanbury Angus Sparrow, Words on the Air, "Memory".</ref> In the opinion of Roy Harrod, Spooner exceeded all the heads of Oxford and Cambridge colleges he had known "having regard to his scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom".<ref>Hayter, W. (1977). Spooner: A biography. London: W.H. Allen. (See page 135)</ref>

Spooner died on 29 August 1930.

Spoonerisms

Template:Main Spooner became famous for his manner of speaking, real or alleged "spoonerisms", plays on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched. Few, if any, of his own spoonerisms were deliberate, and many of those attributed to him are apocryphal; in 1928, The New York Times described them as a "myth principally invented by" one of his former students, Robert Seton, who subsequently collaborated with Arthur Sharp on the first book of spoonerisms.<ref name=NYT>'SPOONERISMS' WERE FAKED: Oxford Dean's Alleged Lingual Slips Invented by Students, in The New York Times; published October 14, 1928; p. E6</ref>

Spooner is said to have disliked the reputation gained for getting his words muddled.<ref name=Obit/> Maurice Bowra, who had been another of his students, commented that Spooner "was sensitive to any reference to the subject." He described being part of a group that gathered outside Spooner's window one evening, calling for a speech; Spooner replied "You don't want a speech. You only want me to say one of those things," and refused to comment further.<ref name=Bowra>Memories 1898-1939, by Maurice Bowra; p. 102; published 1966 by Cox & Wyman</ref>

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) lists only one substantiated spoonerism: "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer." (rate of wages) In a 1928 interview, Spooner himself admitted to uttering "Kinkering Congs Their Titles Take"<ref name="fww">Template:Cite web</ref> (Conquering Kings). Spooner called this hymn out from the pulpit in 1879.<ref name=Obit/>

Many other quotations, "probable and improbable, were invented"<ref name=Obit/> and attributed to Spooner, including:

• "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride" (It is customary to kiss the bride)<ref name=Obit/>
• "I am tired of addressing beery wenches" (I am tired of addressing weary benches)<ref name=Obit/>
• "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed.<ref name=Obit/> Can I sew you to another sheet?" (Pardon me madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?)<ref>A Field Guide to the English Clergy Butler-Gallie, F p49: London, Oneworld Publications, 2018 Template:ISBN</ref>
• "You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad" (You have missed all my history lectures, and were caught lighting a fire in the quad)
• "You have tasted two worms" (You have wasted two terms)
• "You will leave by the next town drain" (You will leave by the next down train)<ref name=Obit/>

Spooner is supposed to have committed other absent-minded gaffes. He was said to have invited a don to tea, "to welcome Stanley Casson, our new archaeology Fellow". "But, sir", the man replied, "I am Stanley Casson". "Never mind", Spooner said, "Come all the same".<ref name="RD"/>

On his death, The Times recorded that "He was not afraid of conversation".<ref>J.A.Gere and John Sparrow (ed.), Geoffrey Madan's Notebooks, Oxford University Press, 1981</ref>

Works

• The Moral Philosophy Of Aristotle (1879)
• Bishop Butler (1901)

See also

• Absent-minded professor
• Spoonerism

External links

• Who was Dr. Spooner of "spoonerism" fame? (from The Straight Dope website)
• The 'Brief History of The College' states that Dr. Spooner 'almost certainly never uttered a 'spoonerism,' but equally certainly had a number of curious verbal traits'. (From the website of New College, where Dr. Spooner was a fellow.)