Great Horned Spoon/Moon

[Michael Quinion]

Many thanks, Barry, for your research and your suggestion of
"horned moon" as a possible linked term.  (May I also take this
opportunity of publicly thanking everybody who has contributed
thoughts on the origins of this odd expression? My subscriber will
have plenty to chew on.)

>  Perhaps "horned spoon" is a spoonerism for "horned moon"?

No, surely, a spoonerism would be "morned hoon", a poetic reference
to an Australian lout caught by the rising sun ...


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <editor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>