suggestive names

[Jonathan Lighter]

And the brain-dead cliche' "cunning linguist."

  JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: suggestive names
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On 6/10/06, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> >Another good example is the chain of bars "Fuddpuckers".
> >
>
> cf. "You ain't so muckin' fuch." I guess metathesis is a common form
> of disingenuous taboo avoidance...

Wikipedia's list of spoonerisms includes many more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spoonerisms

Some might consider it more clever when the spoonerization results in
actual words, as in "holy shucking fit". There's also "Cunning
Stunts", which has been used as an album title by at least three bands
(Caravan in 1975, The Cows in 1991, and Metallica in 1998).


--Ben Zimmer

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