WHAT'S IN A NAME? - SPOONERISM

Spoonerism is a transposition
of usually initial sounds of two or more words.

Examples:

"tons of soil - sons of toil"

"know your blows - blow your nose"
"flutter by - butterfly"
"it's roaring with pain - it's pouring with rain"
"go help me sod - so help me God"

The Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) was celebrated for his habit, accidental or cultivated, of transposing the first letters of words in phrases. It is reported that in conversation he referred to the well known two-wheeled vehicle as "a well boiled icicle" and to a friend's new cottage as a "nosey little cook." And they say that he would startle listeners at his sermons by referring to "tearful chidings" or assuring them that something was as easy as for a "a camel to go through the knee of an old idol."