[Dixielandjazz] Misplaced words

[Bill Gunter]

Hello John (and all),

You wrote:

>With the greatest of respect Bill, you might not be correct in your
>definition of a spoonerism. According to the information given at
>http://www.xrefer.com/entry/443971 spoonerisms are not limited to exchanged
>initial letters or sounds, the term can also describe whole word
>misplacements.

Well then, I WAS correct, it's just that, according to your understanding, I 
didn't carry it far enough.

However, acknowledging your literary awareness, I must provide further 
evidence for the "anastrophe" rather than "spoonerism" position.

As you said,

>May I make a comment on your suggested "anastrophe"? "Usually for 
>rhetorical
>effect" appears to indicate that it is a deliberate utterance whereas a
>spoonerism is a inadvertent slip of the tongue.

Precisely! And since "A Hard Man is Good To Find" is a deliberate 
construction for comedic effect and hardly a 'slip of the tongue' I would 
argue this rules out the spoonerism (inadvertant slip) and endorses the 
anastrophe (a deliberate utterance)!

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "Language Person" Gunter
jazzboard@hotmail.com

ps. Are any of you familiar with a language glitch call a "Mondegreen"?

It is quite common and, I think, quite funny too.

I won't explain it here, allowing you to rush to your dictionaries and 
figure it out for yourselves.

-bg

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