{"id":5263,"date":"2013-11-12T17:08:09","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T17:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=5263"},"modified":"2013-11-12T17:08:09","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T17:08:09","slug":"genealogy-challenge-pt-1-spot-spoonerisms-other-name-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-challenge-pt-1-spot-spoonerisms-other-name-mistakes.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Challenge Pt. 1: Spot Spoonerisms & Other Name Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary shows how to spot spoonerisms (the accidental switching of sounds or letters in two words, often to humorous effect) and other name mistakes when searching for your ancestors in old newspapers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Creativity is essential when searching for forebears in old newspapers<\/a>\u2014especially when misspellings come into play. Names can be abbreviated, truncated and spelled in a variety of fantastical ways\u2014including one aberration you may not have considered: a spoonerism.<\/p>\n

What Is a Spoonerism?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve heard someone say at a wedding, \u201cIs it kisstomary to cuss the bride?\u201d or in church, \u201cLet me sew you to your sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their brain meant to say, \u201cIs it customary to kiss the bride?\u201d and \u201cLet me show you to your seat,\u201d but a disconnect or \u201cfain brart\u201d got in the way.<\/p>\n

You could chalk the unique phraseology up to imbibing, but more likely the speakers were sober and unintentionally mimicking Rev. William Archibald \u201cW. A.\u201d Spooner (1844-1930). Known for his linguistic acrobatics, Spooner frequently misspoke\u2014as when he gave a toast at Queen Victoria\u2019s Jubilee Celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree cheers for our queer old dean,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That might have been the end of his days as toastmaster except the hilarity of the moment kept Dr. Spooner in high demand. His name is now used to describe the humorous speech mistakes for which he was famous, in which sounds or letters are transposed.<\/p>\n

I wonder if the king was even mildly amused when Spooner blurted, \u201cKinglemen, the Gent!\u201d instead of, \u201cGentlemen, the King!\u201d<\/p>\n

More of Spooner\u2019s spoonerisms can be found in this 1924 newspaper article.<\/p>\n

\"Many<\/a>
National Labor Tribune (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 20 November 1924, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How Spoonerisms Affect Genealogical Searching<\/strong><\/p>\n

The phenomenon of linguistic tongue twisting may be done on \u201cporpoise,\u201d but more likely it is done by accident. No matter the intent, spoonerisms occasionally appear in newspaper reporting\u2014and the tangled results may limit your search results. If your initial results are few, try searching on a clever spoonerism of your ancestor\u2019s name by employing wildcard characters (such as ? or *) to substitute for letters that may be accidentally transposed.<\/p>\n

Names and words that are prone to being spoonerized are ones that:<\/p>\n