Sunday 19 August 2012

TO PHRASE A COIN...AS THE FORGER SAID.

The English language (and I'm sure loads of others) are full of possibilities. Malapropisms and spoonerisms were named after a character in a play and an Oxford reverend respectively. Especially in the case of the very reverend Spooner many of his spoonerisms have grown out of urban myth, but are excellent never the less. Whether he actually said on one student that he'd "hissed all his mystery lessons and left Oxford by the town drain", or actually called the queen "a queer dean", is possible and desirable, but not necessary. They are still spoonerisms, each and every one, and add richness to the English language.

Some of my favourite language tricks are totally intentional and revolve around adverbs like this:-
 - "I want a curved lintel above the door," she said archly.
 - "I want to be buried over there," he said gravely.

Not clever I know, but I do like them. Let's have some more.

 - "Who switched the lights out?" he said darkly
 - "I want to take your photograph," he said snappily.
 - "I hate cats," he said doggedly.
 - "I've invented the electric bulb apparently," Eddison said lightly.
 - "So what if I'm only five feet nothing!" he said shortly.
 - "My name's Lucifer," he said devilishly.
 - "I'm Turkish," she said delightfully.
 - "I'll toss the coin," he said flippantly
 - "I'll toss it she," said evenly.
 - "I've got an eBook reader," he said kindly
 - "What's my next line?" he asked promptly
 - "I love Irish green," she said overtly (think about it)

That's enough. Now it's your turn!

Blog on, Dudes!

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