In my on-going mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques I’m going to briefly cover Spoonerisms. A spoonerism is a play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched. It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to oming out with these verbal twists. An example from the Reverend is as follows: “It is kisstomary to cuss the bride” (“customary to kiss”).
This past Sunday I had the good fortune to be a mystery speaker for the final time this contest season at the Division G contest held in Milton Keynes. It was my first time at a Division contest and I was impressed with the way it was run and the standard of the contestants. That’s the thing about Toastmasters,
The next entry in my mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques is the technique Colemanballs. This is a term coined by the British satirical magazine Private Eye. It describes verbal gaffes made by (usually British) sports commentators. As you will see they’re very similar to malapropisms, as I mention in a previous post.
The term is derived from the surname of a retired BBC broadcaster called David Coleman. The balls part of the term relates to the expression “balls up”, which is a British slang term for a mistake. A few examples of Colemanballs are as follows:
Here’s a follow up to my recent post How to Win a Speech Contest – Even if you lose! I’ve done it again, but, alas, not in the same way. Last night I came in 2nd at the Area Contest for the International Speech Contest, but I still walked out a winner. Maybe you’re thinking: “okay, I can understand you sayng that last time because you, ultimately, won the contest. But not this time, surely?”
Well, I’m afraid that it is true. How did I win this time then?
This month marks the 40th Anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4th 1968).
So as a bit of a departure from my usual content on this blog, I figured what better way than to celebrate the amazing speaking skills of the man. Watch and listen to the sheer energy and passion of King.
His use of repetition (he says “I have a dream” 7 times and repeats other phrases) to convey his message and his reference to President Abraham Lincoln’s phrase “four score and seven years ago”, when King says “five score years ago, a great American…” as he stood in the shadow of Lincoln’s Monument. An amazing speech and an amazing man.
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