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”).
Apr 18
Secret Comedy Writing Technique – Colemanballs
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:
Apr 17
How to Win a Speech Contest – Even if you lose! part 2
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?
Apr 12
Secret Comedy Writing Technique – Goldwynisms
In my on-going mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques I’m going to deal with Goldwynisms. To give you a quick context Film Studio owner Samuel Goldwyn of M.G.M was famous for his own version of malapropisms and various speech errors which ended up being called: “Goldwynisms”. The Wikipedia definition is as follows:
“a humorous statement or phrase resulting from the use of incongruous or contradictory words, situations, idioms, etc.” Some examples from Mr. Goldwyn are:
Apr 11
Toastmasters Mystery Speaking – The Hidden Benefits, part 3
“Hi diddly dee, a mystery speaker’s life for me” – okay, that doesn’t quite scan but I don’t claim to be Lennon & McCartney. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to be a mystery speaker for the Women in Banking and Finance Speakers. Even though I’m not in Banking or Finance and I’m not a woman, it was nice to be one of the token two male speakers there.
We were in a nice-looking boardroom and therein lay my biggest problem of the evening
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