Bob Dylan was no fool, whatever else he was, and I am sure he knew that his
clever quip, ‘leaving no tern unstoned’ was not original with him. It is
one of the better known ‘Spoonerisms’ named after the legendary Rev W A Spooner,
(1844-1930) who notoriously confused the first initial syllables of his
words. He was Warden of New College, a position I once held myself, although in
Sydney, not Oxford, hence my interest in him. Among his more famous
confusions concerned Queen Victoria: ‘let us raise our glasses and toast the
queer old Dean’. As well as the terns he was responsible for another for
bird lovers: 'He delivered a blushing crow to the head'. Many other alleged
Spoonerisms were incessantly coined by his students and today many modern
comedians are adept at them, like the Two Ronnies, whose word play tended as
always towards the risqué, like the one the Two Ronnies had about birds, the
joys of the ‘pheasant plucking season’.
But we owe W A Spooner a huge debt. Without him the world would have one
less eccentric word play to laugh at. Spank you Thooner.
From: John Layton <> Date: Sunday, 8 June 2014 9:56 am To: Canberra Birds <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Re stray thoughts on
stone the crows
Couple of weeks
ago there was a post headed Stray thoughts on stone the crows which
reminded me that alleged poet and musician Bob Dylan was seen on a beach
feeding marijuana to sea birds.
When a ranger
asked him what he was doing Dylan replied, “ Well ... uh ... man, it’s like, you
know, I don’t wanna leave no tern unstoned.”
True
story.
