Wednesday, January 24

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for January 24, 2018, brought to you by Solom's Shipyard, "We'll get you to the water after it's built."

January 24 is celebrated annually as:
Beer Can Appreciation Day, the first canned beer is sold by Kruger Brewing Company in 1935;
Change a Pet's Life Day;
National Compliment Day;
National Peanut Butter Day;
Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day; and
Belly Laugh Day.

In honor of Belly Laugh Day, this Daily continues last Wednesday's theme of playful English with a look at two other forms of word play; first, the spoonerism. The spoonerism, named after Reverend William Archibald Spooner, July 22, 1844-August 29, 1930, is an error in speech in which a pair of consonants, vowels, syllables, or morphemes are mixed up in a word or phrase to comic effect. One of the most simple and elegant examples is flutterby for butterfly. Here are some other examples from some of Palmville's finest, as wells as some others.

When Steve mentioned his worries about a deer in rut that kept digging up his garden, Joe replied, "Don't pet the sweaty things." Next time he saw the deer in his garden, Steve went in with his buns a glazin!

While traveling on the hotter days during their last trip to England, Teresa wondered who the Brits were talking about when they so frequently referred to "Betty Swollocks." Candle with hair, Teresa.

Tutoring a young painter who was in need of inspiration, Janet Johnson was overheard to counsel, "Hollow your fart, dear."

Woe was out in the bitter cold in early January, unhappily chewing doors, but he was clappy as a ham when Catherine called him in for a break to enjoy her more gay mail tricks.

And as for John? He's one smart feller.

And to complete our abbreviated January survey of English word play, a look at the plum of wordplay, the pun. Also called paronomasia, the pun is a form of wordplay that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect, variously categorized as Homophonic, Homographic, Compounded, Recursive, Visual, and of course, Other. Characterized as either the lowest or highest form of humor [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pun], here's a few examples, and please share your own in the comment section.

One for Steve: What's the difference between deer nuts and beer nuts? Beer nuts are a $1.75, but deer nuts are under a buck.

One from Teresa: I just burned over 4,000 calories! That's the last time I leave caramel bars in the oven while I nap.

One for Joe: LifeCare doctors are saying not to be too worried about this year's flu, even if the vaccine doesn't work for you, because it's tweetable.

One for Catherine: Claustrophobic writers are more productive thinking out of the box.

One for John: Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It's okay. She woke up.

And raisin the quality of puns...

Be better than yesterday, learn a new word today, and to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow.