When you accidentally flip the beginning or ending sounds of two words when speaking, that's a Spoonerism.
We all make mistakes when speaking off the cuff. Sometimes we flub a word, stutter, or forget the point we were trying to make. Other times, our slip-ups are far more hilarious, like when we unwittingly swap the beginning or ending sounds of two words in a sentence.
"I'm going to bead a rook," or "I'll see you at Brunday Sunch," may seem like random gaffs, but they are actually a well-documented phenomenon with a strange history and an official, if goofy-sounding, name: Spoonerisms.
It all started with a man named William Archibald Spooner in the 1800s.
Spooner, a tutor and eventually Dean at New College of Oxford, was initially known for his kindness—even though he was also a little odd.
New College, Oxford; the birthplace of the SpoonerismHoncques Laus/Wikmedia Commons
"One touching story describes how Spooner insisted on providing an Egyptian student with extra blankets and warm clothes, as the boy was struggling with the British climate. Another tells of a student who had injured himself while playing hockey. Spooner paid for his medical expenses, as his family could not afford them. Spooner’s odd behaviour could be off-putting at times, but he had his students’ best interests at heart" writes Sami Anderson-Talbi for New College.
Soon after, however, he began to be known for something else: His absent-mindedness and a tendency to flub his words in a peculiar manner. These were quickly dubbed Spoonerisms by his students, and the legend grew rapidly.
Anderson-Talbi writes that a Spoonerism is defined as, "the unintentional mix-up of parts or words, thoughts, and phrases, often resulting in humorous phrases or situations."
Documented Spoonerisms include referring to a "Dr. Childe's Friend" as "Dr. Friend's child," and warning a group of undergraduate students about the "weight of rages" (rate of wages). But soon, Spooner's reputation for misspeaking grew and more and more examples came to light. Some of them were apocryphal, others were complete fiction, including:
But at that point, the reputation stuck.
Sadly, Spooner wasn't a huge fan of his silly reputation.Bain News Service/Wikimedia Commons
Spoonerisms were far from an inside joke on the Oxford campus. In 1924, Spooner wrote in his diary that he met an American woman who was thrilled to meet a "celebrity" such as himself.
In fact, the mythical power of Spoonerisms was so strong that Spooner is said to have spoken extremely slowly with many pauses in an effort to make fewer mistakes. But his thought process was also evident in his writings, with many words crossed out and paragraphs rife with errors. "Spooner’s mind seemed to move at a pace faster than his mouth—or in this case pen—could keep up with," writes Anderson-Talbi.
Spooner was not a fan of his reputation for Spoonerisms, and after one speech, sighed and announced, "And now I suppose you will expect me to say one of those things."
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Language Testing International writes that Spoonerisms can be caused by any number of factors. Most commonly, rushing or being distracted when speaking can lead to mixing up your words. So can a sort of computing error in your brain, where the sentence you were planning on saying changes at the very last second and the words come out mixed up. Spoonerisms can also show up more when you're tired, or in children, who have to work harder to focus on correct diction.
It's not just English, either. Different languages have Spoonerisms too.
Frequent Spoonerisms can also sometimes be anecdotally linked to disabilities like Dyslexia or ADHD. Difficulties with speech or any condition where someone's brain is moving "faster" than their mouth can manifest in slip-ups like Spoonerisms.
Ultimately, however, we are all guilty of the occasional Spoonerism. And though Spooner himself didn't love that the flubs were officially named after him, he may have felt better if he knew how much laughter and delight we all get out of each other's Spoonerisms today.
A young teen boy holding a beagle.
Dogs come in a wide variety of breeds, along with their own unique personalities and needs. They can be guardians, helpful workers, loyal friends, snuggly companions, but there's one thing almost all dogs have in common: Licking.
Sure, some dogs lick way more than others, but it's rare to find a dog who never licks anyone or anything. Many dogs communicate and show affection by licking, which is sweet—if a little gross—depending on how slobbery they are. There's a common saying that dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans', which is a bit hard to believe when you see what some dogs put in their mouths, but it is true?
What does science say about dog tongues and saliva? Is a dog licking our face something we should worry about?
A man being licked by a golden retreiver. Photo credit: Canva
It turns out, the answer to whether a dog's mouth is cleaner than ours isn't super straightforward.
An 8th grader named Abby tackled this question in a science experiment that won her a Young Naturalists Award from the American Museum of Natural History in 2011. Her family had gotten a dog and her mom kept telling her not to let the dog lick her face because dog mouths are full of bacteria. Instead of arguing, Abby decided to find out herself if this was true.
"I hypothesized that human tongues would be cleaner than dog tongues," she wrote. "I thought this because humans brush their teeth at least once a day. I hypothesized that dogs' tongues would be dirty because they were always licking dirty things like garbage."
After diving into the research about bacteria that live in and on humans and dogs, Abby decided she had a testable hypothesis. But this wasn't any old middle school science experiment. She applied for and got a grant to the State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa, where she was assigned a mentor to work with her.
You can read the nitty-gritty details of her experiment here, but it involved a lab, swabs, agar plates, and more. Here was the conclusion:
A dog's tongue close-up. Photo credit: Canva
"I concluded that dog and human mouth flora are very different. (Flora means the bacteria found in a mouth or anywhere else.) The bacteria found in human mouths are more similar to another human's oral bacteria than the bacteria found in a dog's mouth.
"I also concluded that dogs' mouths are cleaner than humans' in some ways, and dirtier in other ways. Humans have more bacteria in their mouths than dogs do, based on the total number of bacteria. Most of the humans had a 'moderate' number of bacteria, and most of the dogs had 'few' bacteria. A possible explanation of this might be that dogs pant a lot, and maybe while panting, bacteria falls off their tongues along with their saliva. But dogs had more types of bacteria. The average number of different bacterial colonies in a dog's mouth was about 5.7. The average number of different bacterial colonies in a human's mouth was about 4.1. I think this is so because dogs sniff and lick a variety of things, like carpets, floors, chairs, grass, etc., so they pick up bacteria from many places."
But what about the licking of our faces? That's a bit of a subjective call, but Abby's results gave her some peace of mind:
"In conclusion, will I let my dog continue to lick me? The answer to the question is yes!" she wrote. "I will feel guiltless about letting my dog lick me because I found out that human and dog oral bacteria are different, so my dog's oral bacteria present no harm to me."
According to Colin Harvey, professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine and executive secretary at the American Veterinary Dental College, comparing dogs' mouths to humans' mouth is "like comparing apples to oranges." As Abby found, the microbes in a dog's mouth are very different than those in a human's.
The American Kennel Club elaborates:
"Most of the bacteria in your dog’s mouth aren’t zoonotic, which means you probably won’t get a disease from a big old doggy kiss. There are exceptions to this. Dogs that eat a raw diet are at an increased risk of contracting salmonella, which can be spread to humans. You also probably shouldn’t share kisses with a dog that regularly raids the litter box.
In other words, kissing your dog is less risky than kissing another human, but that doesn’t mean that your dog’s mouth is necessarily cleaner than a human’s—they just have a mostly incompatible set of germs."
Keeping your dog's mouth healthy through regular teeth cleaning and dental check-ups can also help prevent issues that could potentially come from dog licks.
A golden retreiver getting their teeth brushed. Photo credit: Canva
So there you have it. If your dog doesn't eat a raw diet and doesn't go snacking in the cat box (or some other equally fecal-bacteria-ridden place), their kisses are probably not going to hurt you. Guilt-free pooch smooches for the win!
This article originally appeared last year.
People debating at a city council meeting.
One of the most challenging things to do as a communicator is to convince someone you disagree with to listen to you. You’re fighting against a host of psychological phenomena that prevent people from changing their minds or listening to those with whom they disagree. Persuasion is incredibly difficult because we’ve evolved to cling to our views no matter what.
One of the most pronounced psychological blockages is the backfire effect, which states that when people are confronted with information that challenges their opinion, even if it is indisputable, they will hold onto their views even more strongly than before.
So, what are we to do in a world where there is so much misinformation and zombie lies flying around? Dr. Alison Wood Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies conversation and emotion, shares the key to having a constructive dialogue with people we disagree with is: Don’t invalidate them.
Couple arguing during therapy.via Canva/Photos
The moment we invalidate someone by saying, “I disagree,” we’ve killed our chance at persuading them. Dr. Books believes that changing people’s beliefs is important, but it only happens over time. So, it's pointless to disagree at the onset of the conversation. “The only way that we change our beliefs is usually across many conversations and we're around someone we like talking to and respect and have admiration for. And then over time, we sort of bend to the gentle pressure of their differing viewpoint,” she told Bartlett.
Dr. Brooks shared her strategy in a recent appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett.
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“Even if you're right, like it's not about being right or wrong in that moment. The goal here is to keep the conversation in an emotional place where it can continue. So, you can continue to engage. And that's what these researchers find in this receptiveness recipe,” Dr. Books said. The receptiveness recipe is a research project by Harvard and the University of British Columbia that created a formula for the most effective way to disagree with someone.
“I think often people think of these types of things as weakness because it's like our instinct is to try to win and be right. And instead, what I'm saying is no, hedge your claims. Show that you're uncertain about stuff. Validate their feelings. Divide yourself into disagreeing parts because you're not certain about anything, in order to keep the conversation going, so that you have any shred of hope of persuading them over the longer term.”
If they say the sky is purple:
“That’s interesting. I'd love to hear more.”
“As a painter, who knows a bit about color, that is so intriguing.”
The key is to make it an emotionally safe dialogue and show you’re interested in what they have to say. In turn, they'll be more receptive to your thoughts.
Two coworkers debate each other.via Canva/Photos
“I wrote this chapter in my book called 'Do Not Disagree.' It's an intentionally provocative chapter because people think, ‘What do you mean, never disagree with anybody?’ But I mean, don't make the first thing you say 'I disagree,'" Bartlett adds.
“That's right. It can come later,” Dr. Books added. “It can come later, but first has to come like ‘Oh, it's so intriguing that you said that. I'm so fascinated, and it makes sense that you might feel that way. I wonder if…’ and then you can go on instead of ‘I disagree.’”
Ultimately, the key is understanding that changing someone’s mind takes time and is nearly impossible if we shut down the conversation by invalidating them. By delaying the instant gratification of saying, “You’re wrong! I got you, here are the facts,” you can create a space where they are more open to listening to what you have to say. You've validated their beliefs, so they'll be more likely to consider yours.
Where will you retire?
If you're fortunate enough to live long enough to stop working and enjoy your golden years in retirement, you may start to wonder where you want to spend them. When you're no longer tied to a place by a job or family obligations, and you're looking for the best bang for your buck along with the amenities you want and need, it's natural to begin searching for the best places to retire.
Many people's first thought when it comes to retirement is "south," which is why some of the places on the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 list of "Best Places to Retire in the U.S." may come as a surprise. While the rankings are dominated by Florida and Texas, those two states account for only a little over half of the Top 20. Many of the remaining cities, including the No. 1 spot, are located in the northern part of the country, in places that are decidedly not warm come wintertime.
The list was compiled using criteria such as quality of life, overall value, tax rates, senior population/migration trends, and health care quality. Let's go through the Top 10:
If you've never heard of Midland, that's probably because it has a population of less than 43,000 people. However, the median home price is just north of $200,000 and rent isn't even $800, so your retirement dollar would go pretty far there. The small city sits at the confluence of two rivers and is also the home of Dow Chemical. Do with that information what you will.
We're going even smaller for No. 2. Weirton has less than 19,000 people and a median home value of just over $124,000, making it uber affordable. Rent will set you back around $550. And it's only about a 40-minute drive to Pittsburgh, so if you get bored, you can always hit the bigger city.
Ever heard of this one? It has a population of about 15,000 (they're really pushing the small-town retirement angle here) and a median home value of around $219,000. Located in western Florida between Tampa and the Panhandle, the town is home to a state wildlife park, and is undoubtedly warmer than the first two places on the list.
The Woodlands is a bit bigger, crossing into six-figure population territory at just over 116,000 residents. We also see a jump in home prices in this suburb of Houston, though, with a median price of $474,000 and average rent a bit over $1,400. The city's website refers to it as a "destination whose culture and offerings rival the nation's largest and most vibrant cities," so that sounds promising.
With a population of around 68,000, Spring is close to, but more affordable than, The Woodlands, with a median home price of about $251,000. Rent isn't much lower, though, at just over $1,300. Definitely look into buying a house instead of renting if this is where you choose to spend your retirement.
Rio Rancho, New Mexico.G. Edward Johnson/Wikimedia Commons
Moving west, Rio Rancho is a northern suburb of Albuquerque. It's home to about 108,000 people, and the median home value is about $310,000. Rent runs about $1,200. If that classic Southwest feel is your thing, this is where to go.
Lost of springs on this list, eh? If you're looking for a 100,000+ population without a significantly higher cost of living, Spring Hill gives you the best bang for your bigger-city buck. (Not that 100,000 is a big city by most standards, but it's not a small town either.) The median home price is just over $300,000, and rent comes in a little above $1,100.
Altoona is the least expensive place to live among the Top 10, with a median home price under $115,000. (Did anyone know there were still places with home prices like that anymore?) The city has a population of about 43,000, and median rent sits around $660. Not too shabby, price-wise. Not sure what people do in Altoona, but it's probably affordable.
Palm Coast is on the eastern coast of Florida.Wikimedia Commons/Lance Asper
Palm Coast just sounds like a place to retire, doesn't it? Located on Florida's east coast, north of Daytona Beach, Palm Coast has a median home price close to $380,000 and rent approaching $1,500. It's not the most affordable spot in the Top 10, but hey, palm trees, right?
Named for Quaker John Lynch and founded in 1757, Lynchburg is the oldest city in the top places to retire, so if history is your thing, this would be a good option. With about 80,000 residents, it's neither a small town nor a large city, and with a median home price under $224,000 and rent just over $900, it's affordable, too.
Here's how the rest of the Top 20 rounds out:
Again, lots of Florida and Texas, but a surprising showing from Michigan and the Dakotas, too.
Retirement looks different in different places. Photo credit: Canva
U.S. News & World Report used its own criteria to compile this list, but what should the average person look for when thinking about where they might want to retire? Kiplinger's "A New Guide to Choosing Where to Retire" shares five considerations to keep in mind:
1. Local tax rates
States tax retirement income differently, and property taxes vary widely from place to place. Because retirees need to stretch their retirement funds carefully, taxes are an important factor to look into and understand before settling somewhere.
2. Health care
As we age, our health care needs often change and increase. Additionally, health insurance for retirees may have local limitations, so it's important to make sure your plan lines up well with wherever you end up. The quality of doctors and specialists, along with access to medical facilities, are also big considerations.
3. Lifestyle suitability
Are you active and adventurous? Do you want easy access to cultural experiences and the arts? Do you desire peace and quiet? Is sunshine and warmth important to you? Do you want to garden year-round? Do you plan to travel and want to live near a major airport? All you have is time when you're retired, so thinking through how you'll want to spend it is key.
What kind of environment do you want to be in when you retire?Photo credit: Canva
4. Climate risks
In the 21st century, the way climate change affects different regions is a major consideration. Places prone to natural disasters like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes may be less appealing as those events become more frequent and intense.
5. Sense of community
Who you spend time with matters, and having a sense of community can make a big difference in how your days feel. In retirement, having a community can also help you have a more regular schedule as you set up routine times to get together with others, volunteer, or otherwise be socially active.
Whether you're close to it or just thinking ahead, there's a lot to consider when it comes to where you retire.