It began innocently enough. Phil was sitting at his desk chewing something

Brooke, Maxey

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.iant + red + V"-6632 B T- 5902 TR-263 ~H ~B . EW rle FB CF ~aux FRR GG t MOO rellow + t RR Lowish '1L ~US 61 NUTS MAXEY BROOKE Sweeny, Texas It began innocently enough. Phil was sitting at his desk chewing something . II What are you eating?" asked Don who shared the small office. " Pecans. 11 II Well, nuts to yoU!1I said Don. That should have ended it. But, late r in the day, Phil complained of a headache . II Go see Florence Nightingale, II suggested Don. II Nurse to you, II said Phil. The game had started. Next day, Phil leaned back in his chair and took a piece of string from his pocket. First he tied a bowline, then a sheepshank, and finally a carrick bend. Don watched for a minute or two, then remarked, " Knots to you. II A couple of days later, Don said " I'm going to leave early. I want to go by the pet shop and pick up a couple of salamanders for my aquarium. " '10K, II replied Phil, 11 newts to you. 11 One afternoon as they were walking from their office to the parking lot, Phil slapped at the air and exclaimed II Dang little bugs! 11 Don looked around. II What bugs? -- Ohl Gnats to you. II Don continued the bug motif next day. He was busy figuring when suddenly he threw down his pencil and muttered disgustedly II Lice eggs! 11 Phil continued to work for a minute or two. Then he looked up and grinned. II Nits to yoU.'1 Almost a week passed. Phil was cleaning out his desk drawers. He had lined up a bunch of odds and ends that he had accumulated. 3 X 62 He looked at them and murmured Potpourri. 11 11 Don walked over and looked at them. Then he said softly " Knicks to you and knacks to you. II They both smiled. It was a rare double- barreled one. The end carne one evening. They were sitting in a bar discussing boyhood games. If What was your favorite marble game?ll Don asked. "1 doni t know, 11 replied Phil. II We drew a big ring, everyone put a marble in the center, and we tried to shoot them out. What was your favorite?" Don laughed triumphantly. II Knucks to you! II He had won the game. SPOONERISMS Many people know that spoonerisms (11 the Lord is a shoving leopard ll 'in plac:?- of "the Lord is a loving shepherd") are named after Rev. William Archibald Spooner J an Oxford don for nearly 60 year s. However, it is not clear how many spoonerisms can be reliably attributed to him; as Toynbee says, the wittier or more elegant the specimen, the less likely it is to be authentic. The January 1977 Scientific Am­erican cites a study by John M. Potter (in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine) J who examined the types of error s that occur in Spoone r 1 s manuscripts J diarie s and let­ters. He found that Spooner I s non-spelling errors were quite unusual: far fewer than normal were anticipations (words inserted too early) or per severations (words insert­ed too late) , and the other s were a II hotch- potch of trans­positions J contaminations and substitutions II. Potter spec­ulated that these written abnormalities may be evidence of an organic disorder J which may also have been responsible for his verbal eccentricities. THE To L news to Fir~ cations based 0: was del OuLiPo the thre try con! Americ wordpla lingos J who WOl Nex coverec Dave, f consistl than st.>. guest el might b citing p see as ] Thi: into Kie shaws i rate ar1 divided by read sponse Kicksh, in rece or artie on the ( as part 

Nuts

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Nuts

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