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Karen Stollznow, Senior Research Fellow of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder; Griffith University

A lack of pies for a pack of lies – what spoonerisms reveal about how the brain produces speech

'Lack of pies' wasn't meant to describe a bakery case missing certain treats. Prasit photo/Moment via Getty Images

“You have hissed the mystery lecture. In fact, you’ve tasted the whole worm!”

If you’ve never heard that sentence before, you’re probably wondering what on earth it means. It was supposedly delivered by the absent-minded Rev. William Archibald Spooner after a student missed his history lecture and wasted the whole term.

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