Wednesday, 11 February 2026

Spoonerism: ternlan (Singapore)


Doing my Spoonerism stories with the English conversation class yesterday for listening and guided speaking has awakened a memory from my childhood days.

    The Mandarin for lantern is 燈籠 / 灯笼 / dēng lóng / "lamp cage".

    In my southern Chinese dialect of Teochew (潮州 / Cháozhōu), it's pronounced deng lang.  As a child, I always called it leng dang.


(Singapore, 1960s)


Spoonerism: Shandy the dog (https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2011/08/spoonerism-shandy-dog.html)


Spoonerism: kepala and kelapa (https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2011/07/spoonerism-kepala-and-kelapa.html)


Spoonerism: crooks and nannies (https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2011/07/spoonerism-crooks-and-nannies.html)


Spoonerism: I'll ask the chicken (https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2011/07/spoonerism.html)


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