Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. This may seem a minor issue, but I hate people wrecked unjustifiably. So, I am coming to the defense of @JeremyKappell, meteorologist at WHEC in Rochester. As someone who frequently flubs speech through word transposition, I recognize Kappell was fired for a spoonerism....

2...that spoonerism - where often the first letters of adjacent words are flipped - came off terribly and was instantly corrected by Kappell. In referring to a Rochester park, Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon...King Junior Park." The timing between the offensive word and the...

3...correction was about half a second. Now, there are two choices of what happened here. One is Kappell decided to destroy his life for no reason, uttered this phrase, instantly changed his mind and corrected it.

Or, he experienced a spoonerism....

4...flip the first syllable of the words after the first letter of two adjacent words: King Junior. It becomes "Koon Jingier." Kappell clearly started the spoonerism, caught what he said and corrected it. (When I have one of my frequent spoonerisms, I usually dont manage to....

5...catch the error by the first word, and stop partway through the second.)

Anyone can experience a spoonerism. It is a very common linguistic issue. That is why articles are written about the phenomenon...like here. telegraph.co.uk/culture/367574…

6...oiled bicycle becomes boiled icycle, crushing blow becomes blushing crow, a half-formed wish becomes a half-warmed fish.

If @JeremyKappell has never shown any racist issues, firing him is absurd. But if we are now at the point where an actual linguistic phenomenon....

7...can be used to fire someone for racism, then we are all in danger.

WHET - don't be idiots. Rehire @JeremyKappell. And Jeremy, if they don't - sue them. Bring in a linguistics expert to testify about spoonerisms. Embarrass them for firing you based on a common issue.