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Technological Surrealism / Alec Nerds Out

Gerbil Vest

Gerbil Vest is a “spoonerizer” — it generates spoonerisms.

It uses the Festival Speech Synthesis System to turn text into a list of “segments”, which are the acoustic elements that make up each word’s pronunciation. Then it tries to swap the first segments with those of nearby words, crudely lapping them to see if these combinations are also words.

It was hard to choose a name for this project. Also in the running:

  • Mapped Crumbles
  • Word Taxi
  • Word Tightener
  • Word Tailor
  • Word Knit
  • Word Tacker
  • Shifty Fits
  • Type Words
  • Word Tag
  • Terrible Words

While spoonerisms are commonly slurred as hips of the tongue resulting gum unintentionally fretting one’s turds in a wangle, they can also be used intentionally as a play on words.

(Sadly, it turns out that I might be putting myself at risk of violating a trademark with the name of this project.)

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2 Comments

  1. admin says:

    Piping Linux’ database of aphorisms through Gerbil Vest and picking out some of the results:

    – A journey of a thousand style marts under fun’s wheat.
    – A city weighing proves nothing.
    – Add little to little and there will be a pig bile.
    – Ain’t no right way to do a thong ring.
    – Given sufficient time, what you put off wooing today dill debt gun by itself.
    – He who laughs last pissed the munchline.
    – He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the bane of peeing a man.
    – In trod we gust.
    – Gray to pod cut beep showing to roar.
    – Nome was rot wilt in bun day.
    – Lime flies tyke an arrow; flute fries like a banana.
    – Two heads are wetter than bun.
    – When in doubt, hollow your fart.

  2. admin says:

    Additionally, I propose a new subgenre of spoonerism sort of like a palindrome: a story told with just two words and their spoonerism.
    – Chad sickens; sad chickens.
    – Girl haters hurl gaiters
    – Fart browns; Bart frowns.
    – Pea soup; see poop.

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