Mondegreens
A former colleague from Texas sent a link to the Merriam Webster Online page on the topic of mondegreens. A mondegreen is "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung."
Examples:
"The ants are my friends" for "The answer, my friend (is blowing in the wind)." Bob Dylan
"There's a bathroom on the right" for "There's a bad moon on the rise." Credence Clearwater Revival
Do you have a mondegreen? Ever think you knew the lyrics to a song only to discover later you were wrong? Ever hear your kids singing the wrong words to a song?
Style Invitational
If you enjoy wordplay, I encourage you to check out the Washington Post's "Style Invitational" online, now approaching week 800, with a new call for entries each week. The Jan. 3 edition posted results of week 794's contest "for headlines a la those in the satirical newspaper the Onion.
My favorites
Fourth place: Image of Tortilla Mysteriously Appears on Stature of Virgin Mary.
Second place: "'Liberal Elitist Press' Condemned by Ignorant Lowlife Redneck Hatemongers."
First place: "In Final rip to Beijing, Bush Calls on Premier to 'Tear Down This Wall.'"
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5 comments:
I got one. An old girlfriend of mine had a little brother that thought the chorus of John Fogerty's Centerfield began with "Pudding and Coke", instead of "Put Me in Coach, I'm ready to play....". Ironically he was a baseball player.
Hi David,
Best wishes for what appears to be a brand new blog.
I'm a fellow Christian and fan of a lot of the stuff that you mention in your profile. You beat me in marriage and kids, though: I'm at 19 years and three kids.
I have a Google alert set up for "mondegreen." That's how I found you. I learned the term in late 2007. One thing led to another, and now I’m the administrator of a flaky effort called Mandy Green Project, largely aimed at helping make "mondegreen" a household word. It involves a quirky novel written by MANDY GREEN (yep, a mondegreen of "mondegreen") whose story centers on a mondegreen ("Gesundheit Whistle" misheard as GAZOON HIGH TWIZZLE). Please check it out and tell all your friends named MANDY GREEN.
My son Emmett told me the whole effort is hopeless, adding that he hated to be the BEAR OF BAD NEWS.
The next day Emmett mentioned that he always thought that CIRQUE DU SOLEIL was CIRCUS L.A.
I'm a native of Vermont, and this is my favorite mondegreen (from the Beach Boys' "Kokomo"):
To Martinique, that Monserrat mystique
misheard as
Vermont’s unique, Vermont’s a rotten state
Oops, please disregard my earlier comment about your blog appearing brand new. I somehow missed the "2008" and "80 posts." Sheesh.
When we were little, we used to listen to Credence Clearwater Revival. Mind you we lived in Honduras and English was our second language. We sang our favorite song to the top of our lungs. It went something like this:
"Le tu mi-na pechu, sha-la-la-la me..." (Let the midnight special, shine a light on me...)
Greasy piece of chicken... for peaceful easy feeling.
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