Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

I get "A.Word.A.Day" in my e-mail, and today I learned this new one.

"mondegreen

PRONUNCIATION:
(MON-di-green)


MEANING:
noun: A word or phrase resulting from mishearing a word or phrase, especially in song lyrics. For example:
"The girl with colitis goes by" for "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes" in the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds".

ETYMOLOGY:
Coined by author Sylvia Wright when she misinterpreted the line "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen" in the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray". Earliest documented use: 1954.

USAGE:
"Since I live in Thailand, the most meaningful mondegreen for me was my own mishearing of a line from The Jam's Eton Rifles. Instead of the correct 'What chance do you have against a tie and a crest?', for years I heard 'What chance do you have against a Thai in a dress?'"
Richard Watson Todd; Much Ado about English; Nicholas Brealey Publishing; May 1, 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us. -Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus), rhetorician (c. 35-100)"


One I've always liked comes from Jimi Hendrix's song "Purple Haze"

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky."

which some hear as

"Excuse me while I kiss this guy."



http://wordsmith.org/

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Johnslat

That what I heard Hendrix say too! Weird huh?

Billy Connolly has a few classics along those lines too. 'Glady the cross-eyed bear'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCQH_ffnVe8

Probably the only humourous aspect of phonology, this juncture bit.

[johntpartee]

"There's a bathroom on the right."

(There's a bad moon on the rise.)

Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Bad Moon Rising")

John Fogerty has sung the mondegreen during his solo shows.

[Sashadroogie]

'Lucy in disguise with diamonds'...

In fairness, it makes as much sense as the real, surreal line

[johntpartee]

Actually, that's how The Buckinghams came up with their hit song title "Lucy In Disguise (With Glasses)". True story.

EDIT: It was John Fred and the Playboy Band and the song was called "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)". Never did like it, but I remember John Fred telling Dick Clark on American Bandstand that he got the idea from the Beatles song.

[Cool Teacher]

What about that John Lennon song:

"Everybody's talkin bout shagging, shagging, shagging, shagging....

Oooooh we are saaaailing!"

[DebMer]

Probably only relevant to people who grew up in Southern California in the 70s and 80s, but Cal Worthington's car dealership commercials are forever ingrained in the collective psyche of those of us who did. The refrain from his jingle, "Go see Cal," sounded to me like "*beep* cow." The fact that he featured all kinds of animals in his commercials probably strengthened the impression. A few years ago I stumbled upon a Facebook page for people like me who grew up hearing it in the same way. Apparently there were a lot of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEYCsvPJzw

[johntpartee]

"The girl with colitis goes by."

What is it, peevers? Oh, wait, wrong thread; what is it mondegreeners?

[Ixchel]

[greegor]

When I was a kid, I thought Eric Clapton was singing about Captain Midnight in "After Midnight".

[teenoso]

the temptations , papa was a rolling stone has the line : all he left us was alone , which I thought was : " all he left us was a loan " (this works just as well).
and Jimmy Nail/Rose Royce in the song 'Love doesn't live here anymore' , sing the line
'just a vacancy' , which I thought was
'look back and see' .