Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Today's word: "mondegreen"

I often feel like such a slacker, like by the time I find out about something, it’s soooo last week. That’s what happened with a movie site that I think is freakin’ awesome. Man, when I got turned on to that site, I shouted its praises from the rooftops, only to be met with, “Oh, yeah. that site is cool.” So I guess I’m the last person on earth to hear of the word “mondegreen.”
Dictionary.com defines mondegreen (pronounced mon-di-green) as “a word or phrase resulting from a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that has been heard.” American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in an essay “The Death of Lady Mondegreen,” published in November 1954 in Harper’s Magazine. Referring to a 17th century poem that her mother read aloud to her as a child, the author tells how she misinterpreted the line "And laid him on the green" as “And Lady Mondegreen.”
My mother told me how when she was a kid, she misheard people referring to “the chest of drawers” as “the Chester drawers.” When my son was small, he thought a local newscaster went by the hip nickname “The Heat is On” until he was old enough to read and was shocked to see the name on the television screen was “Benita Zahn.”
Mondegreens often result from misinterpreted song lyrics, and they can be quite entertaining. My favorite mondegreen is the classic “There’s a bathroom on the right,” the line at the end of each verse of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising.” And of course we all wondered what was going on with Jimi Hendrix when he shouted, “’Scuse me while I kiss this guy!”
Both Creedence's lead singer,John Fogerty, and Hendrix eventually capitalized on their fans’ poor hearing (or was it their own inability to e-nun-ci-ate?) and deliberately sang the mondegreen versions of their songs in concert. Alone in the car, I always sing “There’s a bathroom on the right”; it’s simply more fun that way.
I had my own mondegreen version of a few songs.. here is one

“He is trampling down the village where the great giraffe is stored.''

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 6 feet 4?''

Eric Clapton's “living on Tulsa time'' as “living on toast and wine,'' which is very Clapton indeed.

How about you? Any fun mondegreens to share? And did you even know there was such a word?

3 comments:

Bob G. said...

MSN:
Now there 'ya go...I learned me somethin' NEW today!
And now I'm humming CCR...LOL.
(Do, do, do...lookin' out my back door)

I tip my hat to you...you definitely rival Bill O'Reilly, if not surpass him!

No poppinjays HERE!

:)

Anonymous said...

At the end of the Archie Bunker show theme song sung by Archie and Edith.... there is a line; "we are all a celery grate"....what the hell does that mean?? Gotta be a mondegreen. (even the spellcheck in here says mondegreen is not a real word. LOLOL. Love it!
Snakefoot

Bob G. said...

Snakefoot:
I believe the line goes:
"Gee, our old LaSalle ran great"
(reference to a defunct car company)
...but you probably knew that.

:)