A mondegreen is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase as a homophone or near-homophone in such a way that it acquires a new meaning. Look up Homophone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Origins and occurrence in popular culture

The word "mondegreen" is itself a mondegreen. The American writer Sylvia Wright coined it in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen", which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954.^[1] She wrote: An issue of Harpers from 1905 November 2004 issue Harpers Magazine (or simply Harpers) is a monthly general-interest magazine covering literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts from a progressive, left perspective. ...

When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques. One of my favorite poems began, as I remember:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,

Oh, where hae ye been?

They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic]

And Lady Mondegreen.

The actual fourth line is "And laid him on the green", from the anonymous 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray". Wright gives other examples of what she says, "I shall hereafter call mondegreens," such as: The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (sometimes known as Reliques of Ancient Poetry or simply Percys Reliques) is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Thomas Percy and published in 1765. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Illustration by Arthur Rackham of the ballad The Twa Corbies A ballad is a story, usually a narrative or poem, in a song. ... The Bonny Earl of Murray is a popular Scottish ballad, probably written as far back as the 17th century, and has been catalogued as Child Ballad No. ...

• Surely/Shirley, Good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life ("Surely goodness and mercy…" from Psalm 23)

• The wild, strange battle cry "Haffely, Gaffely, Gaffely, Gonward." ("Half a league, half a league,/ Half a league onward," from "The Charge of the Light Brigade")

The columnists William Safire of The New York Times and, later, Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle have long been popularizers of the term and collectors of mondegreens. They may have been the chief links between Wright's work and the general popularity of the notion today. The theme of this poem casts God in the role of protector and provider, and is routinely read and recited by Jews and Christians alike. ... The Charge of the Light Brigade is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. ... William Safire receiving the 2006 Presidential Medal of Freedom. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... Jon Carroll is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. ... Todays San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. ...

While mondegreens are a common occurrence for children, many adults have their own collection, particularly with regard to popular music. For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ...

Quite a few mondegreens may be seen in closed-captioned live television broadcasting of impromptu speeches, interviews, etc. (for example, a local news report of a "grand parade" might be captioned as a "Grandpa raid"). The prevalence of mondegreens in this context arises in part from the use of stenotype machines and the need for captions to keep up with the fast pace of programs. This machine is used not to type out words directly as a common keyboard but rather to record the syllables of the words being spoken. Thus, the stenographic recording is a phonetic transcription of the words being spoken. Software is then used to translate the phonetic syllables into proper words. Given some unusual syllabic constructions, and the sophistication of the software, errors come in as the system tries to distinguish where the word break is in the syllable stream. Typically, the software uses pre-programmed information that matches syllable clusters to written forms, then suggests captions from which a human "captionist" chooses. Mistakes may come from inadequacies in the program's recognition capability, from the failure to provide the software with vocabulary specific to the context, from the captionist's own mishearing of the words, or from the need for the captionist to make a decision before an ambiguous statement is made clear by what is said next. A commonly-used symbol indicating that a program or movie is closed-captioned. ... Live television refers to television broadcasts of events or performances on a delay of between zero and fifteen seconds, rather than from video recordings or film. ... A stenotype or shorthand machine is a specialized chorded keyboard or typewriter used by stenographers for shorthand use. ...

Some mondegreens arise from false friends. A phrase in one language may be misheard as a semi-sensical phrase in another language. The humorous aspect of these has given rise to a music video genre known as animutation, in which music in a different language (typically Japanese) is "misheard" into English, and illustrated. Engrish mondegreens can occur when English lyrics are reproduced by singers of Asian languages. See Soramimi. Look up False friend in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... Colin Mochrie and other icons of Animutation perform Fingertips by They Might Be Giants in The Fingertips Project. ... An example of Engrish on clothing. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mondegreen. ...

This may happen in the opposite direction as well: i.e., English words of a song are misheard, intentionally or not, to mean something else in a native language, often with a humorous effect. An example is a Russian joke in which the song "Can't Buy Me Love" was announced as "кинь бабе лом" (IPA: /kinʲ babʲe lom/), which roughly translates as "Throw a crowbar to the old woman". Cant Buy Me Love is the name of a song written by Paul McCartney (although credited to Lennon-McCartney) and released by The Beatles on the A side of their fifth British single, Cant Buy Me Love/You Cant Do That. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

The Israeli pop-rock band "Tislam" has a famous line in one of their greatest hits, "Tnu Li Rockn'Roll" (Give me Rock 'n' Roll), that says "Hoshavt oti bacheder etmol ad meuchar, lishmo'a Indonezi shel Anshei Hakfar" (You sat me down in the room till late yesterday evening, to hear "Indonezi" by the Village People). The songwriter, Yair Nitzani, was a DJ at a club where people kept asking him to put on the song "Indonezi" (meaning "Indonesian"), because they misheard the real name of the song, "In the Navy". The popular Israeli website Avatiach is a forum devoted to mondegreens in Israeli songs, so called because of the common mishearing of "avatiach" (watermelon) in place of "ahavtiah"(I loved her) in a well-known song by Shlomo Artzi. In Manfred Mann's cover of Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the Light, the line "revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night" is often cited as a prominent example of a mondegreen in popular music. The line is often misinterpreted in Mann's version (the pronunciation is very exaggerated) as "wrapped up like a douche" (Springsteen's original lyric was "cut loose like a deuce"). Deuce, in the song, refers to a 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe, and not a hygienic procedure. T-Slam (also Tislam, Hebrew: תיסלם) was an influentive Israeli rock band, founded in 1978 by Dani Bassan, Izhar Ashdot and Yair Nitzani. ... Village People is a concept disco group formed in the late 1970s. ... See In The Navy (film) for the 1941 Abbott & Costello film. ... Binomial name (Thunb. ... Shlomo Artzi (Hebrew: ) is a famous Israeli singer and composer. ... Cock-A-Hoop Manfred Mann was a British R&B and pop band of the 1960s, named after its keyboard player, who later led the successful 1970s follow-on group Manfred Manns Earth Band. ... Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an influential American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. ... Audio sample Blinded by the Light is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen. ... A douche (IPA: ) is a device used to introduce a stream of water into the body for medical or hygienic reasons, or the stream of water itself. ...

The Star-Spangled Banner produces several examples of mondegreens. Comedian Bill Dana (as the Hispanic character José Jiménez) used the old joke of the entire stadium singing directly to him before a ballgame: "José, can you see?". And in Beverly Cleary's children's novel Ramona the Pest, Ramona refers to the "Dawnzer lee light" (dawn's early light). The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States, with lyrics written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. ... Forman and Dana Bill Dana (born October 5, 1924) is a comedian, actor and screenwriter who often appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. ... José Jiménez was a fictional character created and performed by comedian Bill Dana on the Steve Allen Show in 1959 and who became increasingly popular during the 1960s. ... Beverly Cleary (born April 12, 1916) is the author of over 30 books for young adults and children. ...

Similarly, the main character in the Australian mockumentary Kenny (2006 film), mishears the words of the Australian national anthem as "Australians all let us ring Joyce, for she is young and free", instead of "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free". This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

A popular joke has a child being asked what God's first name is, and he replies, "Andy." He gets this name from the hymn "In the Garden" (also known as "I Come To The Garden Alone"): "Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own ..." as opposed to, "And He walks with me ..." Another version has a child saying God's name is Harold, from the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name..." as opposed to "hallowed be thy name..." In the Garden is a gospel hymn written by C. Austin Miles. ... The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. ...

"Mondegreen" is also a segment on the popular Australian music quiz show Spicks and Specks (ABC TV). The Spicks and Specks set This article is about the Australian TV show Spicks and Specks. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...

The board game Mad Gab features 1,200 mondegreens used as puzzles for players to solve. Mad Gab is a game created by Mattel in which you have at least two teams and 2 to 12 players. ...

Many mondegreens have given ideas for song parodies. Some artists, such as John Fogerty and Jimi Hendrix, have deliberately sung their songs as mondegreens in concerts, such as "There's a bathroom on the right" in "Bad Moon Rising" instead of the correct "There's a bad moon on the rise", or "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" in lieu of "kiss the sky", to amuse the audience.^[2] In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock or roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... Bad Moon Rising is a 1969 song by Creedence Clearwater Revival. ...

Mairzy Doats, a 1943 novelty song by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston, works the other way around. The lyrics are already a mondegreen, and it's up to the listener to figure out what they mean. The refrain of the song repeats nonsensical sounding lines: Mairzy Doats is a novelty song composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston. ... Al Hoffman (September 25, 1902–July 21, 1960) was a songwriter. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wooden shoe (or, if you prefer, "wouldn't chew").

The only clue to the actual meaning of the words is contained in the bridge:

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

From this point, the ear can figure out that the last line of the refrain is "A kid'll eat ivy too; wouldn't you?", but this last line is only sung in the song as a mondegreen.

Even the Bible contains a mondegreen, after a fashion. In Mark 15:34, Jesus cries out, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?", which translates into English as "My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?" (from Psalms 22:1). Onlookers misunderstand Jesus and think he is calling for Elijah. This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Look up mark in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... Psalms (from the Greek: Psalmoi) (originally meaning songs sung to a harp, from psallein play on a stringed instrument, Ψαλμοί; Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים) is a book of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh or Old Testament. ... Elijah, 1638, by Ribera, José de This article is about the prophet in the Hebrew Bible. ...

Examples

• The "top 3" mondegreens according to Jon Carroll are:^[3]

1. Gladly the cross-eyed bear^[1] (from the line in the hymn "Keep Thou My Way" by Fanny Crosby, "Kept by Thy tender care, gladly the cross I'll bear")^[4] Carroll and many others quote it as "Gladly the cross I'd bear". Ed McBain used the mondegreen as the title of a novel. Also, this mondegreen is paraphrased by the band They Might Be Giants in their song "Hide Away Folk Family" (Sadly the cross-eyed bear's been put to sleep behind the stairs, and his shoes are laced with irony.)
2. There's a bathroom on the right (the line at the end of each verse of "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival -- "There's a bad moon on the rise")^[5]
3. 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy (from a lyric in the song "Purple Haze", by Jimi Hendrix -- "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky").

• The girl with colitis goes by (from a lyric in the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", by The Beatles -- "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes").^[3]
• A wean in a manger ("Away in a Manger" using the Scottish word for a baby). Gervase Phinn used "A Wayne in a Manger" as the title of a book about a children's nativity play.
• José can you see? (Mistaking "O say can you see" taken from the Star-Spangled Banner for a common Hispanic name) Bill Dana famously used this in a comedy bit as the Hispanic character Jose Jiminez. The film Angels In The Outfield makes a reference to this.^[6]
• ... Harold (or Howard) be thy name... (from the Lord's Prayer - "... hallowed be thy name ...")^[1]
• ... blessed art thou, a monk swimming ... (from the Hail Mary phrase "... blessed art thou amongst women ...". A Monk Swimming is also the title of a Malachy McCourt memoir.)
• Sixty-five roses is a common mishearing of the disease cystic fibrosis; this mishearing is intentionally used by people and organizations fighting this disease.^[7] Similarly, a character in The Glass Menagerie hears the disease named "pleurosis" as "blue roses."
• Olive, the other reindeer ...' (from the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'": "All of the other reindeer ...") This mondegreen has become the title of a children's book (about a dog named Olive who stands in for one of Santa's reindeer), which was later made into an animated holiday program featuring the voice of Drew Barrymore.
• Tell the Huns it's time for me (from the song "Beneath the Lights of Home (In a Little Sleepy Town)" sung by Deanna Durbin in Nice Girl? (1941) — "Turn the hands of time for me") on the BBC radio programme Quote Unquote in 2002.
• A controversial example is found in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where Donald Duck in a scene chastises Daffy Duck, exclaiming "Doggone stubborn little..." Donald's quacks have frequently been misheard as "God damn stupid nigger", resulting in a hard-to-put-down urban legend.^[8]
• In an episode of the television sitcom Friends, Phoebe believes the lyric from Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", "Hold me closer, tiny dancer" is actually "Hold me close, young Tony Danza."
• In 2007, Cingular aired commercials in which young men are comically clueless about the lyrics of the songs they listen to, hearing "rock the casbah" as both "lock the cash box" and "stop the cat box", among other mondegreens.^{[citation needed]}
• The name of the sixth studio album by Reel Big Fish is called Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free, a mondegreen of lyrics from the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing", "Money for nothin' and chicks for free".

Frances Jane Crosby (March 24, 1820 - February 12, 1915) usually known as Fanny Crosby, was one of the most prolific hymnists in history. ... Ed McBain may refer to: The best known pseudonym used by American author Evan Hunter A gunrunner in the 1961 western film The Comancheros Category: ... They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) is an American alternative rock duo consisting of John Linnell and John Flansburgh that formed in 1982. ... Bad Moon Rising is a 1969 song by Creedence Clearwater Revival. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Purple Haze is a song recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... Colitis is a digestive disease characterized by inflammation of the colon. ... Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a song written mainly by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) in 1967, and recorded by The Beatles for their album Sgt. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... A toy kaleidoscope tube Pattern as seen through a kaleidoscope tube Pattern as seen through a kaleidoscope tube Pattern as seen through a kaleidoscope tube The kaleidoscope is a tube of mirrors containing, loose coloured beads or pebbles, or other small coloured objects. ... Away in a Manger was first published in an 1885 Lutheran Sunday School book, by James R. Murray (March 7, 1841 - March 10, 1905), but the author of the first two stanzas is unknown. ... Scots refers to the Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Nicholson took the copy Key gave him to a printer, where it was published as a broadside on September 17 under the title The Defence of Fort McHenry, with an explanatory note explaining the circumstances of its writing. ... Forman and Dana Bill Dana (born October 5, 1924) is a comedian, actor and screenwriter who often appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. ... The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Hail Mary (disambiguation). ... A Monk Swimming (1998) is a memoir by Malachy McCourt. ... Malachy McCourt during a 2006 CNN interview Malachy McCourt (born September 20, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York) was the 2006 Green party candidate for governor in New York State, losing to the Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer. ... Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a popular Christmas story about Santa Claus ninth and lead reindeer who possesses an unusually red colored nose that gives off its own light that is powerful enough to illuminate the teams path through inclement weather. ... Olive, the Other Reindeer is an animated Christmas television special, produced by Matt Groening of Simpsons fame and directed by Oscar Moore. ... Deanna Durbin (born Edna Mae Durbin on December 4, 1921, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to English immigrant parents) was a popular young singer and actress in Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s. ... Quote Unquote is a light-hearted panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4 based on quotations. ... Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 film produced by Amblin Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company (on its Touchstone Pictures banner), Using traditional animation and live action. ... Donald Duck is an animated cartoon and comic-book character from Walt Disney Productions. ... Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. ... For the use of the word in a general sense, see Friendship. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ... Tiny Dancer is a 1971 song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin, which appears on Johns fifth album, Madman Across the Water. ... Tony Danza. ... Cingular Wireless is the largest United States mobile phone company, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. ... Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band, best known for the 1997 hit Sell Out. ... Monkeys for Nothin and the Chimps for Free is the sixth studio album from Reel Big Fish, and their first studio album since being released from Jive Records. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Money for Nothing is a song by Dire Straits, which first appeared on their 1985 album Brothers in Arms and subsequently became an international hit when released as a single. ...

Bibliography

• Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy - Gavin Edwards, 1995. ISBN 0-671-50128-3
• When a Man Loves a Walnut - Gavin Edwards, 1997. ISBN 0-684-84567-9
• He's Got the Whole World in His Pants - Gavin Edwards, 1996. ISBN 0-684-82509-0
• Deck The Halls With Buddy Holly - Gavin Edwards, 1998. ISBN 0-060-95293-8
• Chocolate Moose for Dinner - Fred Gwynne, 1988. ISBN 0-671-66741-6

Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was a 6 ft 5 in (1. ...

See also

• Ambiguity
• Amphibology
• Double entendre
• Eggcorn
• Holorime
• Mad Gab
• Mairzy Doats
• Malapropism
• Relaxed pronunciation
• Soramimi

Look up ambiguity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Amphibology or amphiboly (from the Greek amphibolia) is, in logic, a verbal fallacy arising from ambiguity in the grammatical structure of a sentence. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speakers dialect. ... Noun 1. ... Mad Gab is a game created by Mattel in which you have at least two teams and 2 to 12 players. ... Mairzy Doats is a novelty song composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston. ... This article or section seems to contain too many examples (or examples of poor quality) for an encyclopedia entry. ... Relaxed pronunciation (also called condensed pronunciation or word slurs) is a phenomenon that happens when the syllables of common words are slurred together. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mondegreen. ...

External links

• KissThisGuy.com - The Archive of Misheard Lyrics - Based on the Jimi Hendrix lyric, this website is a collection of many mondegreens of popular songs
• amiright.com - The Archive of Misheard Lyrics - A large collection of misheard lyrics
• Mondegreens Ripped My Flesh - Jon Carroll's mondegreen resource
• Misheard lyrics to Christmas songs are immortalized as 'mondegreens' (from Snopes.com)
• Mondegreens: A Short Guide, by Gavin Edwards
• "Star-Mangled Banner: A look at some controversial, and botched, renditions of our national anthem"
• "Also into cats", a collection of mondegreens from Fall Out Boy's song "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"
• "The Misheard Lyrics", a visual display of mondegreens from Nightwish's song "Wishmaster"

The Urban Legends Reference Pages (also known as snopes. ... Fall Out Boy (commonly abbreviated as FOB) is an American band from Wilmette, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) that formed in 2001. ... This Aint a Scene, Its an Arms Race (Remix) This Aint a Scene, Its an Arms Race is the first single from pop rock[1] band Fall Out Boys album Infinity on High. ... Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic power metal band formed in 1996 in the town of Kitee. ... Wishmaster is a song from the album Wishmaster of the finnish symphonic metal band, Nightwish. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Sylvia Wright (1957). Get Away From Me With Those Christmas Gifts. McGraw Hill.  Contains the essays "The Death of Lady Mondegreen" and "The Quest of Lady Mondegreen".
2. ^ Guardian, Letters April 26, 2007
3. ^ ^{a b} Jon Carroll. "Mondegreens Ripped My Flesh", San Francisco Chronicle. 
4. ^ Frances Crosby. "Keep Thou My Way". The Cyber Hymnal. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
5. ^ As a tribute to the fame of this mondegreen, John Fogerty of CCR now frequently sings "there's a bathroom on the right" as the last line of "Bad Moon Rising" in live performances (see the CCR/John Fogerty FAQ). This is captured on his 1998 live album Premonition.
6. ^ A.Word.A.Day. Wordsmith.org (March 28, 2001).
7. ^ The 65 Roses Story. SixtyFiveRoses.com.
8. ^ Quacking Wise. Snopes.com (December 30, 1998).