>Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 00:04:07 -0500
>From: Wordsmith <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mondegreen
>
>mondegreen (MON-di-green) noun
>
>   A word or phrase resulting from a misinterpretation of a word or phrase
>   that has been heard.
>
>[Coined by British author S. Wright]
>
>   "`Mondegreens can be found in every area of the spoken word,' writes
>   (Gavin) Edwards, `from the record buyer who asks for a copy of the Queen
>   single `Bohemian Rap City' (It's "Bohemian Rhapsody") to the schoolchild
>   who is convinced that the Pledge of Allegiance begins `I led the pigeons
>   to the flag.'"
>   Duckett, Jodi, 'The Ants Are' Lies in Garbled Lyrics, St. Louis
>   Post-Dispatch, 19 Oct 1995.
>
>Face it, you have been guilty of it since early childhood. Beginning with
>the nursery rhymes you heard on the playground to the national anthem you
>recited in school to crooning with the love songs on the radio, you have
>been misinterpreting and repeating them. Now you know there is a word for
>it and that you are not alone. Luckily there are no Mondegreen Police or we
>would all be behind bars. No matter what your native tongue, chances are you
>have experienced mondegreens in your language.
>
>Whether you consider mondegreens a case of aural dyslexia or a variant of
>Freudian slip, the results are often much more fascinating than the original
>matter. The mondegreen effect is not limited to lyrics either. More than one
>school librarian has seen distraught pupils complaining of not being able to
>locate the book mentioned in their class: Charles Darwin's seminal work
>"Oranges and Peaches". The other day I received a message requesting me to
>add the sender to the mailing list she heard about over lunch. She thought
>I run a mailing list called "What a day!" that is supposed to improve one's
>vocabulary.
>
>So how did we come to call this oral-cum-aural phenomenon mondegreen? It all
>started when a courageous woman named Sylvia Wright confessed to mishearing
>the following words of a Scottish folksong:
>  They hae slain the Earl of Moray / And lain him on the green
>as
>  They hae slain the Earl Amurray / And Lady Mondegreen
>
>Imagine Wright's disappointment when she discovered that there was no Lady
>Mondegreen who valiantly gave her life to be with her love. She wrote her
>story in the November 1954 issue of Harper's Magazine and ever since we have
>labeled these occurrences in honor of Lady Mondegreen's sacrifice.