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>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.