My new favorite word
When I was a child, I always thought we were singing When the roll is called a pyonder (instead of When the roll is called up yonder) at church. By the end of the service, I would always forget to ask my mom what a “pyonder” was and why rolls would gain a new title when we got to heaven. I finally figured it out when I learned to read the line for myself.I didn’t know there was a word for that experience. It’s called a mondegreen. How cool!
mon‧de‧green [mon’-di-green] noun
A series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric.
Origin: 1954; coined by American author S. Wright from the line laid him on the green, interpreted as Lady Mondegreen, in a Scottish ballad.
Another example is I led the pigeons to the flag for I pledge allegiance to the flag. For more, go to Wikipedia.
I’d love to hear of examples from your experience. Please share!
posted by Spring at 9:01 AM
4 Comments:
Mine was the 60's song by the Supremes. The lyrics are "na na na hey hey good bye." I thought they were saying "na na na hey hey puddin' and pie."w
Well, there's always "gladly the cross-eyed bear" and "Don, we now are gay apparel." These are two of my dad's favorites.
For a short time while I was young, particularly when attending baseball games in Atlanta, I thought the national anthem ended "o'er the land of the free and the home of the Braves."
One of my favorite singers, Seal, is fascinated by this phenomenon and so does not print lyrics in his liner notes. He likes how the song can become personal for each listener through the mondegreen effect. I remember he commented on a lyric something like "I'm in love with the sky" (really "I'm in love with this guy").
Interesting! Thanks for the post, fellow logophiliac!
There is always the classic, "lettuce spray" for "let us pray."
Actually, I think I like "stable land" better. Way to go, Liz!
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