Did I hear that right?
This week I have been reminded of a story my friend told me about a friend of hers who went into an audition and misread the script and said:
“I’m gonna be big, I’m gonna be the best, I’m gonna be A-One Pasino”,
NEXT,
It should have been, Al Paccino.
Comedy mishearings are the best.
Jo came up to me this week and I thought she said,
“yes that’s a great idea, lets send a star female”,
I thought wow I knew she thought I was good at my job, but that’s just flattery, but no, what she actually said was
“yes that’s a great idea lets send a Staff Email”
My friend Gabi was always misshearing me, I said to her once
“er, Shall we go?”
and she thought I’d said hollered
“er, Chubby Girl?”
Also I was leaning in to give her a concilliatory hug (I’m good at those) I said to her
“it’ll be alright”
and she thought I’d (rather sinsiterly(is that a word)) said
“Don’t fight it” oo er
There are loads from songs. Me and best friend Maria used to think that Banarama (hey! a certain Laundry customer’s record label has Banarama on their books at the mo (he sent me a free t-shirt(any free gifts for the Laundy team are welcome (well not any, no sharon O style gifts obviously)))).
Only you can set me free,
Coz I’m guilty, guilty, guilty as a gulkenby come on baby can’t you see, I’ve been acoooooosed of Love in the frist degree
ce-hem, just carried on for my own entertainment then. I think we thought a gulkenby was a mythical creature.
Also our innocent minds heard in Tory Amos’s song
Finally bring you close to my, finally bring close to my lips yeah
SATURDAY DAY, de de de ded de SATURDAY DAY
There’s a word for this:
A mondegreen (also sometimes spelled “mondagreen”) is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase in such a way that it acquires a new meaning.
The word “mondegreen” is itself a mondegreen. The American writer Sylvia Wright coined it in an essay “The Death of Lady Mondegreen”,
“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 have slain the Earl of Murray,
And Lady Mondegreen.
The actual line is “And laid him on the green”,
Most come from mishearing song lyrics, it apparently happens loads when you translate songs example in Russian the song “Can’t Buy Me Love” roughly translates as “Throw a crowbar to the old woman
Jon Carroll from the Sanfransico Chronicle specialises in collecting them if you are hungry for more
tell me yours