Let’s Hear It For The Mondegreen 

by Mari Wallace

The what? you may well ask.  A mondegreen is defined as a “mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near-homophony so that it gives it a new meaning.” The word was coined by an American writer, Sylvia Wright, in 1954, when she misheard a lyric from the Scottish ballad , “The Bonny Earl o’ Moray”.  Instead of “laid him on the green”, Miss Wright heard “Lady Mondegreen”.  And so the mondegreen was born.

Song lyrics in particular provide a treasure trove of mondegreens. Remember the words to the Johnny Nash song, “I can see clearly now the rain has gone”? It was misheard by some as “I can see clearly now Lorraine has gone.” Then there’s the Credence Clearwater Revival lyric, “There’s a bad moon on the rise” vs the mondegreen version: “There’s a bathroom on the right.” A real goodie is the one for the song “Venus”.  Instead of “I’m your Venus”…well…use your imagination.

My own song lyric mondegreen was with Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” which I misheard as “Climb, Every Woman”.  This was surely her rallying cry to all females, encouraging us to break through the glass ceiling.

The Beatles are in the frame, too.  “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is described as “the girl with kaleidoscope eyes”.  But to some, Lennon and McCartney’s lyrics became “the girl with colitis goes by”.  And speaking of people going by, “The Girl from Ipanema goes walking” ended up being “the girl with emphysema goes walking.”  I sure hope she can catch her breath.

Children, with their limited vocabulary and experience, can misconstrue with the best of us.  Christmas carols are a gold mine of mondegreens.  One child misheard the lyric to “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’.  His alternative version to “all of the other reindeer” was “Olive, the other reindeer”.  I’m not entirely sure if the following mondegreen was accidental or deliberate when “O come let us adore him” became “Oh come let us ignore him.”  A friend admitted to me that as a youth she misheard some words to “The Lord’s Prayer”.  She questioned why her lovely Aunt Eva was being singled out: “But deliver us from Eva.”

As an ex-pat American living in England, my own children have had to distinguish between my accent and the dominant ones they heard from everyone else.  We know that the Brits generally do not pronounce the letter R, e.g. charming sound like chahming (said with a Southern drawl?!). Another example is center – besides being spelled  differently – centre – is pronounced like sen-tuh.  When my son was little, I warned him not to put his fingers in electrical sockets – telling him that if he did so, he might get a terrible shock.  Reminding him of this one day, I asked, “What did I say might happen to you if you put your fingers in the socket?”  He replied, “Because a shark may come along and bite me.” Poor confused lad – with shark vs shock!

I want to share with you a mondegreen that I actually crated – even though I didn’t know the term at the time.  During my summer holidays from college, I had an admin job in a care home called Hawthorne Cedar Knolls.  In addition to typing and filing, I had to give switchboard relief to the main operator.  Back in those days, the switchboard was the kind with plug-ins – think of the Lily Tomlin’s wonderful creation, Ernestine, on “Laugh-In”. On answering incoming calls, I was required to say, “Hawthorne Cedar Knolls”.  It was quite a mouthful which got rather boring to repeat constantly.  So, occasionally, for my own amusement, I’d say, quite quickly, “Hawthorne seeded rolls”.  I don’t think anyone was any the wiser.

As I’ve gotten older, my hearing has definitely deteriorated.  Maybe it’s time to get hearing aids. But the thought of saying goodbye to those mondegreens which have enriched my life with their surreal messages makes me opt for the status quo.

So I say: Let’s hear it for the mondegreen!  Hear! Hear!

Bio:
Mari Wallace is an ex-pat American, originally from Pleasantville, New York, who worked for Scholastic Magazines in NYC then for publishers in London. She has had pieces published in a range of UK and US magazines, and is a member of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists.