#mondegreens

[lingthusiasm]

Bonus 88: Linguistic mixups - spoonerisms, mondegreens, and eggcorns

Have you ever misheard a song lyric like "got a long list of ex-lovers" as "Starbucks lovers"? Or maybe you've swapped some sounds around like "well-boiled icicle" for "well-oiled bicycle" or seen Alzheimer's Disease referred to by the more sensical, similar-sounding name "Old-timer's Disease". Mixups like these are not only fun to share examples of, but they also tell us things about how language works in our brains.

In this bonus episode of (ahem) Thing-Lusiasm, Lauren and Gretchen get enthusiastic about three of our favourite kinds of linguistic mixups: spoonerisms, mondegreens, and eggcorns. We talk about William Spooner, the Oxford prof from the 1800s that many spoonerisms are (falsely) attributed to, Lauren's very Australian 90s picture book of spoonerisms, the Scottish song "The Bonny Earl of Moray" which gave rise to the term mondegreen, why there are so many more mondegreens in older pop songs and folk songs than there are now, and how eggcorn is a double eggcorn (a mis-parsing of acorn, which itself is an eggcorn of oak-corn for akern). Listen to this episode about our favourite kinds of linguistic mixups, and get access to many more bonus episodes by supporting Lingthusiasm on Patreon.

[hockpock]

Sweet dreams are made of cheese

Who am I to diss the brie

[mumblelard]

manifestations of my familiar

[clatterbane]

One actual drawback to developing an interest in smaller local artists as a probably low-intermediate language learner with shitty hearing/auditory processing: good luck finding published lyrics!

Brought to you by another afternoon of " I can only make out a few words and phrases here and there. But it sounds pretty cool, and I will of course try to sing along regardless."

[phoenixyfriend]

Just misheard a song

What they said: sailors What I heard: Seders

What they said: and they’re on leave What I heard: in a tree

The line: It's two sailors and they're on leave.

What I imagined: Two Seders' worth of of Orthodox Jews in the branches of a large apple tree.

[sparkylurkdragon]

Lyrics from Aladdin that it turns out I've been mishearing for years:

"One Jump Ahead"

"Who always says Aladdin's at the bottom?" (Who? Oh it's sad, Aladdin's hit the bottom)

"Friend Like Me"

"Save the ammunition in your can" (Some heavy ammunition in your camp)

"You've got a bonna genie, certified!" (You got me bona fide, certified!)

"I've got the pow-ER to help ya out!" (I've got a powerful urge to help ya out)

"Prince Ali"

Some gibberish that involves the phrase "the princess" (The harem girls do have sung lines! I just can't understand any of them without text in front of me. I think what I was hearing as "the princess" was "plain impresses".)

"A Whole New World"

"Every moment gets better" (Every moment red-letter)

"Prince Ali (Reprise)"

"Just a qualm, need I go on?" (Just a con, need I go on?)

"The end you've chosen is the ends of the earth" (The venue chosen is the ends of the earth)

In conclusion it is amazing no one realized I had sensory processing issues sooner.

[writerystuff]

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE DON'T READ BOOKS

[striderstable]

Latest post to my WP blog, in which I pontificate dexteriously on mondegreens.

[aquilinestudios]

Scintilla's Stupid Away Messages #57

You want more (YOU WANT MORE) but you'll get nothing from me but animés! ANIMÉS!

[sivavakkiyar]

or cancel it though; I really don’t mind / killing time, killing time etc

[in-sufficientdata]

The result of realizing you've been singing a mondegreen and leaning into it instead of correcting yourself:

A car full of people singing "you've been running 'round, running 'round, running 'round throwing that turtle on my name"

[orwellsunderpants]

Category: Song lyrics misheard by Vikings. I'll start.

It's the little things that'll pull you under / Fill your life with joy and plunder

K now it's your turn. Go.

[mooreaux]

“To love a God, you must give more than your heart. More than your soul. To love a God of the Dark Tapestry… you must be prepared to sacrifice everything…”

-An excerpt from the diary of Lady Cleantha Mondegreene, two days before her unfortunate demise.

(My oc Cleantha didn’t make it thru our current dnd campaign… that’s what u get for romancing the bad guy 😢)

[achromatophoric]

Enid: Babe, where’s the ice cream?

Wednesday: Ice cream?

Enid: Yeah, you said there’d be ice cream, but I don’t see any. Kinda warm in here, too.

Wednesday: *brow furrows* I said no such thing.

Enid: Oh c’mon! You asked if I wanted to go to your uncle’s ice creamery!

Wednesday: Ah, I see. You misheard. This place is Uncle Lice’s Crematory.

Enid:

Wednesday:

Enid: Oh.

Wednesday: Now I’ll ask again, did you want anything?

Enid: From here? *makes face* I think I’ll pass.

Wednesday: Suit yourself.

Wednesday: *approaches counter* Miserable day, Uncle Lice. I’ll take two scoops of Kooky and Scream in a— hmm.

Wednesday looks around for a moment before flinching back in pain.

Wednesday: Enid, would you perhaps like a souvenir urn? *points*

Enid: EW! Why would I— *looks*

The urn in question is a beacon of incongruity, enameled in blindingly hot pink and festooned with ornamental—

Enid: UNICORNS!! It has unicorns AND rainbows!

Wednesday: *shielding eyes* Does it now?

Enid: YES! And yes! Yes-yes-yes puh-lease! I neeeeeed that cup!

Enid: *grossly unnecessary puppy face*

Wednesday: *rubs eyes* As you desire. Uncle Lice, I’ll take the scoops in that atrocious mockery.

Enid: EEEEeeEEEE!! Thank you Willa!

Wednesday: Of course. *wipes away bloody tear* Anything for mi lobita.

Enid: 🥰

Enid’s new urn cup: 🌈🦄 🦄 🦄 🌈