I learned some new words last week, including "Sclera," which could have been shouted at The Battle Of Bunker Hill by Colonel Prescott.
"Hold your fire until you see their sclera!"
That is, the white of your eye.
I asked that Mindbender, because I was about to play a track off The Beatles White Album.
Often, I'll take a word or phrase from the band, or song or album that I'm about to play, to make up my daily question.
Last week, I learned the word "Mondegreen."
A Mondegreen is a misheard phrase, that gives the sentence a new and different meaning.
It comes from a 17th Century ballad, that contains the couplet:
They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,
And laid him on the green
Some folks have misheard the lyric as:
They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen.
And since the 17th Century, lovers of music have found Mondegreen after Mondegreen in popular song.
From our National Anthem, "Jose, can you see?" to "Olive, The Other Reindeer" to "There's a Bathroom on the right" to "Hold me closer, Tony Danza," there is no end to the fun you can have, when you don't hear it quite right.
And today's song, is probably the most famous/scandalous Mondegreen of all. Bruce Springsteen even joked on a VH1 Storytellers episode, that Manfred Mann might have made this song more popular by making his reference to a car (a "Deuce") sound as if the chorus was talking about a feminine hygeine product.
"Wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night."
Read his lips, is he saying "douche" or "deuce"?
No comments:
Post a Comment