What Is It Called When You Mishear Song Lyrics?

Oh, English. There are so many different kinds of errors that sometimes it seems overwhelming, but today, we’re going to talk about errors you can laugh at—errors like thinking Creedence Clearwater Revival sang There’s a bathroom on the right instead of There’s a bad moon on the rise and saying something is a little fit bunny instead of a little bit funny. (1)

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Spoonerisms

Our “little fit bunny” type of error is called a spoonerism in honor of Reverend William Archibald Spooner, who taught at New College in Oxford in the 1800s and early 1900s, and had a reputation for mixing up words. Reports say that he was less than thrilled to be “honored” by having the error named after him.

A spoonerism is a particular kind of mix-up. It happens when you swap sounds between two words in a phrase. (2, 3) There are unintentional spoonerisms that don’t make sense, such as goys and birls (for boys and girls), and then there are spoonerisms that create new, amusing meanings such as keys and parrots (for peas and carrots) and better Nate than lever (for better late than never).

I confess that on more than one occasion I have called my relatives Gail and Dave, Dale and Gave!

There are also intentional spoonerisms. For example, Keen James wrote a book called Stoopnagle’s Tale Is Twisted: Spoonerisms Run Amok that retells fairy tales using spoonerisms. Chapters include “Beeping Sleuty” and “Prinderella and the Since.” Christopher Manson wrote a book called The Rails I Tote, which has 45 spoonerism cartoons for readers to decipher (such as bee tags for tea bags). And Shel Silverstein authored a book called Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook, which obviously uses spoonerisms.

When I covered this topic a few years ago, a reader named Danielle told me about a story called “Rindercella” instead of “Cinderella.” She said her favorite part is the last line, which goes like this:

“Now the storal of the mory is this: If you ever go to a bancy fall, and you want a prandsome hince to lall in fove with you, don’t forget to slop your dripper.”

[Note: After this article was published, Jesse Coffey pointed me to the original “Rindercella” skit, which appeared on the TV show HeeHaw. You can watch the video at YouTube.]

Two other readers named Jeremy and Margaret told me about a comedy and singing troupe in Washington DC they enjoy who does a segment called “Lirty Dies” (instead of “Dirty Lies”).

As I was researching this topic, I also came across many spoonerisms that seemed to be intentional attempts to eliminate swear words while still getting the point across. Some of the less offensive examples include nucking futs (from the movie Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star), biserable mastered (from the video game Escape from Monkey Island), bass ackwards, and no wucking furries.

Also see Swear Words in Text: Grawlix

It makes me wonder if Reverend Spooner is grolling over in his rave!

Mondegreens

On to mondegreens! Whereas spoonerisms are slips of the tongue, mondegreens are errors of the ears. Mondegreens happen when you mishear something, usually a song lyric, and create a new meaning. The Creedence “There’s a bathroom on the right” mistake is mondegreen, as is people hearing Olive, the other reindeer instead of all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names in the song “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer.”

The name “mondegreen” was coined by a writer named Sylvia Wright who misheard a line from a 17th-century Scottish ballad.

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,

Oh, where hae ye been?

They hae slain the Earl of O’ Moray,

And laid him on the green.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the future of word play), Wright heard the last line as And Lady Mondegreen instead of And laid him on the green.

Wright had imagined a second slaying victim where there was none, and when she discovered the error she decided to name the phenomenon after the nonexistent Lady Mondegreen.

Some of my favorite mondegreens come from children’s misinterpretations of the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m thinking of the scene in the movie Kindergarten Cop where the kids are saying the Pledge, and if I remember correctly there are lines like I led the pigeons to the flag and One Nation under God, invisible, with liver tea and Justice for all.

There are lots of great mondegreens from popular music. I like these two from Toto and Cyndi Lauper: mistaking I blessed the rains down in Africa for I guess it rains down in Africa, and mistaking When the working day is done, Girls, they want to have fun for What in the world can they get done? Girls, they want to have fun.

A reader named Mark said that in Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” many people hear trouble in the Suez as trouble in the sewers, and a reader named Jennifer said that when she was a kid she used to go around the house singing sand on the rug instead of band on the run.

If you like mondegreens, Gavin Edwards has written a series of books about them, including ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy, When a Man Loves a Walnut, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Pants.

I like to imagine the mythical Lady Mondegreen happily singing along.

Eggcorns

Eggcorns were first identified as a separate phenomenon 10 years ago and got their name from a discussion on the Language Log website about a woman who misheard the word acorn as eggcorn. (4) Such a change isn’t a mondegreen because it doesn’t create a new meaning, and it isn’t a spoonerism (or a malapropism) because the swapped words sound the same—they’re homophones or near homophones.

Other examples of eggcorns include coming down the pipe instead of coming down the pike and chomping at the bit instead of champing at the bit. Many of the most common eggcorns seem to swap homophones in familiar phrases, such as H-E-R-E for H-E-A-R in hear, hear (it’s spelled hear because it mean something like “hear him, hear him”), B-A-I-L-I-N-G for B-A-L-I-N-G in baling wire, and T-O-W instead of T-O-E in toe the line.

Malapropisms

Finally, I’ll talk about malapropisms. The name comes from a French phrase meaning “badly for the purpose.” It came into popular usage to describe the silly misuse of words after the playwright Richard Sheridan named one of his characters, who had a habit of ridiculously mixing up words, Mrs. Malaprop. (The play is called The Rivals.)

Malapropisms occur when someone substitutes a similar-sounding word for another word. For example, George Bush was reported to say, “nucular power pants” instead of “nuclear power plants” in 2003, and, in Sheridan’s play, Mrs. Malaprop said, “He’s the very pineapple of politeness” instead of “He’s the very pinnacle of politeness.”

Scott Perez-Fox reminded me that Dogberry in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” makes great comic use of malapropisms. For example, he says,” “O villain! Thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this,” when he meant everlasting damnation. (5)

Spoonerisms, mondegreens, eggcorns, and malapropisms are all instances where you get the words wrong. My brain is starting to hurt trying to keep the names straight, so I’m going to try to summarize them.

Spoonerisms are what you get when a speaker mixes up sounds, making phrases such as better Nate than lever. Remember William Spooner and his particular kind of mix up such as The Lord is a shoving leopard instead of The Lord is a loving shepherd.
Mondegreens are what you get when listeners mishear words; for example when people think the song lyrics are Sweet dreams are made of cheese instead of Sweet dreams are made of this. Think of Lady Mondegreen being laid on the green.
Eggcorns are what you get when people swap homophones in phrases, such as spelling hear, hear H-E-R-E instead of H-E-A-R. Remember the woman who mistook acorn for eggcorn.
Malapropisms are what you get when someone substitutes a similar-sounding word for another, such as He’s the pineapple of politeness instead of He’s the pinnacle of politeness. Remember Mrs. Malaprop from the Sheridan play.

Word Mix-Ups and Alzheimer’s

Finally, one not-so-funny thing about a specific way of mixing up words is that it can be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. My dad had Alzheimer’s, and one of the things we noticed was that he would use a related word instead of the right word. He might call his watch a “time” for example or a chair a “sit.” The Alzheimer’s Association also lists this kind of problem as one of the early warning signs of Alzheimer’s. They give the example of calling a watch a “hand-clock.” So if someone in your family is having this kind of problem, don’t panic, but you might want to have him or her see a doctor.

Also see Could an Epilepsy Drug Prevent Alzheimer’s?

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