Don't Take Me Seriously - Book - Page 78
ESCAPE Weekly
Nov. 27 - Dec. 3, 2009 – 16
Intense peppermints
From the recipe of the Duke of Earl — of Mondegreen
W
and simple mix-ups, there is “Round
ith the holiday season
John Virgin” from “Silent Night” (I
already cooking, there
certainly hope they were gathered ’round
is really no better time
to console him) and “Jose can you see”
than this to sample some “Intense
from our National Anthem.
Peppermints.” Maybe you could dip
I’m sure you have your
them “In a glob of Velveeta
own favorites, and maybe
honey.” Or maybe you
even some that no one has
could “Pour some shook-up
ever thought of.
Ramen” on them.
Well, you will be pleased
Are you with me?
to know that there is
Not yet?
actually a name for this sort
For those who might
of thing. These misquotes
be a little young for these
are called “mondegreens.”
errant references, the first is
A mondegreen is
a misquote of a phrase from
Jim Walker
the mishearing or
Strawberry Alarm Clock’s
Don’t Take Me Seriously
misinterpretation of
1967 song “Incense and
a phrase, typically a
Peppermints:”
standardized phrase, such as a line in
“Incense and peppermints, the color
a poem or a lyric in a song — in a way
of time.
that yields a new meaning to the phrase.
Who cares what games we choose?
Of course, sometimes mondegreens
Little to win, but nothing to lose.”
are just dumb. For years I tortured my
The second misquote is a butchering of
older brother’s ears with “Oh baby,
1968’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (honey)”
meet me on Bounty,” which was my
by Iron Butterfly. (As if that wasn’t
interpretation of “Oh baby, meet me on
twisted enough, already.) The third is a
goof on the Def Leppard song title from South Street,” from “South Street” by
the Orlons in 1963. Despite the title,
1987 — “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”
for some reason I thought they sang
Leaving the food references for a
“Bounty” and I guess I thought it had
moment, none can forget Wayne and
something to do with “Mutiny on the
Garth jacking up Jimi Hendrix’s lyrics
with “Scuse me, while I kiss this guy” (it Bounty.” It made no sense whatsoever
was actually “kiss the sky”). But did you — you know, unless it was Fletcher
Christian’s song to his Tahitian bride.
know Hendrix did the word play first? I
It’s actually kinda romantic when you
have it on the best authority.
look at it that way, though you have to
Who can forget The Clash rockin’
toss out the rest of the song.
the “cat box,” or Elton John with “Hold
Still, driving my brother crazy made
me closer Tony Danza?” Here are a
it worthwhile, so I sang that line every
couple others that shouldn’t be hard to
chance I had for years after I knew it
figure out:
was incorrect.
The Beatles with “Lucy’s in a fight
with Linus” and “The girl with colitis
There is also another term for these
goes by.”
kinds of mishearings — “oronym.”
And how about Creedence
An oronym is a sequence of words (for
Clearwater Revival with “There’s a
example, “ice cream”) that sounds the
bathroom on the right.”
same as a different sequence of words
Getting down to the mainstream
(“I scream”). Kids learn this one early.
Metro Creative Connection
Ever had an “Intense Peppermint?” The phrase is a “mondegreen,” a twist on “Incense and Peppermints.”
And then there’s “homophone.” A
homophone is a word that is pronounced
the same as another word but differs
in meaning. The words may be spelled
the same, such as rose (flower) and rose
(past tense of “rise”), or differently, such
as carat, caret and carrot, or to, two and
too. Homophones that are spelled the
same are also both “homographs” and
“homonyms.” The term “homophone”
may also apply to units longer or shorter
than words, such as phrases, letters or
groups of letters that are pronounced the
same as another phrase, letter or group
of letters.
Here, at least for the time being,
we find the dividing line between
man and computer. That’s because
word programs still have a lot of
trouble with homophones. Which
brings us to the well known poem
— well, well known among editors,
I assume — “Candidate for a Pullet
Surprise” (get it, Pulitzer Prize), by
Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar.
We present the first stanza. There’s a
lot more to it:
“I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.”
Mondegreens, oronyms or
homophones, it’s fun to mix things up.
And if it hasn’t been done already (and
I hereby plant the flag on the Internet
that it hasn’t), I propose a party game
where you write famous misquotes on
a big tablet and let your unknowing
partners try to guess the real words in the
reference. I also propose it be named after
me, the Duke of Earl of Mondegreen.
Well, OK, we’ll just call it “Magnificent
Mondegreens.” Hasbro, are you reading
this? I own the domain name.
Oh, and one other domain I claim —
“Intense Peppermints.” I’m working on a
really intense recipe right now, and I bet
you can guess what the tune in the ad
will be …. “Sha la la ….”
