Editing Mondegreen

{{Short description|Misinterpretation of a spoken phrase}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}

A '''mondegreen''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɒ|n|d|ᵻ|ˌ|g|r|iː|n|audio=en-us-mondegreen.ogg}}) is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.<ref name=":0">{{cite OED |mondegreen |date=September 2002 |access-date=25 November 2020}} "A misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing, esp. of the lyrics to a song".</ref> Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.<ref name="Konnikova">{{cite news |work=The New Yorker |author=Maria Konnikova |title=Excuse Me While I Kiss this Guy |url=https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/science-misheard-lyrics-mondegreens |date=10 December 2014 |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-date=17 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017184232/https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/science-misheard-lyrics-mondegreens |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Carroll">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/JON-CARROLL-Zen-and-the-Art-Of-Mondegreens-3330389.php |title=Zen and the Art Of Mondegreens |first=Jon |last=Carroll |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=22 September 1995 |access-date=17 December 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222114555/http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/JON-CARROLL-Zen-and-the-Art-Of-Mondegreens-3330389.php |url-status=live}}</ref> The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, recalling a childhood memory of her mother reading the Scottish ballad "[[The Bonnie Earl o' Moray]]", and mishearing the words "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen".

"Mondegreen" was included in the 2000 edition of the ''Random House Webster's College Dictionary'', and in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' in 2002. [[Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary|Merriam-Webster's ''Collegiate Dictionary'']] added the word in 2008.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080804235251/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/new.dictionary.words.ap/index.html CNN.com: Dictionary adds new batch of words]. 7 July 2008.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25556393 |title=Pescatarian? Dictionary's new entries debut |date=7 July 2008 |publisher=MSNBC |access-date=8 March 2020 |archive-date=6 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006143202/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25556393/ns/us_news-life/t/pescatarian-dictionarys-new-entries-debut/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Etymology==
In a 1954 essay in ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'', Sylvia Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the last line of the first stanza from the [[ballad]] "[[The Bonnie Earl o' Moray]]" (from [[Thomas Percy (bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]]'s 1765 book ''[[Reliques of Ancient English Poetry]]''). She wrote:

{{blockquote|
When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from [[Reliques of Ancient English Poetry|Percy's ''Reliques'']], and one of my favorite poems began, as I remember:

{{Poem quote|
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray,
And ''Lady Mondegreen''.<ref name="Wright" />}}
}}

The correct lines are, "They hae slain the Earl o' Moray / And ''laid him on the green''."  Wright explained the need for a new term:

{{Blockquote|The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original.<ref name="Wright" />}}

==Psychology==
People are more likely to notice what they expect rather than things that are not part of their everyday experiences; this is known as [[confirmation bias]]. A person may mistake an unfamiliar stimulus for a familiar and more plausible version. For example, to consider a well-known mondegreen in the song "[[Purple Haze]]", one may be more likely to hear [[Jimi Hendrix]] singing that he is about to ''kiss this guy'' than that he is about to ''kiss the sky''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201104/bathroom-the-right-misheard-and-misremembered-song-lyrics |title=A Bathroom on the Right? Misheard and Misremembered Song Lyrics |author=Ira Hyman |magazine=Psychology Today |date=8 April 2011}}</ref> Similarly, if a lyric uses words or phrases that the listener is unfamiliar with, or in an uncommon sentence structure, they may be misheard as using more familiar terms.

The creation of mondegreens may be driven in part by [[cognitive dissonance]]; the listener finds it psychologically uncomfortable to listen to a song and not make out the words. [[Steven Connor]] suggests that mondegreens are the result of the brain's constant attempts to make sense of the world by making assumptions to fill in the gaps when it cannot clearly determine what it is hearing. Connor sees mondegreens as the "wrenchings of nonsense into sense".{{efn|"But, though mishearings may appear pleasingly or even subversively to sabotage sense, they are in fact in essence [[negentropic]], which is to say, they push up the slope from random noise to the redundancy of voice, moving therefore from the direction of nonsense to sense, of nondirection to direction. They seem to represent the intolerance of pure phenomena. In this they are different from the misspeakings with which they are often associated. Seeing slips of the ear as simply the auditory complement of slips of the tongue mistakes their programmatic nature and function. Misspeakings are the disorderings of sense by nonsense; mishearings are the wrenchings of nonsense into sense." {{cite web |title=Earslips: Of Mishearings and Mondegreens |author=Steven Connor |url=http://www.stevenconnor.com/earslips/ |date=14 February 2009 |access-date=19 December 2011 |archive-date=12 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112014801/http://www.stevenconnor.com/earslips/ |url-status=live}}}} This dissonance will be most acute when the lyrics are in a language in which the listener is fluent.<ref name=":2">"it turns out that listeners to popular music seem to grope in a fog of blunder, botch, and misprision, making flailing guesses at sense in the face of what seems to be a world of largely unintelligible utterance" {{cite web |title=Earslips: Of Mishearings and Mondegreens |author=Steven Connor |url=http://www.stevenconnor.com/earslips/ |date=14 February 2009 |access-date=19 December 2011 |archive-date=12 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112014801/http://www.stevenconnor.com/earslips/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

On the other hand, [[Steven Pinker]] has observed that mondegreen mishearings tend to be ''less'' plausible than the original lyrics, and that once a listener has "locked in" to a particular misheard interpretation of a song's lyrics, it can remain unquestioned, even when that plausibility becomes strained (see [[mumpsimus]]). Pinker gives the example of a student "stubbornly" mishearing the chorus to "[[Venus (Shocking Blue song)|Venus]]" ("I'm your [[Venus (goddess)|Venus]]") as "I'm your penis", and being surprised that the song was allowed on the radio.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |author=Steven Pinker |title=The Language Instinct |publisher=William Morrow |place=New York |year=1994 |pages=182–183 |isbn=978-0-688-12141-9 |author-link=Steven Pinker |title-link=The Language Instinct }}</ref> The phenomenon may, in some cases, be triggered by people hearing "what they want to hear", as in the case of the song "[[Louie Louie#Lyrics controversy and investigations|Louie Louie]]": parents heard obscenities in the [[The Kingsmen|Kingsmen]] recording where none existed.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/funny/lascivious-louie-louie |title=The Lascivious 'Louie Louie' |website=The Smoking Gun |access-date=18 February 2009 |archive-date=21 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021004844/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/funny/lascivious-louie-louie |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[James Gleick]] states that the mondegreen is a distinctly modern phenomenon. Without the improved communication and language standardization brought about by radio, he argues that there would have been no way to recognize and discuss this shared experience.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood |place=New York |year=2011 |publisher=Pantheon |author=James Gleick |isbn=978-0-375-42372-7|pages=114–115 |title-link=The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood |author-link=James Gleick }}</ref> Just as mondegreens transform songs based on experience, a [[Folk music#Traditional folk music|folk song]] learned by repetition often is [[Folk process#Operation|transformed]] over time when sung by people in a region where some of the song's references have become obscure. A classic example is "[[The Sweet Trinity|The Golden Vanity]]",<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Vanity, The [Child 286]|url=http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/C286.html|access-date=18 April 2019|archive-date=18 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418154356/http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/C286.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> which contains the line "As she sailed upon the lowland sea". British immigrants carried the song to Appalachia, where later generations of singers, not knowing what the term ''[[North Sea|lowland sea]]'' refers to, transformed it over generations from "lowland" to "lonesome".<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/carter_family/sinking_in_the_lonesome_sea-lyrics-1176419.html
|title=Sinking In The Lonesome Sea lyrics
|access-date=19 August 2011
|archive-date=23 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823172519/http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/carter_family/sinking_in_the_lonesome_sea-lyrics-1176419.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>{{efn|Jean Ritchie recorded the ballad on her 1961 Folkways album, ''British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains Volume 1''. Jean's version, which she learned from her mother, corresponds with Story Type A found in Tristram Potter Coffin's ''The British Traditional Ballad in North America''. The refrain "As she sailed upon the low, and lonesome low, She sailed upon the lonesome sea" seems to be typical of variants of the ballads recorded and collected in the Ozarks and Appalachian mountains and references ''The Merry Golden Tree'', ''Weeping Willow Tree'', or ''Green Willow Tree'' as the ship.{{cite web |url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thegoldenvanity.html |title=The Golden Vanity / The Old Virginia Lowlands |work=Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music |access-date=18 April 2019 |archive-date=18 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418152320/https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thegoldenvanity.html |url-status=live}}}}

== Examples ==
===In songs===
<!-- This section is for NOTABLE AND SOURCED examples that have some SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to the genre. It  is *not* an exhaustive listing of everyone's favorite misheard lyrics! -->
The national anthem of the United States is highly susceptible to the creation of mondegreens, two in the first line. [[Francis Scott Key]]'s "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" begins with the line "O say can you see, by the dawn's early light".<ref>Francis Scott Key, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130126153519/http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/lyrics.html ''The Star Spangled Banner'']}} (lyrics), 1814, MENC: The National Association for Music Education [[National Anthem Project]] (archived from {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120529014555/http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/lyrics.html the original]}} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130126153519/http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/lyrics.html Archived]}} 26 January 2013, at the [[Wayback Machine]]. on 26 January 2013).</ref> This has been misinterpreted (both accidentally and deliberately) as "José, can you see", another example of the [[Hobson-Jobson]] effect, countless times.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTk3rBRTueE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ZTk3rBRTueE |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live |title=Jose Can You See – Angels In the Outfield |via=YouTube |date=30 June 2011 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/anthem.html |title=Jose can you see? The controversy over the Spanish translation of the Star-Spangled Banner |last=Baron |first=Dennis |access-date=22 December 2016 |archive-date=17 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917191521/http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/anthem.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The second half of the line has been misheard as well, as "by the donzerly light",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amiright.com/misheard/song/starspangledbanner.shtml |title=Misheard Lyrics -> Song -> S -> Star Spangled Banner |access-date=9 January 2017 |archive-date=2 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102073856/http://www.amiright.com/misheard/song/starspangledbanner.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> or other variants. This has led to many people believing that "donzerly" is an actual word.<ref>{{cite web |title=Misheard lyrics #3 Teaching Resources |url=https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/misheard-lyrics-3-6402560 |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220150726/https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/misheard-lyrics-3-6402560 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Religious songs, learned by ear (and often by children), are another common source of mondegreens. The most-cited example is "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear"<ref name="Wright">{{cite magazine |author=Sylvia Wright |year=1954 |title=The Death of Lady Mondegreen |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1954-11_209_1254/page/48 |magazine=Harper's Magazine |pages=48–51 |volume=209 |issue=1254}} Drawings by [[Bernarda Bryson]]. Reprinted in: {{cite book |author=Sylvia Wright |url=https://archive.org/details/getawayfrommewit00wrig/page/105 |title=Get Away From Me With Those Christmas Gifts |publisher=McGraw Hill |year=1957}} Contains the essays "The Death of Lady Mondegreen" and "The Quest of Lady Mondegreen".</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=William Saffire|title=On Language; Return of the Mondegreens |date=23 January 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/23/magazine/on-language-return-of-the-mondegreens.html |access-date=22 March 2020 |archive-date=22 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322180302/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/23/magazine/on-language-return-of-the-mondegreens.html |url-status=live}}</ref> (from the line in the hymn "Keep Thou My Way" by [[Fanny Crosby]] and Theodore E. Perkins: "Kept by Thy tender care, gladly the cross I'll bear").<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/k/e/e/keepthou.htm
 |title=Keep Thou My Way
 |author=Frances Crosby
 |work=The Cyber Hymnal
 |access-date=6 September 2006
 |author-link=Frances Crosby
 |archive-date=14 May 2012
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514091858/http://www.hymntime.com/tch//htm/k/e/e/keepthou.htm
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref> [[Jon Carroll]] and many others quote it as "Gladly the cross ''I'd'' bear";<ref name="Carroll" /> note that the  confusion may be heightened by the unusual [[Object–subject–verb|object-subject-verb (OSV)]] word order of the phrase. The song "[[I Was on a Boat That Day]]" by [[Old Dominion (band)|Old Dominion]] features a reference to this mondegreen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Dominion — I Was On A Boat That Day Lyrics {{!}} Genius Lyrics |url=https://genius.com/Old-dominion-i-was-on-a-boat-that-day-lyrics |access-date=16 August 2022 |website=genius.com |language=en |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816023803/https://genius.com/Old-dominion-i-was-on-a-boat-that-day-lyrics |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Mondegreens expanded as a phenomenon with radio, and, especially, the growth of rock and roll<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics|date=February 2010|volume=43|issue=1|pages=55–56|author=Don Hauptman|title=It's Not Easy Being Mondegreen}}</ref> (and even more so with rap<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Lady Mondegreen and the Miracle of Misheard Song Lyrics|author=Willy Staley|date=13 July 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/lady-mondegreen-and-the-miracle-of-misheard-song-lyrics.html|access-date=22 March 2020|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218234541/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/lady-mondegreen-and-the-miracle-of-misheard-song-lyrics.html|url-status=live}}</ref>). Among the most-reported examples are:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://flatfieldrecords.com/whither-the-mondegreen-the-vanishing-pleasures-of-misheard-lyrics/|title=Whither the Mondegreen? The Vanishing Pleasures of Misheard Lyrics|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220154546/https://flatfieldrecords.com/whither-the-mondegreen-the-vanishing-pleasures-of-misheard-lyrics/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Carroll" />

#"There's a bathroom on the right" (the line at the end of each verse of "[[Bad Moon Rising (song)|Bad Moon Rising]]" by [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]: "There's a bad moon on the rise").<ref name="Konnikova" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Grammar of Rock: Art and Artlessness in 20th Century Pop Lyrics|author=Alexander Theroux|publisher=Fatntagraphics Books|year=2013|pages=45–46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gavin Edwards|title=Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy|year=1995|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=92}}</ref>
#"’Scuse me while I kiss this guy" (from a lyric in the song "Purple Haze" by [[The Jimi Hendrix Experience]]: ("’Scuse me while I kiss the sky").<ref name="Konnikova" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Gavin Edwards|title=Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy|year=1995|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=12}}</ref>
#"The girl with [[colitis]] goes by" (from a lyric in the [[The Beatles|Beatles]] song "[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]":  "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes")<ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Gary|title='The girl with colitis goes by' – the meaning and origin of this phrase|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/361050.html|access-date=5 February 2021|website=Phrasefinder|language=en|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127202413/https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/361050.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Both Creedence's [[John Fogerty]] and Hendrix eventually acknowledged these mishearings by deliberately singing the "mondegreen" versions of their songs in concert.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2023/08/27/ccrs-john-fogerty-theres-the-bathroom-on-the-right-not-really/?sh=1d2ef690d438|work=Forbes|author=Jim Clash|title=CCR's John Fogerty: 'There's The Bathroom On The Right' (Not Really)|access-date=3 November 2023|archive-date=3 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103153839/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2023/08/27/ccrs-john-fogerty-theres-the-bathroom-on-the-right-not-really/?sh=1d2ef690d438|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last1=Shapiro
| first1=Harry
| author-link1=Harry Shapiro (author)
| last2=Glebbeek
| first2=Cesar
| title=Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy
| location=New York City
| publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]
| year=1990
| page=148
| isbn=0-312-05861-6
| url=https://archive.org/details/jimihendrixelec000shap}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/apr/26/leadersandreply.mainsection2 Letters], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 26 April 2007.</ref>

"[[Blinded by the Light#Lyrics|Blinded by the Light]]", a cover of a [[Bruce Springsteen]] song by [[Manfred Mann's Earth Band]], contains what has been called "probably the most misheard lyric of all time".<ref name="blinded">{{Cite web |url=http://blogcritics.org/q-blinded-by-the-light-revved/ |title=Q: "Blinded By the Light, Revved Up Like a…" What? |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802103921/http://blogcritics.org/q-blinded-by-the-light-revved/ |archive-date=2 August 2016 |url-status=dead }}, Blogcritics Music</ref> The phrase "revved up like a deuce", altered from Springsteen's original "cut loose like a deuce", both lyrics referring to the [[hot rod]]ders slang ''deuce'' (short for [[1932 Ford#Deuce coupe|deuce coupé]]) for a 1932 Ford coupé, is frequently misheard as "wrapped up like a [[douche]]".<ref name="blinded"/><ref>The comedy show ''The Vacant Lot'' built an entire skit, called "Blinded by the Light" around four friends arguing about the lyrics. One version can be seen here: {{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9_3nQFNy-w |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/U9_3nQFNy-w |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=The Vacant Lot – Blinded By The Light|via=YouTube|year=1993
|access-date=25 January 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Springsteen himself has joked about the phenomenon, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a "feminine hygiene product" that the song became popular.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Bruce Springsteen |series=[[VH1 Storytellers]] |network=[[VH1]] |airdate=23 April 2005 |number=62 }}</ref>{{efn|See this video of the mondegreen phenomenon in popular music.{{cite web|title=Top 10 Misheard Lyrics|via=YouTube |date=20 February 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZhxLjDLu6Y |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/VZhxLjDLu6Y |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=18 March 2014}}{{cbignore}}}}

Another commonly cited example of a song susceptible to mondegreens is [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s "[[Smells Like Teen Spirit]]", with the line "here we are now, entertain us" variously being misinterpreted as "here we are now, ''in containers''",<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8015543/REM-song-is-most-misheard.html|title=REM song is most misheard|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=21 September 2010|access-date=8 March 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220130233/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8015543/REM-song-is-most-misheard.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/misheard-song-lyrics-6787|title=The Top 40 Misheard Song Lyrics|date=16 June 2016|website=NME |language=en-GB|access-date=8 March 2020}}</ref> and "here we are now, ''hot potatoes''",<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kimpton|first=Peter|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/sep/23/misheard-lyrics-under-threat-i-stir-the-cocoa|title=I stir the cocoa: is the joy of misheard lyrics under threat? {{!}} Peter Kimpton|date=23 September 2014|work=The Guardian|access-date=8 March 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> among other renditions.

In the 2014 song "[[Blank Space]]" by [[Taylor Swift]], listeners widely misheard the line "got a long list of ex-lovers" as "all the lonely [[Starbucks]] lovers".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2015/05/25/taylor-swift-starbucks-lovers-mom/ |title=Even Taylor Swift's mom thought it was 'Starbucks lovers' |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=7 August 2023 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027131809/https://ew.com/article/2015/05/25/taylor-swift-starbucks-lovers-mom/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rap and hip hop lyrics may be particularly susceptible to being misheard because they do not necessarily follow standard pronunciations. The delivery of rap lyrics relies heavily upon an often regional pronunciation<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/speak/words/sezwho/hiphop/reprint/|access-date=8 August 2024|title=Hip Hop Nation|author=H. Samy Alim|publisher=[[PBS]] }}</ref> or non-traditional accenting (see [[African-American Vernacular English]]) of words and their [[phonemes]] to adhere to the artist's stylizations and the lyrics' written structure. This issue is exemplified in controversies over alleged transcription errors in [[Yale University Press]]'s 2010 ''Anthology of Rap''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2275145/|title=Stakes Is High|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |year=2010|author=Paul Devlin|access-date=9 December 2010|archive-date=17 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217220616/http://www.slate.com/id/2275145|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Standardized and recorded mondegreens===
Sometimes, the modified version of a lyric becomes standard, as is the case with "[[The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)|The Twelve Days of Christmas]]". The original has "four colly birds"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas.htm |title=A Christmas Carol Treasury |website=The Hymns and Carols Of Christmas |access-date=5 December 2011 |archive-date=8 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108145033/http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> (''colly'' means ''black''; compare ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'': "Brief as the lightning in the collied night"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/dream/T.1.1.html#145|title=Shakespeare Navigators|access-date=7 May 2015|archive-date=11 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511221014/http://shakespeare-navigators.com/dream/T.1.1.html#145|url-status=dead}}</ref>); by the turn of the twentieth century, these had been replaced by ''calling'' birds,<ref>{{cite web|title=Twelve Days of Christmas|url=http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas.htm|access-date=10 November 2013|archive-date=30 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130013920/http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> which is the lyric used in the now-standard 1909 [[Frederic Austin]] version.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas.htm|title=A Christmas Carol Treasury|website=The Hymns and Carols Of Christmas|access-date=5 December 2011|archive-date=8 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108145033/http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Another example is found in [[ELO]]'s song "[[Don't Bring Me Down (song)|Don't Bring Me Down]]". The original recorded lyric was "don't bring me down, Gruss!", but fans misheard it as "don't bring me down, Bruce!". Eventually, ELO began playing the song with the mondegreen lyric.<ref name="ultimate">{{cite web |first=Nick |last=DeRiso |title=Why Did Jeff Lynne Add 'Bruce' to ELO's 'Don't Bring Me Down'? |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=6 June 2019 |access-date=6 June 2019 |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/electric-light-orchestra-dont-bring-me-down-bruce/ |archive-date=7 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607082122/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/electric-light-orchestra-dont-bring-me-down-bruce/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The song "[[Sea Lion Woman]]", recorded in 1939 by Christine and Katherine Shipp, was performed by [[Nina Simone]] under the title "[[See Line Woman]]". According to the liner notes from the compilation ''A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings'', the correct title of this playground song might also be "See [the] Lyin' Woman" or "C-Line Woman".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Library-Congress-Field-Recordings/dp/B0010W0MW8|title=A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings|website=Amazon|access-date=14 May 2009|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016012516/http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Library-Congress-Field-Recordings/dp/B0010W0MW8|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Jack Lawrence (songwriter)|Jack Lawrence]]'s misinterpretation of the French phrase "pauvre Jean" ("poor John") as the identically pronounced "pauvres gens" ("poor people") led to the translation of ''La Goualante du pauvre Jean'' ("The Ballad of Poor John") as "[[The Poor People of Paris]]", a hit song in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jacklawrencesongwriter.com/songs/poor_people_of_paris.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927205843/http://www.jacklawrencesongwriter.com/songs/poor_people_of_paris.html|url-status=dead|title=Jack Lawrence, Songwriter: Poor People Of Paris<!-- Bot generated title -->|archive-date=27 September 2013}}</ref>

===In literature===
<!-- This section is for NOTABLE AND SOURCED examples that have some SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to the genre. Because there are many, many examples of mondegreens occurring in the plot of a book, this list covers *only* mondegreens in titles  -->
''[[A Monk Swimming]]'' by author [[Malachy McCourt]] is so titled because of a childhood mishearing of a phrase from the Catholic rosary prayer, Hail Mary. "Amongst women" became "a monk swimmin{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/31/daily/mccourt-book-review.html |work=The New York Times |title='A Monk Swimming': A Tragedian's Brother Finds More Comedy in Life |access-date=17 February 2017 |archive-date=8 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708210730/http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/31/daily/mccourt-book-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The title and plot of the short science fiction story "Come You Nigh: Kay Shuns" ("Com-mu-ni-ca-tions") by Lawrence A. Perkins, in ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact]]'' magazine (April 1970), deals with [[secure communication|securing]] interplanetary radio communications by encoding them with mondegreens.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Perkins |first=Lawrence A. |date=1970 |title=Come You Nigh: Kay Shuns |magazine=Analog/Astounding Science Fiction |pages=11–120}}</ref>

''Olive, the Other Reindeer'' is a 1997 children's book by [[Vivian Walsh (author)|Vivian Walsh]], which borrows its title from a mondegreen of the line "all of the other reindeer" in the song "[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song)|Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]". The book was adapted into an [[Olive, the Other Reindeer|animated Christmas special]] in 1999.

The travel guide book series [[Lonely Planet]] is named after the misheard phrase "lovely planet" sung by [[Joe Cocker]] in [[Matthew Moore]]'s song "Space Captain".<ref name="Wheeler2">{{cite book |title=Once while travelling: the Lonely Planet story |last1=Wheeler |first1=Tony |last2=Wheeler |first2=Maureen |year=2005 |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing|Periplus Editions]] |isbn=978-0-670-02847-4}}</ref>

===In film===
<!--This section is for NOTABLE AND SOURCED examples that have some SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to the genre. As there are many film mondegreens, this list includes *only* examples in tilm titles and instances where a mondgreen is an essential feature of the plot. -->

A monologue of mondegreens appears in the 1971 film ''[[Carnal Knowledge (film)|Carnal Knowledge]]''. The camera focuses on actress [[Candice Bergen]] laughing as she recounts various phrases that fooled her as a child, including "Round John Virgin" (instead of "'Round yon virgin...") and "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear" (instead of "Gladly the cross I'd bear").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scripts.com/script.php?id=carnal_knowledge_5090&p=9|title=Carnal Knowledge Movie Script|access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref> The title of the 2013 film ''[[Ain't Them Bodies Saints]]'' is a misheard lyric from a folk song; director David Lowery decided to use it because it evoked the "classical, regional" feel of 1970s rural Texas.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.indiewire.com/2013/08/aint-them-bodies-saints-exclusive-video-interview-with-david-lowery-update-196541/ |title='Ain't Them Bodies Saints' Exclusive Video Interview with David Lowery UPDATE {{!}} IndieWire |last=Thompson |first=Anne |website=IndieWire |access-date=18 October 2016 |quote=The title was a misreading of an old American folk song that captured the right "classical, regional" feel, he said at the Sundance premiere press conference. |date=15 August 2013 |archive-date=19 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160619171238/http://www.indiewire.com/2013/08/aint-them-bodies-saints-exclusive-video-interview-with-david-lowery-update-196541/ |url-status=live }}'' (in the article text, not the video)''</ref>

In the 1994 film ''[[The Santa Clause]]'', a child identifies a ladder that Santa uses to get to the roof from its label: The Rose Suchak Ladder Company. He states that this is "just like the poem", misinterpreting "out on the lawn there arose such a clatter" from ''[[A Visit from St. Nicholas]]'' as "Out on the lawn, there's a Rose Suchak ladder".<ref name="Duralde">{{cite book|title=Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas|first=Alonso |last=Duralde |publisher=Limelight Editions|year=2010|page=15 |isbn=978-0-87910-376-7}}</ref>

===In television===
<!--This section is for NOTABLE AND SOURCED examples that have some SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to the genre. As there are many TV mondegreens, this list includes *only* examples in titles and instances where a mondegreen is an essential feature of the show or advertisment. -->

Mondegreens have been used in many television advertising campaigns, including:

* An advertisement for the 2012 [[Volkswagen Passat]] touting the car's audio system shows a number of people singing incorrect versions of the line "Burning out his fuse up here alone" from the [[Elton John]]/[[Bernie Taupin]] song "[[Rocket Man (song)|Rocket Man]]", until a woman listening to the song in a Passat realizes the correct words.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=2012 Passat Commercial: That's what he says?|via=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uibqTxCJxLI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018033436/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uibqTxCJxLI |archive-date=18 October 2013 |url-status=dead|access-date=28 November 2011}}</ref>
* A 2002 advertisement for [[T-Mobile International AG|T-Mobile]] shows spokeswoman [[Catherine Zeta-Jones]] helping to correct a man who has misunderstood the chorus of [[Def Leppard]]'s "[[Pour Some Sugar On Me]]" as "pour some shook up ramen".<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Def Leppard T-Mobile Commercial|via=YouTube |date=12 January 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWalP8U-GZc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/FWalP8U-GZc |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=11 April 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* A series of advertisements for [[Hitachi Maxell|Maxell]] audio cassette tapes, produced by [[HHCL|Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Kanner|first=Bernice|title=The 100 best TV commercials—and why they worked|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gD6TAAAAIAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Times Business|page=151|isbn=9780812929959}}</ref> shown in 1989 and 1990, featured misheard versions of "[[Israelites (song)|Israelites]]" (e.g., "Me ears are alight")<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTuM1fNzSgQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016012516/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTuM1fNzSgQ |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=dead|title=Maxell Tapes 80's advert for Maxell Audio Cassette Tapes |date=29 November 2012 |first1=Ron |last1=Heimink |via=YouTube|access-date=27 February 2014}}</ref> by [[Desmond Dekker]] and "[[Into the Valley]]" by [[the Skids]]<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAsmf1LGcpA |date=4 July 2006 |last1=OrientFan |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/DAsmf1LGcpA |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Skids – "Into The Valley" Maxell advert|via=YouTube|access-date=27 February 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> as heard by users of other brands of tape.
* A 1987 series of advertisements for [[Kellogg Company|Kellogg]]'s ''Nut 'n Honey Crunch'' featured a joke in which one person asks "What's for breakfast?" and is told "Nut 'N' Honey", which is misheard as "Nothing, honey".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Video Ad Library: Kellogg Co. – Nut N' Honey Crunch |url=http://www.adrespect.org/common/adlibrary/adlibrarydetails.cfm?QID=9&ClientID=11064 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027073053/http://www.adrespect.org/common/adlibrary/adlibrarydetails.cfm?QID=9&ClientID=11064 |archive-date=27 October 2022 |publisher=Jensen AdRespect Advertising Education Program}}</ref>

===In video games===

The video game ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' involved a mishearing during [[Mario]]'s encounters with [[Bowser]]. [[Charles Martinet]], the voice actor for Mario, explained the line was "So long, King-a Bowser";<ref>{{Cite tweet |last=Martinet |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Martinet |user=CharlesMartinet |number=1122713913269710848 |date=28 April 2019 |title=So long kinga Bowser! |access-date=17 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lane |first=Gavin |date=29 April 2019 |title=Charles Martinet, Voice Of Mario, Clears Up A Decades-Long Debate |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/04/charles_martinet_voice_of_mario_clears_up_a_decades-long_debate |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Nintendo Life |language=en-GB}}</ref> however, it was misheard as "So long, gay Bowser". The misinterpreted line became a [[Internet meme|meme]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 September 2020 |title=So long, "gay Bowser" – fans lament the loss of Mario 64's most famous line in Super Mario 3D All-Stars |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/mario-doesnt-shout-gay-bowser-in-super-mario-3d-all-stars-mario-64 |access-date=2024-07-17 |work=Eurogamer.net |language=en}}</ref> in part popularized by the line's removal in some updated rereleases of the game.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hernandez |first=Patricia |date=18 September 2020 |title=Internet pours one out for Super Mario 64's 'Gay Bowser,' who is dead now |url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/18/21445859/super-mario-64-nintendo-switch-3d-all-stars-gay-bowser-bye-charles-martinet |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 September 2020 |title=Super Mario 3D All-Stars removes bizarre 'gay Bowser' line |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/games/super-mario-3d-all-stars-64-so-long-gay-bowser-nintendo-switch-b498058.html |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

Other games in the ''Mario'' series, like ''[[Mario Party (video game)|Mario Party]]'' and ''[[Mario Kart 64]]'', also involve a mondegreen. Whenever the character [[Wario]] loses a minigame or a race, respectively, he says something along the lines of, "D'oh! I missed!" However, since he was originally designed to be German and his original voice actor, Thomas Spindler, was German, many people have heard this voice line as the German phrase "So ein Mist!", which means "oh, [[Wiktionary:crap|crap]]" in English. Spindler has said that this was the line he recorded in an interview in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Casey |date=2016-12-15 |title=Voice Actor Says Wario Was Originally Intended To Be A German Character |url=https://www.siliconera.com/voice-actor-says-wario-originally-intended-german-character/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Siliconera |language=en-US}}</ref> Charles Martinet, who is Wario's voice actor, has said that the voice line he recorded for the game was indeed "D'oh! I missed!" in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-06 |title=Random: Charles Martinet Adds To Decades-Old Confusion Over Wario 'D'oh, I Missed' Dialogue |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/11/random_charles_martinet_adds_to_decades-old_confusion_over_wario_doh_i_missed_dialogue |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Nintendo Life |language=en-GB}}</ref>

In the video game ''[[Final Fantasy XIV]]'', the lyrics for the boss theme "Ultima" are "Beat, the heart of Sabik" but the English speaking audience heard the voice lines as "big fat tacos" instead. This resulted in fan video remixes with the misunderstood lyrics.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d6XaW5TeD0 |title=Big Fat Tacos - Ruby Weapon's theme misheard lyrics |date=2020-02-22 |last=theSrex |access-date=2025-04-19 |via=YouTube}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2025}}} Developer Square Enix acknowledged the misunderstanding and embraced the joke,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-17 |title=FINAL FANTASY XIV on Twitter: "Big fat tacos 🌮 Big fat tacos 🌮 Big fat tacos, so big 🌮 #FFXIV #InternationalTacoDay" / Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status/1312769450383269892 |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=web.archive.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717062929/https://twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status/1312769450383269892 |archive-date=2022-07-17}}</ref> and made tacos a major plot point in the expansion ''Dawntrail''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-06 |title=The FFXIV Dawntrail Taco Stand Is Real (In-Game) |url=https://www.mmorpg.com/previews/the-ffxiv-dawntrail-taco-stand-is-real-in-game-2000131779 |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=MMORPG.com |language=en}}</ref>

===Other notable examples===

<!--This section is for NOTABLE AND SOURCED examples that have some SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to the genre. -->
The traditional game [[Chinese whispers]] ([[Telephone game|"Telephone" or "Gossip"]] in North America) involves mishearing a whispered sentence to produce successive mondegreens that gradually distort the original sentence as it is repeated by successive listeners.
Among schoolchildren in the US, daily rote recitation of the [[Pledge of Allegiance (United States)|Pledge of Allegiance]] has long provided opportunities for the genesis of mondegreens.<ref name="Carroll" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kissthisguy.com/5929misheard.htm |title=I pledge a lesions, To the Flag, Of the Unitedstatesevamerica, For witchit stans, One nation, Under God, Invisible, With Liberty, And Justice., Frall. misheard lyric by Francis Bellamy, Pledge of Allegiance |date=21 February 2008 |website=KissThisGuy |access-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001024400/http://www.kissthisguy.com/5929misheard.htm |archive-date=1 October 2011 }} Or, for instance: "... And to the republic; For which it stands; One nation underdog; With liver, tea, and justice for all".</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lord|first=Bette Bao|title=In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson|date=1984|publisher=Harper|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-440175-3|title-link=In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson}} The main character Shirley recites, "I pledge a lesson to the frog of the United States of America, and to the wee puppet for witches' hands. One Asian, in the vestibule, with little tea and just rice for all." Note that "under God" is missing because it was added in the 1950s, whereas the novel is set in 1947.</ref>

Speech-to-text functionality in modern smartphone messaging apps and search or assist functions may be hampered by faulty [[speech recognition]]. It has been noted that in text messaging, users often leave uncorrected mondegreens as a joke or puzzle for the recipient to solve. This wealth of mondegreens has proven to be a fertile ground for study by speech scientists and psychologists.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vitevitch|first1=Michael S.|last2=Siew|first2=Cynthia S. Q.|last3=Castro|first3=Nichol|last4=Goldstein|first4=Rutherford|last5=Gharst|first5=Jeremy A.|last6=Kumar|first6=Jeriprolu J.|last7=Boos|first7=Erica B.|date=13 August 2015|title=Speech error and tip of the tongue diary for mobile devices|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|volume=6|pages=1190|doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01190|issn=1664-1078|pmc=4534828|pmid=26321999|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Notable collections===

The classicist and [[Linguistics|linguist]] Steve Reece has collected examples of English mondegreens in song lyrics, religious [[creeds]] and liturgies, commercials and advertisements, and jokes and riddles.  He has used this collection to shed light on the process of "junctural metanalysis" during the [[Oral tradition|oral transmission]] of the ancient Greek epics, the ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref>Steve Reece, ''Homer's Winged Words: The Evolution of Early Greek Epic Diction in the Light of Oral Theory'' (Leiden, Brill, 2009) esp. 351–358.</ref>

==Reverse mondegreen==
A '''reverse mondegreen''' is the intentional production, in speech or writing, of words or phrases that seem to be gibberish but disguise meaning.<ref name=Boomer>{{cite web|url=http://misterboomer.com/2012/07/boomers-misheard-lyrics-over-and-dover-again/|title=Boomers Misheard Lyrics Over and Dover Again|date=22 July 2012|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220154207/http://misterboomer.com/2012/07/boomers-misheard-lyrics-over-and-dover-again/|url-status=live}}</ref> A prominent example is ''[[Mairzy Doats]]'', a 1943 [[novelty song]] by Milton Drake, [[Al Hoffman]], and [[Jerry Livingston]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Randall |first=Dale B. J. |year=1995 |title=American "Mairzy" Dottiness, Sir John Fastolf's Secretary, and the "Law French" of a Caroline Cavalier |journal=American Speech |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=361–370 |doi=10.2307/455617 |jstor=455617 |publisher=Duke University Press }}</ref> The lyrics are a reverse mondegreen, made up of [[same-sounding words]] or phrases (sometimes also referred to as "oronyms"),<ref>{{cite book |author=Steven Pinker |title=The Language Instinct |publisher=William Morrow |place=New York |year=1994 |page=155 |isbn=978-0-688-12141-9 |author-link=Steven Pinker |title-link=The Language Instinct }}</ref> so pronounced (and written) as to challenge the listener (or reader) to interpret them:

::Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
::A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?<!-- “WOODEN SHOE" is not in the source. Please do not change this quote -->

The clue to the meaning is contained in the bridge of the song:

::If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
::Sing "[[Mare]]s eat oats and [[wikt:doe#Noun|does]] eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

That makes it clear that the last line is "A kid'll eat ivy, too; wouldn't you?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Adam |title=Pronunciation and phonetics : a practical guide for English language teachers |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-315-85809-8 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=New York |pages=110 |oclc=878144737 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kksAwAAQBAJ |access-date=21 March 2023 |archive-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713200215/https://books.google.com/books?id=7kksAwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Deliberate mondegreen==
{{Main|Homophonic transformation}}
Two authors have written books of supposed foreign-language poetry that are actually mondegreens of nursery rhymes in English. [[Luis van Rooten]]'s pseudo-French ''[[Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames]]'' includes critical, historical, and interpretive apparatus, as does [[John Hulme (author)|John Hulme's]] ''Mörder Guss Reims'', attributed to a fictitious German poet. Both titles sound like the phrase "[[Mother Goose]] Rhymes". Both works can also be considered [[soramimi]], which produces different meanings when interpreted in another language. The genre of [[animutation]] is based on deliberate mondegreen.

[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] produced a similar effect in his canon "[[Difficile lectu (Mozart)|Difficile Lectu]]" (Difficult to Read), which, though ostensibly in Latin, is actually an opportunity for scatological humor in both German and Italian.<ref>[[Jean-Victor Hocquard|Hocquard, Jean-Victor]] (1999) ''Mozart ou la voix du comique''. Maisonneuve & Larose, p.&nbsp;203.</ref>

Some performers and writers have used deliberate mondegreens to create [[double entendre]]s. The phrase "if you see Kay" ([[Fuck|F-U-C-K]]) has been employed many times, notably as a line from [[James Joyce]]'s 1922 novel ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |title=If You Seek Amy's Ancestors |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2214106/ |author=Jesse Sheidlower |date=19 March 2009 |access-date=15 September 2009 |archive-date=24 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924085324/http://www.slate.com/id/2214106 |url-status=live }}</ref>

"Mondegreen" is a song by [[Yeasayer]] on their 2010 album, ''[[Odd Blood]]''. The lyrics are intentionally obscure (for instance, "Everybody sugar in my bed" and "Perhaps the pollen in the air turns us into a stapler") and spoken hastily to encourage the mondegreen effect.<ref name="MTV">{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1631535/20100208/story.jhtml|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129104704/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1631535/20100208/story.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 January 2013|publisher=MTV|date=9 February 2010|access-date=10 February 2010|author=Montgomery, James|title=Yeasayer Lead Us Through Odd Blood, Track By Track}}</ref>

[[Anguish Languish]] is an ersatz language created by [[Howard L. Chace]]. A play on the words "English Language", it is based on [[homophonic transformation]]s of English words and consists entirely of deliberate mondegreens that seem nonsensical in print but are more easily understood when spoken aloud. A notable example is the story "Ladle Rat Rotten Hut" ("[[Little Red Riding Hood]]"), which appears in his collection of stories and poems, ''Anguish Languish'' (Prentice-Hall, 1956).

[[Lady Gaga]]'s 2008 hit "[[Poker Face (song)|Poker Face]]" allegedly makes a play on this phenomenon, with every second repetition of the phrase "poker face" replaced with "fuck her face". The only known radio station to censor the lyrics has been [[KIIS-FM|KIIS FM]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Lady GaGa admits true about Poker Face |date=12 May 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQlNXpPvfh4 |access-date=2024-01-30 |language=en |archive-date=30 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130161025/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQlNXpPvfh4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Related linguistic phenomena ==
Closely related categories are [[Hobson-Jobson]], where a word from a foreign language is [[Homophonic translation|homophonically translated]] into one's own language, e.g. "[[wikt:cockroach|cockroach]]" from Spanish {{wikt-lang|es|cucaracha}},<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cowan |first1=William |last2=Rakušan |first2=Jaromira |date=1998 |title=Source Book for Linguistics|edition=Third revised|publisher=John Benjamins |isbn=978-90-272-8548-5|pages=179|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1EK2Bmpb8AC&pg=PA179}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hobson-jobson|title=Hobson-Jobson|work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary|access-date=28 July 2014|archive-date=10 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010022705/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hobson-jobson|url-status=live}}</ref> and ''[[soramimi]]'', a Japanese term for deliberate homophonic misinterpretation of words for humor.

An unintentionally incorrect use of similar-sounding words or phrases, resulting in a changed meaning, is a [[malapropism]]. If there is a connection in meaning, it may be called an [[eggcorn]]. If a person stubbornly continues to mispronounce a word or phrase after being corrected, that person has committed a [[mumpsimus]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mum1.htm |title=World Wide Words |author=Michael Quinion |date=17 March 2001 |access-date=12 January 2012 |archive-date=8 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208125527/http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mum1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Related phenomena include:

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Earworm]]
* [[Eggcorn]]
* [[Holorime]]
* [[Homophonic translation]]
* [[Hypercorrection]]
* [[Phono-semantic matching]]
* [[Spoonerism]]
* [[Syntactic ambiguity]]
{{div col end}}

==Non-English languages==
===Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian===
[[Queen (musical group)|Queen]]'s song "[[Another One Bites the Dust]]" has a long-standing history as a mondegreen in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, misheard as "''Radovan baca daske''" and "''Радован баца даске''", which means "[[Radovan]] throws planks".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vecernji.hr/showbiz/radovan-baca-daske-i-ostali-stihovi-koje-pogresno-pjevamo-1284723|title="Radovan baca daske" i ostali stihovi koje pogrešno pjevamo|access-date=4 October 2021|archive-date=4 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004072739/https://www.vecernji.hr/showbiz/radovan-baca-daske-i-ostali-stihovi-koje-pogresno-pjevamo-1284723|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Czech===
In the Czech anthem, ''[[Kde domov můj]]'', the sentence {{lang|cs|bory šumí po skalinách}} ("midst the rocks sigh fragrant pine groves") is sometimes misheard as {{lang|cs|Boryš umí po skalinách}} ("Boryš is good at mountaineering").<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/revue/spolecnost/pisnicky-slova-borys-umi-po-skalinach-mondegreen-magazin-dnes.A200325_173843_lidicky_zar|title=Boryš umí po skalinách, na horách je Lenin a jiné zkomolené texty písní|website=idnes.cz|access-date=24 March 2025}}</ref>

Another popular Czech mondegreen is in the lyrics of ''Nina'' by singer-songwriter [[Tomáš Klus]], where the sentence {{lang|cs|...když padnou mi na rety slzy múz}} ("When the tears of [[muse]]s fall on my lips") is often misheard as {{lang|cs|...když padnou minarety, slzy múz}} ("When the [[minaret]]s fall, tears of muses"). The mondegreen is caused by the singer using an uncommon declension of the word {{lang|cs|ret}} ("lip"); the more common form would be {{lang|cs|rty}} instead of {{lang|cs|rety}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cesky.radio.cz/o-stredoevropske-zvirene-aneb-mekon-honzlovec-a-koza-aljasska-8709427|title=O středoevropské zvířeně aneb měkoň, honzlovec a koza aljašská|website=cesky.radio.cz|access-date=24 March 2025}}</ref>

The Czech radio station {{interlanguage link|Radio Kiss|cs}} has a programme called ''Hej šašo, nemáš džus?'', where listeners can send their mondegreens. The show is named after a mondegreen from the song ''[[Highway to Hell]]'', in which the lyric ''"hey Satan, payin' my dues"'' was misheard as ''"Hej šašo, nemáš džus?"'' ("Hey clown, do you have juice?").<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kiss.cz/novinky/hej-saso-nemas-dzus-676.html|title=Hej šašo, nemáš džus?|website=kiss.cz|access-date=24 March 2025}}</ref>

===Dutch===
In Dutch, mondegreens are popularly referred to as {{lang|nl|Mama appelsap}} ("Mommy applejuice"), from the [[Michael Jackson]] song ''[[Wanna Be Startin' Somethin']]'' which features the lyrics ''Mama-se mama-sa ma-ma-coo-sa'', and was once misheard as {{lang|nl|Mama say mama sa mam[a]appelsap}}. The Dutch radio station [[3FM]] show ''Superrradio'' (originally ''Timur Open Radio''), run by Timur Perlin and Ramon, featured an item in which listeners were encouraged to send in mondegreens under the name "{{lang|nl|Mama appelsap|italic=no}}". The segment was popular for years.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.rtvoost.nl/nieuws/241520/mama-appelsap-awards-hoor-ik-daar-nou-echt-zwolle-almelo-hengelo-en-enschede |title=Mama Appelsap Awards: Hoor ik daar nou echt Zwolle, Almelo, Hengelo en Enschede? |work=RTV Oost |date=4 April 2016 |access-date=3 January 2018 |archive-date=3 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103133328/http://www.rtvoost.nl/nieuws/241520/mama-appelsap-awards-hoor-ik-daar-nou-echt-zwolle-almelo-hengelo-en-enschede |url-status=live }}</ref>

===French===
In French, the phenomenon is also known as {{lang|fr|hallucination auditive}}, especially when referring to pop songs.

The title of the film {{lang|fr|[[La Vie en rose (film)|La Vie en Rose]]}} ("Life In Pink" literally; "Life Through Rose-Coloured Glasses" more broadly), depicting the life of [[Édith Piaf]], can be mistaken for {{lang|fr|L'Avion Rose}} ("The Pink Airplane").<ref>{{cite book|title=A Displaced Person|first=Joanna|last=Crawford|page=83|isbn=978-1-4490-7988-8|publisher=[[AuthorHouse]]|year=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZs-9LSR0ZQC&pg=PA83}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Aeroplane and Astronautics|volume=99|page=145|year=1960 |title=Awful Glimpse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-jw8AAAAMAAJ&q=%22L%27avion+rose%22}}</ref>

The title of the 1983 French novel {{lang|fr|[[Tea in the Harem|Le Thé au harem d'Archi Ahmed]]}} ("Tea in the Harem of Archi Ahmed") by [[Mehdi Charef]] (and the 1985 movie of the same name) is based on the main character mishearing {{lang|fr|le théorème d'Archimède}} ("the theorem of Archimedes") in his mathematics class.

A classic example in French is similar to the "Lady Mondegreen" anecdote: in his 1962 collection of children's quotes {{lang|fr|La Foire aux cancres}}, the humorist Jean-Charles<ref>[[:fr:Jean-Charles]]</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2017|reason=[[WP:CIRCULAR]]}} refers to a misunderstood lyric of "[[La Marseillaise]]" (the French national anthem): {{lang|fr|Entendez-vous ... mugir ces féroces soldats}} ("Do you hear those savage soldiers roar?") is misheard as {{lang|fr|...Séféro, ce soldat}} ("that soldier Séféro").

===German===
Mondegreens are a well-known phenomenon in German, especially where non-German songs are concerned. They are sometimes called, after a well-known example, {{lang|de|Agathe Bauer}}-songs ("[[The Power (Snap! song)|I got the power]]", a song by [[Snap!]], misinterpreted as a German female name).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.104.6rtl.com/comedys/die-agathe-bauer-songs/agathe-bauer-songs-id153925.html|title=Agathe Bauer Songs|publisher=104.6RTL|language=de|access-date=23 September 2018|archive-date=24 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924033657/https://www.104.6rtl.com/comedys/die-agathe-bauer-songs/agathe-bauer-songs-id153925.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antenneunna.de/programm/aktionen/eventarchiv/art762,467038|title=Agathe Bauer-Songs – Archiv|publisher=antenne unna|access-date=23 September 2018|archive-date=24 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924033750/https://www.antenneunna.de/programm/aktionen/eventarchiv/art762,467038|url-status=live}}</ref> Journalist Axel Hacke published a series of books about them, beginning with {{lang|de|Der weiße Neger Wumbaba}} ("The White Negro Wumbaba", a mishearing of the line {{lang|de|der weiße Nebel wunderbar}} from "{{lang|de|[[Der Mond ist aufgegangen]]|italic=no}}").<ref>{{cite book|last=Hacke|first=Axel|title=Der weiße Neger Wumbaba|date=3 August 2004|publisher=Verlag Antje Kunstmann|language=de|isbn=978-3-88897-367-3}}</ref>

In urban legend, children's paintings of [[nativity scene]]s, occasionally include next to the Child, Mary, Joseph, and so on, an additional, laughing creature known as the {{lang|de|Owi}}. The reason is to be found in the line {{lang|de|Gottes Sohn! O wie lacht / Lieb' aus Deinem göttlichen Mund}} ("God's Son! Oh, how does love laugh out of Thy divine mouth!") from the song "[[Silent Night]]". The subject is {{lang|de|Lieb}}, a poetic contraction of {{lang|de|die Liebe}} leaving off the final {{lang|de|-e}} and the definite article, so that the phrase might be misunderstood as being about a person named {{lang|de|Owi}} laughing "in a loveable manner".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/falsch-verstandene-weihnachtslieder-a-946934.html|title=Falsch verstandene Weihnachtslieder – Oh du gröhliche|last=Maack|first=Benjamin|date=16 December 2010|work=[[Spiegel Online]]|language=de|access-date=23 September 2018|location=Forum|archive-date=11 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911071431/http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/falsch-verstandene-weihnachtslieder-a-946934.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.zeit.de/1972/50/es-weihnachtet-sehr|title=Es weihnachtet sehr|newspaper=Die Zeit|date=22 November 2012|publisher=[[Zeit Online]]|language=de|access-date=23 September 2018|archive-date=24 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924033644/https://www.zeit.de/1972/50/es-weihnachtet-sehr|url-status=live}}</ref> {{lang|de|Owi lacht}} has been used as the title of at least one book about Christmas and Christmas songs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moser|first=Franz|title=Owi Lacht: Alte und neue Volkslieder zur Weihnacht|date=October 2006|publisher=Denkmayr, E|language=de|isbn=978-3-902488-79-4}}</ref>

===Hebrew===
[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] mentions the example {{lang|he-latn|mukhrakhím liyót saméakh}} ({{Script/Hebrew|מוכרחים להיות שמח}}, which means "we must be happy", with a grammatical error) as a mondegreen<ref name=LCLE/> of the original {{lang|he-latn|úru 'akhím belév saméakh}} ({{Script/Hebrew|עורו אחים בלב שמח}}, which means "wake up, brothers, with a happy heart").<ref name=LCLE>P. 248 in [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2003), ''[[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]]'', [https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 Palgrave Macmillan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143416/https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 |date=12 June 2018 }} {{ISBN|9781403917232}} / {{ISBN|9781403938695}}</ref> Although this line is taken from the extremely well-known song "[[Hava Nagila|Háva Nagíla]]" ("Let's be happy"),<ref name=LCLE/> given the Hebrew high-register of {{lang|he-latn|úru}} ({{Script/Hebrew|עורו}} "wake up!"),<ref name=LCLE/> Israelis often mishear it.

An Israeli site dedicated to Hebrew mondegreens has coined the term {{lang|he-latn|avatiach}} ({{Script/Hebrew|אבטיח}}, Hebrew for "[[watermelon]]") for "mondegreen", named for a common mishearing of [[Shlomo Artzi]]'s award-winning 1970 song "Ahavtia" ("I loved her", using a form uncommon in spoken Hebrew).<ref name="Avatiach">{{Cite web|url=http://www.avatiach.com/|title=אבטיח – אני יודע זאת פתאום|website=avatiach.com|access-date=23 July 2012|archive-date=24 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524170807/http://www.avatiach.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Hungarian===

One of the most well-known Hungarian mondegreens is connected to the 1984 song "[[Live Is Life]]" by the Austrian band [[Opus (Austrian band)|Opus]]. The gibberish ''labadab dab dab'' phrase in the song was commonly misunderstood by Hungarians as ''levelet kaptam'' (Hungarian for "I have received mail"), which was later immortalized by the cult movie ''[[Moscow Square (film)|Moscow Square]]'' depicting the life of teenagers in the late 1980s.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Moszkva tér |people=[[Ferenc Török (director)]] |year=2001 |type=Motion picture |location=[[Hungary]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxPYaYJM8rU |access-date=24 December 2023 |archive-date=24 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224193551/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxPYaYJM8rU |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Indonesian ===
The word "mendengarku" ("hear me") in Ghea Indrawari's song, "Teramini", is misheard as "mantan aku" ("my ex") or "makananku" ("my food").<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 April 2024 |title=Ramai di Sosmed, Ghea Indrawari Klarifikasi Misheard Lyrics di Lagu Teramini |url=https://cewekbanget.grid.id/read/064061613/ramai-di-sosmed-ghea-indrawari-klarifikasi-misheard-lyrics-di-lagu-teramini?page=all |access-date=24 November 2024 |work=CewekBanget}}</ref>

=== Japanese ===
{{Further information|Soramimi}}
[[Caramelldansen]], a Swedish song which gained popularity in Japan during the early 21st century, contains the lyric "''Dansa med oss, klappa era händer''" (''"Dance with us, clap your hands"''), which was sometimes misinterpreted as "バルサミコ酢やっぱいらへんで" (''"barusamiko-su yappa irahen de"''), which translates to "I don't want any [[balsamic vinegar]] after all".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-02-29 |title=新しい空耳ソングがブレイクか？今度は“ウッーウッーウマウマ(°∀°)” |url=https://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000038247 |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=BARKS |language=ja}}</ref> This was then included in the official Japanese translation of the song.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQbdeUfalI |title=Caramella Girls - Caramelldansen (Japanese Version) |date=2009-12-02 |last=Caramella Girls |access-date=2025-04-28 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

===Polish===
A paper in [[phonology]] cites memoirs of the poet [[Antoni Słonimski]], who confessed that in the recited poem ''[[Konrad Wallenrod]]'' he used to hear ''zwierz Alpuhary'' ("a beast of [[Alpujarras]]") rather than ''z wież Alpuhary'' ("from the towers of Alpujarras").<ref>Zygmunt Saloni, [http://docplayer.pl/23928410-Transkrypcja-fonologiczna-tekstu-polskiego-w-praktyce-uniwersyteckiej-1.html Transkrypcja fonologiczna tekstu polskiego w praktyce uniwersyteckiej] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105011426/http://docplayer.pl/23928410-Transkrypcja-fonologiczna-tekstu-polskiego-w-praktyce-uniwersyteckiej-1.html |date=5 January 2018 }}, ''Język Polski'', vol. XCV, issue 4, 2015, pp. 325–332</ref>

===Russian===
In 1875 [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]] cited a line from [[Fyodor Glinka]]'s song "Troika" (1825), колокольчик, дар Валдая ("the bell, gift of Valday"), stating that it is usually understood as колокольчик, дарвалдая ("the bell ''darvaldaying''"—supposedly an [[onomatopoeia]] of ringing sounds).<ref name="ReferenceA">Достоевский Ф. М. Полное собрание сочинений: В 30 тт. Л., 1980. Т. 21. С. 264.</ref>

===Slovak===
In Slovakia, the lyrics ''God found good people staying for brother'' from the song ''Survive'' by [[Laurent Wolf]] and [[Andrew Roachford]] was often misheard as {{lang|sk|Kaufland kúpil Zdeno z Popradu}} ("Zdeno from [[Poprad]] bought the [[Kaufland]]"). The mondegreen became so popular that a radio station, ''Fun rádio'', created a broadcast called {{lang|sk|Hity Zdena z Popradu}} ("Hits of Zdeno from Poprad") where listeners can send mondegreens and overheard lyrics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.funradio.sk/clanok/23529-hity-zdena-z-popradu/|title=Hity Zdena z Popradu|website=funradio.sk|access-date=24 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hnonline.sk/style/tech/505647-kaufland-kupil-zdeno-z-popradu-slovencina-je-v-kazdom-svetovom-hite|title=Kaufland kúpil Zdeno z Popradu. Slovenčina je v každom svetovom hite|website=hnonline.sk|access-date=24 March 2025}}</ref>

===Spanish===
The [[Mexican national anthem]] contains the verse {{lang|es-MX|Mas si osare un extraño enemigo}} ("If, however, a foreign enemy would dare") using {{Lang|es-MX|mas}} and {{lang|es-MX|osare}}, archaic poetic forms.
Thus, the verse has sometimes been misunderstood as {{lang|es-MX|Masiosare, un extraño enemigo}} ("Masiosare, a strange enemy") with {{lang|es-MX|Masiosare}}, an otherwise unused word, as the name of the enemy.
"[[Masiosare]]" has been used in Mexico as a first name  for real and fictional people and as a common name ({{lang|es-MX|masiosare}} or the homophone {{lang|es-MX|maciosare}}) for the anthem itself or for a threat against the country.<ref name="Koźmiński">{{cite journal |last1=Koźmiński |first1=Michał |title=Masiosare: un extraño… caso de apelativización en el español mexicano |journal=Anuario de Letras. Lingüística y Filología |date=31 July 2022 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=183–210 |doi=10.19130/iifl.adel.2022.10.2.x00s25877 |url=https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/allf/v10n2/2448-8224-allf-10-02-183.pdf |language=es |access-date=8 March 2024 |archive-date=8 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308110410/https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/allf/v10n2/2448-8224-allf-10-02-183.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Yiddish===
The expression {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|באָבע־מעשׂה}} (bobe-mayse, "grandmother's tale") was originally a misunderstanding of {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|בָּבָא־מעשׂה}} (bovo-mayse, "Bovo story"), a story from the [[Bovo-Bukh]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liptzin |first=Solomon |title=A history of Yiddish literature |date=1972 |publisher=J. David |isbn=978-0-8246-0124-9 |location=Middle Village, N.Y.}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[eggcorn]]
* [[mumpsimus]]
* ''[[soramimi]]'' – Japanese version of the mondegreen
* [[Am I Right]] – website with a large collection of misheard lyrics
* [[Bennie and the Jets#Mondegreens in the song|Bennie and the Jets]]
* [[Bushism]]
* [[Folk etymology]]
* [[Mad Gab]]
* [[Pareidolia]]
* [[Parody music]]
* [[Yanny or Laurel]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes and references==
=== Explanatory notes ===
{{notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Steven Connor|Connor, Steven]]. [http://www.stevenconnor.com/earslips/ ''Earslips: Of Mishearings and Mondegreens''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112014801/http://www.stevenconnor.com/earslips/ |date=12 January 2012 }}, 2009.
* [[Maria Konnikova]]. ''Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy'', 2014. [https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/science-misheard-lyrics-mondegreens Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017184232/https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/science-misheard-lyrics-mondegreens |date=17 October 2019 }}
* [[Gavin Edwards (writer)|Edwards, Gavin]]. ''Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy'', 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-671-50128-0}}
* Edwards, Gavin. ''When a Man Loves a Walnut'', 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-684-84567-8}}
* Edwards, Gavin. ''He's Got the Whole World in His Pants'', 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-684-82509-0}}
* Edwards, Gavin. ''Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly'', 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-06-095293-8}}
* [[Fred Gwynne|Gwynne, Fred]]. ''Chocolate Moose for Dinner'', 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-671-66741-2}}
* [[Philip Norman (author)|Norman, Philip]]. ''Your Walrus Hurt the One You Love: Malapropisms, Mispronunciations, and Linguistic Cock-ups'', 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-333-47337-5}}.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [[Snopes.com]]: "[http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/humor/mondegreens.asp The Lady and the Mondegreen]" (misheard Christmas songs).
* Pamela Licalzi O'Connell: "[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/09/technology/sweet-slips-of-the-ear-mondegreens.html Sweet Slips of the Ear: Mondegreens] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218062937/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/09/technology/sweet-slips-of-the-ear-mondegreens.html |date=18 February 2017 }}", ''The New York Times'', 9 April 1998.

[[Category:Mondegreens| ]]
[[Category:1950s neologisms]]
[[Category:Humour]]
[[Category:Phonology]]
[[Category:Psychoacoustics]]
[[Category:Semantics]]