At 2007-09-25 15:05:31 +0530, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > What's mondegreen?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen «A mondegreen is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase as a homophone or near-homophone in such a way that it acquires a new meaning. [...] The word "mondegreen" is itself a mondegreen. The American writer Sylvia Wright coined it in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen", which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954. She wrote: When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques. One of my favorite poems began, as I remember: Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, Oh, where hae ye been? They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic] And Lady Mondegreen. The actual fourth line is "And laid him on the green", from the anonymous 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray".» How delightful. -- ams
