Sensory Confusion Is Apparently a Widespread Phenomenon

When last we met, class, we were discussing Pullet Surprises -- or mangled bits of writing such as “Sarah” Desert. Well, reader Martin Greenberger was reminded of another phenomenon: misheard lyrics.

The product of this type of confusion is known as a “mondegreen,” a term that was coined by a writer who heard a folk song she thought contained the words, “They had slain the Earl of Moray/And Lady Mondegreen.”

Only later did she learn that the actual lyric was: “They had slain the Earl of Moray/ And laid him on the green.” (No, I don’t know what happened to the earl’s lady.)

Greenberger says his favorite mondegreen is mishearing the Creedence Clearwater lyric, “There’s a bad moon on the rise” as “There’s a bathroom on the right.” I seem to recall an awful Frankie Valli song that began “My eyes of Georgia,” but was really “My eyes adored you.” Not that I liked it any better that way.

Stumbling right along: Mondegreens also include misheard spoken words. Greenberger quoted a Houston columnist who thought he heard a nutritionist say on television that “the average American will gain 47 pounds during the holidays.” Actually, the figure was “4 to 7 pounds.”

Back to Pullet Surprises: Rickard Roudebush of Sherman Oaks, a medical transcriber, swears a report once came across his desk that mentioned “porcupines with medications.” It was supposed to say “poor compliance with medications.”

And a visual Pullet: Tom Andre saw a DNA ad with a typo that made it appear that the test detected distant relatives (see accompanying).

Duels of the day: George Berg of Burbank found a “7-Day” business that keeps its doors locked on one of those days.

And an anonymous reader shared some popcorn with real fake flavoring (see accompanying). I couldn’t help recalling Oscar Levant’s line about Hollywood: “Strip away the phony tinsel in Hollywood and you’ll find the real tinsel underneath.”

Such a deal: Jeff Chatham of Santa Monica came upon a questionable sale for contractors (see accompanying). And knowing what “tough” bargainers contractors can be, I don’t think they’ll fall for this one.

Name game: Ben Beisel of San Juan Capistrano writes that he went to school in Pennsylvania with a young lady whose father, C.D. Sprout, had an agricultural job. Her first name was Barbara. As Beisel points out, it’s too bad she wasn’t named B. Russel Sprout.

miscelLAny: After seeing a story in The Times about a Colton strip joint that is getting flack about its sign, Lee Harris of Burbank was reminded of a Rodney Dangerfield line: “I saw a place with signs saying ‘Topless! Bottomless!’ I went in. There was nobody there.” Do the math.

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