Interpretations of Nursery Rhymes Are Sometimes a Bit Off the Mark

OK, ready to start miscommunicating again? Further exploring the parallel universe of misheard verses, Leslie Hutchens writes: “When my daughter was young, I taught her the ‘This Little Piggy’ rhyme on her toes. When she got old enough to recite along with me, I was very amused by her version, which went: ‘This little piggy went to Target; this little piggy stayed home.’ ”

Speaking of unusual barnyard animals: Jim Riley recalled this rendering of Johnny Rivers’ “Poor Side of Town”: “It’s hard to find nice things / On the four-sided cow.”

Let us prey: Paul Solyn, Bill Sharpe and J. Schwartz all wrote about the kid who was overheard reciting the Lord’s Prayer this way: “And lead us not into Penn Station.” Added Schwartz, who moved here from New York: “If you’ve ever been in Penn Station at rush hour, this prayer makes a lot of sense.”

Building on that ... : One of the most mispronounced names in Southern California is the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which connects Terminal Island and San Pedro.

Apart from the fact that the name was inverted in an ad spotted by George and Glen Ljubenkov of San Pedro (see accompanying), they point out that Vincent Thomas was no saint. He was a politician, a state assemblyman.

Thomas, who resented L.A.’s long-ago annexation of San Pedro, once declared, “I’ve lived in San Pedro nearly all my life, and I hate Los Angeles.” (Actually, I guess that might qualify him for sainthood in the minds of some San Pedro separatists.)

Bold statement: There was no mistake in the ad spotted by Jim and Joan Schlegel of Long Beach (see accompanying). It’s just that the highlighted version might give a careless reader the wrong idea about the lovable creature with no love life.

Spacey: Nat Read of Pasadena was a bit puzzled by one suggestion on his airline passenger guide (see accompanying) and “the flight attendant couldn’t figure it out, either,” he said. “My seatmate showed me that it had to do with the picture above it.”

What threw Read (and no doubt others) off, of course, was that different people are involved in the backrest incident shown above.

Spacey (cont.): I, meanwhile, am a bit puzzled by the “introduce yourself” suggestion. I can just imagine the horrified look on the face of some passengers, in this era of heightened anxiety, to a seatmate wanting to shake hands.

Unclear on the concept: After the report about the junction of the San Diego and Ventura freeways being the busiest in the nation, Lee Harris of Burbank heard one local TV station promoting a special feature on the problem. “They said it would feature a camera installed right inside a car so that the viewer could experience what its like to be jammed up at the 405/101,” Harris said.

I’d rather study a four-sided cow.

miscelLAny: A few years ago, you may recall, the Fox Corp.-owned Dodgers signed pitcher Kevin Brown to a $105-million contract that included free use of a private jet for his family. The Brown deal did produce results.

No, the Dodgers didn’t win any pennants. But, recalled KNX sportscaster Randy Kerdoon, “when I was over at Fox, it certainly affected our raises.”

Reach Steve Harvey at (800) LATimes, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712 and by mail at 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012.