Maria Konnikova writes in The New Yorker that mondegreens are funny but they also give us insight into the underlying nature of linguistic processing, how our minds make meaning out of sound, and how in fractions of seconds, we translate a boundless blur of sound into sense. One of the reasons we often mishear song lyrics is that there’s a lot of noise to get through, and we usually can’t see the musicians’ faces. Other times, the misperceptions come from the nature of the speech itself, for example when someone speaks in an unfamiliar accent or when the usual structure of stresses and inflections changes, as it does in a poem or a song. Another common cause of mondegreens is the oronym: word strings in which the sounds can be logically divided multiple ways. One version that Steven Pinker describes goes like this: Eugene O’Neill won a Pullet Surprise. The string of phonetic sounds can be plausibly broken up in multiple ways—and if you’re not familiar with the requisite proper noun, you may find yourself making an error.
Other times, the culprit is the perception of the sound itself: some letters and letter combinations sound remarkably alike, and we need further cues, whether visual or contextual, to help us out. In a phenomenon known as the McGurk effect, people can be made to hear one consonant when a similar one is being spoken. “There’s a bathroom on the right” standing in for “there’s a bad moon on the rise” is a succession of such similarities adding up to two equally coherent alternatives.
Finally along with knowledge, we’re governed by familiarity: we are more likely to select a word or phrase that we’re familiar with, a phenomenon known as Zipf’s law. One of the reasons that “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” substituted for Jimi Hendrix’s “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” remains one of the most widely reported mondegreens of all time can be explained in part by frequency. It’s much more common to hear of people kissing guys than skies.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @06:13PM
Kiss a guy? Take your fanny bandit propaganda somewhere else.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday December 11 2014, @06:39PM
When I was young, I misheard the lyrics to Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine". I was quite embarrassed to be "caught out" by a friend's older sister, after belting out my version, which went a little like this:
Seven a.m., waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein' everything, the time is goin'
Tickin' on and on, everybody's rushin'
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)
Kickin' in the front seat
Sittin' in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
It's Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:39PM
(Score: 1) by drgibbon on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:28PM
Please mod parent up +1 Informative.
Certified Soylent Fresh!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday December 12 2014, @06:38AM
Kiss a guy? Take your fanny bandit propaganda somewhere else.
Everybody be careful about what you say around this AC, he's easily persuaded!
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @06:32PM
Saw this one recently: Super Bass => Superb Ass
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:11PM
http://evil-inc.com/chapter/phenomenal-lass/ [evil-inc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @06:46PM
"wrapped up like a douche"
(Score: 1) by KilroySmith on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:10PM
Well, it's not like "wrapped up like a deuce" makes any more sense in context
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:32PM
It's supposed to be "revved up like a deuce". Go figure.
(Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:59PM
It's revved not wrapped. I context the "deuce" is slang for a 1932 Ford coupe that were used as hot rods.
(Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:18PM
*In context* that is.
(Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:57PM
"Wrapped up like a douche" aka "revved up like a deuce" is from the cover by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Springsteen's version has the line as "cut loose like a deuce".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @08:12AM
super bass => phenomenal turd cutter
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:22PM
I never had the opportunity to mishear any Bruce Springsteen lyrics since his snare drum pierced my brain and it oozed out in a sticky green puddle of goo on the floor. I've never recovered.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:25PM
Well Bruce isn't the source of the misheard lyric. It was a cover version. Bruce even made a joke that the song didn't become famous until it was about feminine hygiene.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Thursday December 11 2014, @09:00PM
(Score: 1) by Lunix Nutcase on Thursday December 11 2014, @09:16PM
I definitely agree.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday December 12 2014, @02:46AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by drgibbon on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:29PM
You mean those aren't the actual lyrics?? ... ...
Certified Soylent Fresh!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 12 2014, @03:14AM
I thought that was exactly what he said...
As another singer noted... "Baby, everything is all right, up tight, out of sight", I thought that was a reference to the same thing.
And wasn't "walk right in, sit right down" the ladies restroom procedure?
I also misinterpreted a popular suntan lotion ad as a plea to "ban SLA from the central basin".
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Friday December 12 2014, @03:50AM
Or later in the same song, “gave my anus swirly-whirly.” For a long time, whenever I heard that part of the song I ended up with an imagined mental image of a young dude applying his tongue...er...yeah.
At least “revved up like a deuce” makes sense — it's a reference to the old Beach Boys' song, "Little Deuce Coupe.” From what I'm finding online, “deuce” was slang for a little hot rod back in the 50s/60s.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:08PM
Did this story spring from that?
She's got electric boobs, her Mom has two.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:11PM
My son and I were in my car, listening to Tag Team's "Whoomp, There It Is".
He thought they were singing "Whoop That Ass".
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:03PM
Well, He correctly identified what "it" actually referred to... :-)
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2, Informative) by zugedneb on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:14PM
are the words we are looking for... And of course TFA never mentions any of them, because, well, it could be to much information in hands if the public...
Anyway, I have a friend who's wife is a phd in linguistics, and once I spent an entire evening explaining to her what Envelope and Principal Component Analysis mean in signal processing... You might want to read up on those 2 concepts, it is worth it...
She had a "wow" experience, so I was pretty content :D
So, the point is that signals that are by definition different, might have similar envelopes or principal components, and system that relies on them for detections would need a context based model to differentiate between them...
The cool thing with mishearing song is that the context is would, kind of, allow any version of the text, with some polish...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @07:45PM
The cool thing with mishearing song is that the context is would, kind of, allow any version of the text, with some polish...
Will other northeastern European languages work a well?
(Score: 1) by zugedneb on Thursday December 11 2014, @09:21PM
(with some polish... = I meant polishing it up, but am very tired now, write dumb things...)
well, the English language is a phenomenon :D
I speak hungarian, swedish, and english fluently, and a little japanese and german, but it is only with english that these kinds of mysteries are everyday topic =)
the other languages have a different way of describing a context, and the consonants in the words are placed such that one does not have so much room to play...
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:01PM
Sitting on the floor, playing with toys as a small child, I distinctly hear the radio playing a song
about:
Sam and Janet Evening and how they would beat a stranger.
Never trusted any Janet since...
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday December 12 2014, @05:20AM
When I was very little I told my parents I wanted a "Pro Thunder" big-wheel trike, but I thought it was called a "Road Fucker".
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:09PM
Get up, stand up, strut your funky Dutch, oh yeah!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:22PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:29PM
Rod Stewart: Every picture's of a jelly donut
Police: A year has passed since I've broke my nose
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday December 11 2014, @08:34PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Blackmoore on Thursday December 11 2014, @09:19PM
the history of misunderstood lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?type=0&video_ids=LMkJuDVJdTw%2CPbdewwtm70w%2CNgigpC-xAB8%2CY_OzM2mE_uo%2C3GBu1hpgg4I%2C_6jRICTGmnM%2CX0NGm1PBSi4%2C-TeIm9CeCE0%2CqOZb7KeJUQ8%2CWf68FTYoGKQ%2CBslzZEEwFa8%2Ci8LyR1ALrpo&feature=c4-overview&more_url=&title=Popular+uploads&index=5 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by gawdonblue on Friday December 12 2014, @08:36AM
You know what I mean,
And the way she looked was way beyond repair.
I'll never dance with her mother!
Ooh! I saw her standing there.