I discovered the word mondegreen while listening to James Gleick’s book, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood.   The book is a strange work of non-fiction focused on the history of information calculation, and communication.

In a chapter about the development of written language, more specifically the emergence of the Oxford English Dictionary as a way of codifying the English language, Gleick mentions the concept of a mondegreen. The word reminds me of a “Sniglet” –“any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should.”  Mondegreen was first used in 1954 to describe the mishearing a poem or song lyrics in a way that creates new meaning.

A couple of the most common mondegreens:

“Excuse me while I kiss this guy” instead of “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” (Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix)

“Wrapped up like a douche” instead of “Cut loose like a deuce” (Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann)

And I remember one of my own mondegreens:

“Have a spaz!” instead ofAC/DC’s actual lyric: “Hell Bells.”

I’m not sure how I came up with that interpretation. There were clues I clearly missed–not the least of those being the name of the song!

We have a marvelous ability to be certain of something. So certain we will sing it out loud for others to hear. I am well known for singing out loud (whether I should or not.)  What we seem to lack is the ability to be OK with the realization later on that we got it wrong.  We may laugh uncomfortably and make excuses.   What would it take for us to see the error as an opportunity?  To be corrected without losing something?  To realize we may have created something new and wonderful by our unique interpretation?

As you ponder this, keep in mind,

Lucy knows this guy with diamonds…