Mondegreens

I subscribe to an interesting service called "A Word a Day" that emails me an interesting word every day to broaden my vocabulary. But I must admit that I tend to get more interesting, if not necessarily useful, words from other sources such as the books I read or other web services.

A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of song lyrics. The word was coined in 1954 by Sylvia Wright in a "Harper's" column when she explained that for years she had heard the lyrics "Laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen" from the Scottish Folk Ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray". All this came my way courtesy of Snopes.Com, those wonderful people who punch holes in urban legends. In addition to that explanation they give some wonderful Christmas examples like

Fleas naughty dog,
There's fleas on your dad,
Fleas naughty dog,
Protect us and the fleas from my dad.

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Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the New York King.
Peace on earth and then he smiles;
Goddamn sinners reckon so.

Joyful oily nations, rise;
Join the triumph of disguise.
With the jelly toast proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Peace on earth and mercy mild;
Goddamn sinners wreck a child.

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Go to this page for more examples.