Mondegreens are words misheard in song lyrics that still make a kind of sense, such as misunderstanding Just like a white-winged dove as Just like a one-winged dove. They’re sometimes called oronyms. This is part of a complete episode.
This week it’s butterflies, belly flowers, plot bunnies, foxes, and cuckoos. Also, writing advice from Mark Twain and a wonderful bit of prose from Sara Pennypacker’s book Pax. And are there word origins? Well, does a duck swim? We’ll...
Judy in Huntsville, Alabama, has hundreds of song lyrics playing on auto-shuffle in her head. When the Polka Dot Polka started playing, she began to wonder how polka dots came to be associated with the music. It turns out that the polka dance craze...
superman someone v. phr.— «Does anyone, but me, know what’s meant in the lyrics by “Superman that ho.” It’s a term for ejaculating on a womens back while she’s sleeping and put a t-shirt to cover the “stain,” when...
chi chi man n. a homosexual. Editorial Note: The second 2001 cite contains lyrics from the song whose title is mentioned in the 2000 cite; the release date for the album lagged behind the song’s success in the dancehalls of Jamaica. (source: Double...