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Today my blog has a short “bright” thingy… and then a long “boring” thingy, which—although super important— you will merely skim over, trust me.
First, the bright:
Have you ever sung, in the Beatles song, for Get Back, “Lady Modern” instead of Lady Martin? Or, for their LSD song, “The girl with colitis goes by” instead of the girl with kaleidoscope eyes? (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds)
Well, that’s a mondegeen.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
QUOTE
A mondegreen /ˈmɒndɪɡriːn/ is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.[1] Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.[2][3] American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, writing that as a girl, when her mother read to her from Percy‘s Reliques, she had misheard the lyric “layd him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen” in the fourth line of the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray“.[4]
“Mondegreen” was included in the 2000 edition of the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, and in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary added the word in 2008.
UNQUOTE
The blog Orange Crate Art
(the name comes from the title of an album by Dyle Parks and Brian Wilson)
is by a delightfully prolific retired English professor. He mentioned mondegreens while commenting at length on the latest Beatles movie, Get Back.
Sean Crawford said…
Speaking of mongereens, as Christmas approaches I see that a certain mondegreen approaches canon. I referred to a word in The 12 days of Christmas, mistakenly sung as “four calling birds.”
I grew up in a British Commonwealth country, Canada, and I can assure you the proper wording is collie birds, as in collie meaning black. That’s how we sung it in elementary school.
November 28, 2021 12:06 AM
Michael Leddy said…
I went down this rabbit hole just far enough to find an 1856 publication (Google Books) that has “collie birds.” As the kids say, woah!
November 28, 2021 10:08 AM
Michael Leddy said…
Wikipedia notes that the first published version (1780) has “colly birds.” Woah again.
November 28, 2021 1:09 PM
…
Now, the other thingy:
Aren’t you tired, nigh unto boredom, of folks who don’t believe in the Holy Bible, nor in science, but do believe in social media?
Some of them are “bloody college graduates!” On paper, that is, but they won’t “compare and contrast” their social media with science; they won’t “document and footnote” by documenting what is easily found, covid-wise, in the newspapers every blessed day.
If we taxpayers can afford TV commercials about properly putting out campfires, and a child chanting, “Don’t be a litter bug,” maybe we show a little girl singing, “Don’t be a covidiot.” You think?
The problem is, as soon as you expose one dirty disinformation, the anti-vaxxers merely move the bar and come out with yet another reason to make you hesitate. According to the BBC, they have even made an anti-vax video by dressing up as anonymous doctors in a waiting room, fooling people into thinking they were filming in a Medical Centre.
If science is smart like a mother, then social media is dumb like a brother-in-law. Maybe we need to propagate the truth with our own videos, complete with a catchy song from that old TV show, Facts of Life: “If you hear it from your brother, better check it with your mother… better get it right, get it straight tonight.”
Smokey the Bear said, “Only you can save the vaccine hesitant.” Why? Because Smokey’s not present, because the capitalists see no money in it, and because the government is too stupid to show any leadership. That guy we voted for who is so handsome, young, and born rich? Stupid.
Maybe we, “power to the people,” can show how social media is not to be trusted, by exposing a long list of previous idiocies.
“Yes, but you can’t fix stupid.”
Here’s a list—I don’t know if it’s for boredom or for laughter, long loud laughter.
(From an e-mail sent to me by YouTube)
Here are some examples of content that’s not allowed on YouTube:
- Denial that COVID-19 exists
- Claims that people have not died from COVID-19
- Claims that any vaccine is a guaranteed prevention method for COVID-19
- Claims that a specific treatment or medicine is a guaranteed cure for COVID-19
- Claims that hydroxychloroquine saves people from COVID-19
- Promotion of MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution) for the treatment of COVID-19
- Claims that certain people have immunity to COVID-19 due to their race or nationality
- Encouraging taking home remedies instead of getting medical treatment when sick
- Discouraging people from consulting a medical professional if they’re sick
- Content that claims that holding your breath can be used as a diagnostic test for COVID-19
- Videos alleging that if you avoid Asian food, you won’t get the coronavirus
- Videos alleging that setting off fireworks can clean the air of the virus and will prevent the spread of the virus
- Claims that COVID-19 is caused by radiation from 5G networks
- Videos alleging that the COVID-19 test is the cause of the virus
- Claims that countries with hot climates will not experience the spread of the virus
- Videos alleging that social distancing and self-isolation are not effective in reducing the spread of the virus
- Claims that wearing a mask causes oxygen levels to drop to dangerous levels
- Claims that masks cause lung cancer or brain damage
- Claims that wearing a mask gives you COVID-19
- Claims that the COVID-19 vaccine will kill people who receive it
- Claims that the COVID-19 vaccine will be used as a means of population reduction
- Videos claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine will contain fetal tissue
- Claims that the flu vaccine causes contraction of COVID-19
- Claims that COVID-19 vaccines are not effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19
- Claims that the COVID-19 vaccine causes contraction of other infectious diseases or makes people more vulnerable to contraction of other infectious diseases
- Claims that the COVID-19 vaccines contain a microchip or tracking device
- Claims that achieving herd immunity through natural infection is safer than vaccinating the population
- Claims that COVID-19 never causes serious symptoms or hospitalization
- Claims that the death rate from the seasonal flu is higher than the death rate of COVID-19
- Claims that people are immune to the virus based on their race
- Claims that children cannot or do not contract COVID-19
- Claims that there have not been cases or deaths in countries where cases or deaths have been confirmed by local health authorities or the WHO
Man, that list has tired me out. You only skimmed it too, right?
Time to perk up by singing The Twelve Days of Christmas.
…
…
Sean Crawford
Surrounded by humans
December
2021
Applying today’s blog: If you sister hesitates, saying the covid vaccine can cause infertility, do you
- say scornfully, “That’s social media!” If so, then she might retort hotly, “Then social media got it from science!”
- Run a search engine, for “vaccine” and “infertility,” and then e-mail her a link to BBC News. If so, then she might not speak to you for days.
- Try both (1) and (2) while remembering, “You can’t fix stupid.” Good luck with whatever you try.
Words: A barge carrying coal is a collier, and of course border collies are mostly black. Not like Lassie.
