Archive for the ‘Mishearings’ Category
March 11, 2019
In my comics feed yesterday (presumably originally in print on 2/11), a One Big Happy in which Ruthie uses a doll to take on the personality of Tina Turner covering the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit “Proud Mary” — “Rollin’ on the River”:
(#1) Ruthie burlesquing “Rollin’ on the River” as “Roland B. McRiver”
Background: the CCR song, the Tina Turner version, Tina Turner herself, the Tiny Tears doll — a ton of pop culture. And then Ruthie’s burlesque, which reproduces, in its mangled way (Joe: “Make her stop. PLEASE!”), all three verses of the original and its chorus.
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Posted in Linguistics in the comics, Mishearings, Music, Parody, Pop culture, Toys and games | 2 Comments »
February 11, 2019
Today’s Zippy has Griffy and Zippy marveling, once again, that almost all cartoon characters, themselves included, never seem to age. In particular, Nancy and Sluggo are always and forever 8 years old — in Cartoonland, where age cannot wither them (nor custom stale their infinite variety). But in Ivan Albright’s art world, even Nancy, sturdy Nancy, grows old:
(#1)
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Posted in Actors, Art, Comic conventions, Language and animals, Language play, Linguistics in the comics, Mishearings | 1 Comment »
January 25, 2019
Today’s ad from Daily Jocks, with a sale on men’s high-end underwear from Australian firms, in recognition of Australia Day (tomorrow, the 26th):
(#1) The 2eros Midnight Rose pattern (blue roses on a deep purple background), in a swim slip (Speedo-style swimsuit, but Speedo is a trade name) on the left and swimshorts on the right
Ad copy:
Celebrate Australia Day with DailyJocks and get 15% off your favourite Australian brands including; 2eros, Teamm8, Marcuse, Supawear & many more!
My parody caption:
Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?
Blue roses are my place on earth
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Posted in Captions, Color, Errors, Gender and sexuality, Holidays, Language and plants, Mishearings, Music, Paralinguistics and kinesics, Parody, Race and ethnicity, Signs and symbols, Underwear | 5 Comments »
January 19, 2019
Into the lull between Thesaurus Day (the 18th) and Penguin Awareness Day (the 20th), I thrust two bits of poetry taking off from images on Facebook: Make Big Money (brought to me by Kyle Wohlmut) and The Long Room, Trinity College, Dublin (brought to me by Joelle Stepien Bailard):
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Posted in Holidays, Language and animals, Language play, Mishearings, Poetry | 1 Comment »
October 31, 2018
In today’s comics feed, the One Big Happy from 10/4, in which Ruthie mondegreens:
(#1)
Yes: the song “We’re Off to See the Wizard”, from the 1939 movie of The Wizard of Oz, with we’re off (mis)heard as Rolf.
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Posted in Books, Errors, Gender and sexuality, Language and medicine, Language play, Linguistics in the comics, Mishearings, Movies and tv, Music, Names, Onomatopoeia | Leave a Comment »
August 15, 2018
Two cartoons from the 11th, passed on to me by Benita Bendon Campbell, both turning on (mis)perceptions and (mis)interpretations:
(#1) Family Circus: guest towel / guess towel (cf. brand-new / bran-new)
(#2) Luann: cake stand / keg stand (cf. acorn / egg corn)
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Posted in Eggcorns, Linguistics in the comics, Mishearings | Leave a Comment »
July 28, 2018
Through friends on Facebook, a 7/30/12 Captain Scratchy cartoon (by Chuck Ingwersen) “The Wiener Dog Is Annoyed”, in which a dachshund and a pug are transfixed in panel 1 by small black dots on the ground between them, from which these sounds are emanating:
🎶Just like me, they long to be … close to you. 🎶
🎶Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. 🎶
🎶We’ve only just begun. 🎶
— upon which, in panel 2, the dachshund growls:
CRAP, WE’VE GOT CARPENTER ANTS.
(To get this, you need to know that carpenter ants are a real thing — not a stretch — and you really need to know about Karen and Richard Carpenter and their songs from 1970-71.)
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Posted in Language and animals, Language and food, Language play, Linguistics in the comics, Mishearings, Music, My life, Puns, Understanding comics | 1 Comment »
July 26, 2018
That’s what I heard in a Taco Bell television commercial on Tuesday the 24th. I visualized insects with tortilla chip wings. Decidedly odd: was Taco Bell being besiged by these nacho flies, and, if so, why were they telling us about it?
Then I realized it must be nacho fries; my confusion stemmed in part from the fact that I’d never heard of nacho fries — I don’t keep up with the fast-food business — and though I know what nachos are, I had no clear idea of what something called nacho fries would be would be like.
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Posted in Errors, Language and food, Mishearings, Nicknames, Subsectivity | 3 Comments »
June 17, 2018
For almost 33 years now, I’ve been mishearing the lyrics to the theme song “Thank You For Being a Friend” for the American sitcom The Golden Girls (which debuted in September 1985 and continued through 1992). Just one line:
And the card attached would say
which I hear, every time (including just now, as I watch re-runs of the show), as
And the heart attack would say
The phonological relationships are close, but of course heart attack makes no sense at all in the context. Yet the illusion perseveres. Even when I know it’s about to come up again, I have to struggle not to hear heart attack.
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Posted in Mishearings, Movies and tv, Music | Leave a Comment »
