søndag den 14. september 2025

Sunday Selections :: Miscellany and Mondegreen
Søndagsbilleder :: Blandede bolcher

Vi starter med en fødselsdagssang: ♫♬ I dag er det pavens fødselsdag, Hurra, hurra hurra ...🎜🎝
For  i dag fylder vores nye pave, Leo XIV, rundt, han bliver 70 år gammel.
-- 🎂 --
We begin by singing: ♫♬ Happy birthday to you, happy birthday Pope Leo, happy birthday to you 🎜🎝Because today It is the birthday of our new Pope, he turns 70.

-- ⩹ 💚 ⩺ --

I can't believe that I never, ever spoke of Mondegreens before on my blog. I remember writing about them, sometime long ago. But I can't find a word of what I wrote, so please bear with me if you've heard some of this before - it was back in 2008, so no wonder it's not here after all.

What is a MONDEGREEN
?
The term was coined by the American author Sylvia Wright, in a 1954 article in Harper’s Magazine in which she mentioned misinterpreting a Scottish ballad, mishearing the original line:
"They hae slain the Earl o’ Moray and laid him on the green," as,
"They hae slain the Earl o’ Moray and Lady Mondegreen."
She then names such mishearings Mondegreens, after this faithful, but non-existent lady, even maintaining that: "The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original."

I am myself good at making Mondegreens, while I'm not sure they are all better than the original - some are quite absurd really - most of them tells me a bit about myself and my preoccupations. I probably first learned that they had a name in this article. It was an example of a related, but distinct phenomenon, the soramimi, that led me there.

How do you like: "Ghost Writers in Disguise"? I don't really like ghost writers, and then disguised ones - that sounded much worst to my tender ears. But ghost writers are naturally seldom seen out in the open.  Of course the words should have been Ghost Riders in the sky! The rest of the lyrics were quite unclear to me.

-- ⚬ ⩹ 💚 ⩺ ⚬ --

Utroligt nok har jeg aldrig talt om Mondegreens her på bloggen. Der findes vist ikke noget dansk ord for det, andet end det prosaiske fejlhøring - måske "undersættelse" også dækker lidt, selvom undersættelser er med vilje og mondegreens normalt er spontane fejl.

Hvad er så en MONDEGREEN?
     Ordet stammer fra en artikel i Harper's Magazine, hvor den amerikanske forfatter Sylvia Wright fortalte, at hun altid havde misforstået en skotsk ballade og hørt den oprindelige linje:
"They hae slain the Earl o' Moray and laid him on the green" (De har dræbt jarlen af Moray og lagt ham på græsset) som
"They hae slain the Earl o' Moray and Lady Mondegreen" (De har dræbt jarlen af Moray og Lady Mondegreen).
     Hun kalder derefter sådanne misforståelser for mondegreens, opkaldt efter denne trofaste, men ikke-eksisterende dame, og hævder endda, at: "Det vigtige ved det, jeg herefter vil kalde mondegreens, da ingen andre har fundet på et ord for dem, er, at de er bedre end originalen."
     Jeg er selv god til at lave mondegreens, men jeg er ikke sikker på, at de alle er bedre end originalen – nogle er faktisk ret absurde – men de fleste af dem fortæller mig lidt om mig selv og mine bekymringer.
      Jeg lærte sandsynligvis først at de havde et navn i denne artikel. Jeg tror det var noget i kategorien soramimi (der er et beslægtet fænomen), der førte mig til denne artikel, nemlig den tyrkiske sang med en sær dansk "undersættelse" kaldt "Oldemor" (oprindelig "Sen hiç aşık oldun mu?" (Har du nogensinde været forelsket) af Yurtseven Kardeşler (Yurtseven-brødrene)).

Hvad for eksempel med: "Ghost Writers in Disguise" (Forklædte Ghost writers)? Jeg kan ikke rigtig lide ghost writers, og så forklædte ghost writers - det lød meget værre for mine følsomme ører. Men ghost writers kommer naturligvis sjældent frit frem. Selvfølgelig skulle ordene have været "Ghost Riders in the sky!" (Spøgelsesryttere på himmelen). Resten af teksten var ret uklar for mig.

-- ⚬ ⩹ 💚 ⩺ ⚬ --

And now for a photo or two.
I finally found out how to do Italian cast off. The Moebius-thingie is done!

Og så til et billede eller to.
Jeg fattede endelig, hvordan man laver italiensk aflukning - nu uden fejl i opskriften, det hjalp! Så nu er møbius-halsedissen færdig.
I apologize for the strange colours, we have rain and or heavy clouds today, so caught in the lamplight.

Undskyld for de sære farver, der var regn og tunge skyer, så billet her er taget i kunstigt lys.

-- 🎊 --

This photo from some days ago, now with Liquorice-confetti on the loose, show off the real colours.

Dette billede af den endnu ikke færdige Møbiushalsedisse med løsslupne lakridskonfetti rammer farven meget bedre.

We also shucked corn for planting next year. Big Sis, the little Lion and the Gem brought us corn on the cob all the way from Kenya. I hope it'll grow.
-- 🌱 --
Og så pillede vi majs af kolberne for at plante dem næste år. Storesøster, Lille Løve og Ædelstenen havde hjembragt majskolberne helt fra Kenya. Lad os håbe, de gror.


Møbiushalsedissen indeholder som sædvanligt glasbær-lilla.

The Moebius neckwarmer as per usual contains Beauty Berry purple.

4 kommentarer:

  1. Mondegreens can be so funny, or simply silly. I like your moebius, the colors are quite pretty.

    I wish Pope Leo many happy returns of the day.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Thank you on all accounts. I wish you knew Danish, so I could tell of some of the funnier ones I'd heard.

      Slet
  2. The neck warmer is really lovely. I know what mondegreens are and I have an example, sort of. A pop song from the sixties has a line "I'm hers, she's mine, wedding bells are gonna chime" and I always heard "I'm hurt, she's mad," and wondered why the wedding bells if they are hurt and mad at each other. "gonna" is slang for "going to".

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. That's great mondegreen, and would make anyone wonder ;)

      Slet

Jeg bliver altid glad for en kommentar, og prøver at svare på alle kommentarer .

I am grateful for all comments, and try to reply meaningfully to all of them.