Love at Home

One of my favorite words – it’s sad I don’t get to use it all that often – is mondegreen. A mondegreen is a misunderstood word or phrase, usually from a poem or a song. Sylvia Wright is the word’s creator. Her mother was reading “The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray” and Sylvia misheard “laid him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen.” One of the best-known mondegreens is Justin Timberlake’s, “It’s Gonna Be Me,” which sounds more like, “It’s Gonna Be May.” When Elton John sings, “Tiny Dancer,” it sounds like he’s really asking Tony Danza to hold him closer. Every time I listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising,” I hear “Don’t go ‘round tonight. It’s bound to take your life. There’s a bathroom on the right.” But my favorite mondegreen is probably more intentional than any of these: “Peace and plenty here abide smiling sweet on every side. Time doth softly, sweetly glide when there's no one home.”