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Today’s word of the day is mondegreen. It’s spelled M-O-N-D-E-G-R-E-E-N. Mondegreen is a noun that means a misheard or misunderstood phrase.
The word mondegreen was born with a 17th century poem called ‘The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray.’
It contains two lines that read:
They have slain the Earl o’ Moray
And Lady Mondegreen.
When the last line was mistakenly heard as ‘And laid him on the green’ our word of the day came to life. Today, a ‘mondegreen refers to any phrase or song lyric that is mistaken for something else.
My favorite mondegreen is contained in the song Purple Haze. For years, I thought Jimi Hendrix was saying ‘Excuse me while I kiss this guy,’ when he was really saying ‘excuse me while I kiss the sky.’
.Mondegreen is spelled M-O-N-D-E-G-R-E-E-N.