Mondegreen definition

Etymology

Coined by Sylvia Wright in Harper’s Magazine (The Death of Lady Mondegreen, Nov 1954) from a mishearing of the stanza in the Scottish ballad The Bonny Earl of Murray

Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands

Oh where hae you been?

They hae slay the Earl of Murray,

And laid him on the green. (Misheard as “And Lady Mondegreen”)

Noun

A form of error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase
Examples:
- “The ants are my friends, blowin’ in the wind.” (“The answer, my friend, is...”) from Bob Dylan's “Blowin' In the Wind.”
- “There's a bathroom on the right” (“There's a bad moon on the rise”) from Creedence Clearwater Revival's “Bad Moon Rising.”
- “'Scuse me while I kiss this guy” (“'Scuse me while I kiss the sky”) from Jimi Hendrix's “Purple Haze.”
- God’s first name:
  1. “Andy walks with me…” (“And He walks with me…”) from the hymn “In The Garden”
  2. “Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Harold be Thy name…” (“…hallowed be thy name…”) from the Lord’s Prayer
A misunderstanding of a written or spoken phrase as a result of multiple definitions.