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Archiver > GENBRIT > 2001-07 > 0993980610


From:
Subject: Re: mondegreen
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2001 09:43:30 +0000
In-Reply-To: <9hm0dj$5id$1@plutonium.btinternet.com>


Sheila Jones wrote.....
> You have to let the non-Times readers in on the meaning of mondegreen!
>
> A mondegreen is a misheard word which sounds right in the hearer's ears but
> which is wildly wrong in context
>
> Quote from ancient ballad
>
> They hae (have) slain the Earl o' Moray and Lady Mondegreen (and laid him
> on the green)<<

IT'S similar to a malapropism (from Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan's
The Rivals?) but not quite..

I have scoured my dictionaries and books of literary references and
have not yet found "mondegreen". Is it a purely Times-invented word,
do you think?

Roy Stockdill, Editor, the Journal of One-Name Studies
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about - Oscar Wilde



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