Waiting for the Word

Vlog, pescatarian, and earmark. Ah, the joys of English.

Merriam-Webster released its annual list of new words that have been granted entry into the eleventh edition of its Collegiate dictionary. "Vlog" (defined as a blog containing video material), "pescatarian" (a vegetarian whose diet includes fish), and "earmark" (a provision in Congressional legislation that allocates a specified amount of money for a specific project, program, or organization) made their debuts, along with more than 100 other new words.

I would have passed on “sock puppet” (a false online identity used for deceptive purposes) and “physiatry"” (physical medicine and rehabilitation), but I love “mondegreen” (a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung). The term mondegreen was originally coined by author Sylvia Wright in 1954 in Atlantic magazine when she confessed that, as a child, she misunderstood the last line of “The Bonny Earl of Murray,” a Scottish ballad.

The original version goes like this:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh! Where ha'e ye been:
They ha'e slain the Earl of Murray,
And they laid him on the Green.

Sylvia heard this instead:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh! Where ha'e ye been:
They ha'e slain the Earl of Murray,
And Lady Mondegreen.

Poor Lady Modegreen only existed in young Sylvia's aural imagination. Although the majority of mondegreens are song lyrics (“Excuse me while I kiss this guy” for the Jimmy Hendrix lyric, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky”), you can even find examples in Bible readings: “Surely Good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life” for “Surely goodness and mercy...” (Psalm 23.6).

The imaginary Lady Mondegreen did not die in vain, for every occurrence of mishearing now bears her name.