Mondegreen
A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.
Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.
American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, writing that as a girl, when her mother read to her from Percy's Reliques, she had misheard the lyric “layd him on the green” in the fourth line of the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray” as
“Lady Mondegreen” And hence the word was created and accepted.
“The Bonnie Earl o' Moray” (a popular Scottish ballad)
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl o' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen
The correct fourth line is, “And laid him on the green”.
Other Mondegreens –
Francis Scott Key's “Star-Spangled Banner” begins with the line “O say can you see, by the dawn's early light.”
This has been accidentally been misinterpreted as “Jose, can you see,”
The second half of the line has been misheard as well, as “by the donzerly light,”
This has led to many people believing that “donzerly” is an actual word.
I bet you have done some yourself.
Check these out. I dare you not to smile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKeTKULIAx8
