Friday OT: Hearing is Believing

cyclones500

Well-Known Member
Jan 29, 2010
40,817
29,369
113
Michigan
basslakebeacon.com
Happy Friday. I’m guest-host again this week, at the request of @Angie.

We’re all familiar with misheard song lyrics. But what about other types of mishearing, such as names of actors, musicians, anyone famous/notable? (This could extend to titles of movies, TV shows, books, as it applies). Similar, also accepted: Word you had seen in print, but mispronounced because you hadn’t heard it spoken yet.

Mishearing happened a lot when I was younger. Two such examples:
Gore Vidal … I heard as “Gorbie Doll.”
Pia Zadora … I heard as “P. Izzadora”
 
  • Like
Reactions: JP4CY
Not really a mishearing so much as a glitch in my brain.

I watch golf all the time, and for some damn reason, every time I see Tommy Fleetwood, my brain thinks Mick Fleetwood and every time I see JJ Spaun, my brain thinks Warren Spahn.
That's a good augment to the topic. I'm sure I have some examples of that, too.

Edit: That almost could be a separate FOT, now that I think of it. But it's cool to use it for this one if anyone has some.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Cyclonepride
A friend of mine was pronouncing lasso, la-soo. Apparently it is more common in Britain but he is not British. Maybe not matching the thread subject, but I thought it was funny. I thought he was nuts
 
First couple of times I heard the name Macaulay Culkin … It sounded like Macaulick Hulkin (best stab at spelling-descriptor).

I saw the name in print soon after, but still took a couple of months before my brain “accepted” the correct version. Heh!
 
NPR by the dozens...probably the worst for me since there are no subtitles to see what the name really is.

Still think Lakshmi Singh is "Latch-Me Sing"

Neda Ulaby = Need A Ulu-Baby (whatever that would be)

Never did get Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, just always heard "in DaKAHRRR"

Oh, and sometimes it's Ira Plato and sometimes it's Ira Flate-oh.

Last, but not least, the amazing "Hidden Brain" host, Whatever-His-Name-Is
(it's Shankar Vedantam)
 
  • Like
Reactions: matclone
Side note: I change thread title ... just so everyone knows there's one F-OT and not a separate one.

I don't like either of my thread title ideas. Realized I hadn't formulated that effectively. :)
 
Two from my younger days:

Whenever I first read the name Aloysius, I pronounced it A-loy-shush.

And Penelope was Pen-eh-lope

It took a bit of retraining to pronounce them correctly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cyclones500
We're going down, down in an earlier round
And sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded god complex, COVERED IN PUDDING

As someone who took nearly 40 years to finally get hearing aids, I've got plenty of these misheard gems.
 
I called neoplotian ice cream Napoleon ice cream for much longer than I'd like to admit.

Thinking back that might explain some of the confused looks in got when I went to the grocery store to buy birthday cake and ice cream.
 
I grew up shaking par-ME-see-en cheese on my spaghetti. My mother in law still does, but she also warshes clothes and watches wrastling.
I pronounced it that way in my youth, was going based on how it looks on the label, "sound it out" approach. I think at least one of my sisters made fun of me for my cluelessness. (That wasn't the only instance of THAT ....)
 
NPR by the dozens...probably the worst for me since there are no subtitles to see what the name really is.

Still think Lakshmi Singh is "Latch-Me Sing"

Neda Ulaby = Need A Ulu-Baby (whatever that would be)

Never did get Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, just always heard "in DaKAHRRR"

Oh, and sometimes it's Ira Plato and sometimes it's Ira Flate-oh.

Last, but not least, the amazing "Hidden Brain" host, Whatever-His-Name-Is
(it's Shankar Vedantam)
I'm with you on most of those. I used to imagine a hyphenated last name or at least three names was one of the requirements for being on NPR and, until now, I thought Lack was a first name. Ira Plato, for sure. Descendant of the author of The Republic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pourcyne
A random example, and it's misheard lyrics, just in another vein ... Karl Auto Group segment (sometimes included with Williams & Blum podcast.

Actual: "It's the Karl way."
How I hear it: "Give the car away."
 

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron