Naked Americans
When children misinterpret song lyrics, words or expressions, their mistakes are often more descriptive — and certainly more amusing — than what was originally written. Kids hear the darnedest things! And by hearing through the ears of our children we can share their fresh, innocent (and sometimes even more sensible) point-of-view of the world.
I was driving my two younger children to the morning school bus last week. My daughter was in sleepy, adolescent-growth-spurt mode, and my eight year old son was exhilarated from playing outside with the dog. “Dulce and I played a game where we run and shoot!” He chirped. At that moment, the Green Day song “21 Guns” played on the radio. “Here is a song for you and Dulce,” I said. “What?” He replied. I repeated, “This song is for you: ‘21 Guns’.” My boy was astonished, “Guns? I thought it was “21 Goods!” “Oh, that’s much better,” I thought aloud. “21 goods.”
My son’s upbeat misinterpretation of the Green Day song reminded me of other endearing ‘mistakes’ I have heard from my children over the years, and also some that I’ve heard about from other parents. My nephew Jack had a particular talent for ‘rephrasing’, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that he is now a teenage actor and comedian. Some of Jack’s more original and memorable inventions: Mean, evil knights (medieval knights); The Entire State Building (The Empire State Building); and my favorite, Naked Americans (Native Americans).
A couple of rephrasing examples from my childhood: “… And deliver us from eagles (The Lord’s Prayer); “Ooof over!” (“Move over”).
And some song lyric adjustments made by kids I know: “Do you believe in love like a bird, like a bird …” (“Do you believe in life after love” – Cher); “I’m not crazy, I’m not little!” (“I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired” – Matchbox 20); “Row, row, row your boat gently down the street……….merrily, like a spider’s dream.”
That last one was my nephew Jack again, and his mom (my sister) commented, “I didn’t notice that he was singing it that way until he asked why the song was about a spider’s dream. My older son burst out laughing, and for years we talked about spiders’ dreams.”
I hope you will all PLEASE contribute to this list by sharing your child’s (or your own) remembered rephrases in the comment section below. Please attribute them to the child who authored them for posterity’s sake. I know that there are so many more that I have heard from family or friends, but I’ve forgotten because I didn’t write them down!
Children share their innocent perceptions of the world with us when they reinterpret language. Often, though, these precious ‘mistakes’ are quickly corrected by others and too soon erased. Aside from providing a few laughs, I hope this list will help us to enjoy our children’s imaginative spin on life and to appreciate the simple purity of their authentic impressions.
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Delightful!
Our daughter Audrey plays in our field and loves to chase the ‘flutterflies’. Who would dare consider correcting such a wonderfully original, inspired description!
My son never wanted to dress up for Halloween and I supported his choice. One day as we were driving to preschool he picked up a pair of sun glasses he found in the car and i casually said, “you look really cool in those glasses Gorby, that can be your costume in the parade if you like, you can be a cool dude” and he beamed. My daughter Karelle who was two or three then piped up, “Gorby’s going to be Cold Juice for Halloween?”. That line remains a family favorite even as they are both off to college now.
Another favorite we still quote and use is a line from “Fiddler on the Roof”. Tevi says to his daughter “When will I see you again?” as she heads off to Siberia and she answers, “God alone knows Papa” to which my children finally asked, Why does she say, “Got A Long Nose” , Mama? ” Another gem I treasure to this day and quote regularly.
Thanks Janet for jarring these fun memories.
Embarrassing to admit, but with triplets, maybe you won’t judge me too harshly?…
Until they were almost 6 years old, my brood’s favorite meal was: ‘Macamommy and cheese’.
My son Seth asks for “Popstickles”. I smile every time and wouldn’t dream of correcting him. Thanks for your blog!
Two come to my mind, I’m sure there are more. My son John (now 45)called
‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ ‘Fricky Tied Chicken’ and he thought the words to the song “My eyes adored ya” were “Miles of Torture.”
We were just talking about how certain kid words stick with you for a very long time. My oldest turned 16 today, but I still remember him calling the phone a “bwaff”. I don’t know why, but it was so cute.
My other favorite story is when Joe’s first word after “ma ma” and “da da” was “Bobby”. “Bobby” is what he called Barney. We realized that everyone was Bobby when Grandma came over and with open arms called “Bobby”!!! I will never forget the day when he called my mother the same word for Barney (the purple dinosaur) lol
I was reciting the alphabet with my son Justin who was about 2 or 3yrs old(now 23yrs old) and when we got to L,M,N,O, he said “no mommy you said that letter wrong it’s ellameno” and the P, he thought it was one letter called ellameno.
Thank you all for your fantastic additions to the list! I just remembered a story about one of my nieces. My husband’s brother and his wife are not church-goers, but they took their daughter to a Christmas service and were mingling in the parish hall where there were snacks available beforehand. My niece searched the table and then urgently asked, “Where’s the baby cheeses?!”
My wife tells me stories about herself as a child and her whole family singing about the “Baby Cheeses” – which eventually morphed into the “Baby Gouda.” It’s now almost a right of passage for young children in the extended family to learn about the “Joy of Cheese” each December. Talk about a rephrase taking on a whole life of it’s own!
My oldest son’s favorite author in the first grade was Beverly Cleary, which he thought was Beverly Cleverly (makes sense). He also avoided climbing on certain trees or wooden playsets for fear of getting “splitsters”. I think that those were a combination of blisters and splinters.
When I ask my kids to recall the cute things that they used to say, they can’t remember very many. I wrote down some of them but I wish that I had kept a journal of just those precious words and observations.
When my oldest was about 3 years old, he was playing nearby while I was on the phone with a friend. During our conversation, I told my friend I needed to go on a diet. He came up to me and was yanking on my shirt saying in a concerned voice, “Mommy… Mommy… Don’t die yet. Don’t die yet, Mommy.” Precious!
After a visit from my ex-Marine father my son, who was 3 at the time, learned the phrase “Where the hell is…” For about a month we were treated to delightful questions like “Where the hell is my milk?” and “Where the hell is Austria?” and the oft cried “Where the hell is Percy?”
The other day he told me he learned the “c word” on the school bus. To my utter relief it was “crap.”
Simply put, Green Day rocks! I remember the first time I listened to them.. Basket Case.. lol. After that I was hooked.
Way to go Green Day!
I remember a ton of ‘baby talk’ from being around my little brother during his preschool years (he is 3.5 years younger than me). He would proudly walk up to complete strangers and announce, “I have a great remry.” (memory) =)
Love it!
Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” was a popular song when my nephew Carl was three and my sister spent a lot of time with the radio on. He referred to this as “the cross-eyed bear” song and it took us awhile to figure it out – “the cross I bare” that you gave to me”, but I sing those words to this day now:-)
Oh, my gosh. The cross-eyed bear. I love that, Amy!
These misheard lyrics are called “Mondegreens” and the story behind them is as funny as any misheard lyric!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen
Thanks, Jess! Had a look and you want to know something crazy? @Amy, there’s another cross-eyed bear! What are the odds? Check it out…
Examples in songsThe top three mondegreens submitted regularly to mondegreen expert Jon Carroll are:[1]
1.”Gladly, the cross-eyed bear[3] (from the line in the hymn “Keep Thou My Way” by Fanny Crosby, “Kept by Thy tender care, gladly the cross I’ll bear”)[14] Carroll and many others quote it as “Gladly the cross I’d bear”.
2.There’s a bathroom on the right (the line at the end of each verse of “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival: “There’s a bad moon on the rise”)
3.’Scuse me while I kiss this guy (from a lyric in the song “Purple Haze”, by Jimi Hendrix: “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky”).
These are all so cute! It just goes to show you the fresh new ways kids look at the world.
My son asked me today for ‘rainbows’ while holding out his Daddy’s big shoes…”Rainbows?” I though for a second and realized he wanted me to tie bows! So I gladly tied a rainbow on to each shoe and he toddled away.
“Turn on the cold heat!” my youngest sister used to implore on hot summer drives. We still use her term for air conditioning 25 years later.
Oh, and my niece likes ‘black salt toast’. Took my sister (she of the ‘cold heat’) ages to figure out she meant cinnamon toast!