"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Monday, November 30, 2009
Confession time:
What sayings/phrases/cliches/song lines etc... did you misunderstand and even repeat?
Here are some examples given in a blog I saw today:
"Don't Lick A Gimp Horse In the Mouth""
"It's a Doggie Dog World"
"Devil Make Hair"
"A Wayne In A Manger
Me first you say? Okay, here goes...
I used to attend a Baptist church that sang "The family of God" at the end of every service. We would join hands and sing it as our closing song. The words were never printed anywhere. So I thought it went, "Join hands with Jesus as we travel this side". (It's actually "joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod"). I felt like an idiot when I figured out I'd actually been singing the wrong words all those years...LOUD.
What about you?
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Comments on "Misunderstood Lines":
2. Shrode
- 12/01/2009 12:37 am CST
Ally,
It's good to know that I'm not the only one!!!!
Yes, the "join hands" thing makes sense.
As for the "sod", I NEVER got that! I always figured they were saying "side" with a southern accent in order to make it rhyme with "God".
The word "sod" seems pretty artificial there, to me. Like someone was stretching for a rhyme.
3. Richard
- 12/01/2009 7:24 am CST
I had a young son who thought the words to a praise chorus were "Jesus, prince of pizza, glory, halleluja!"
4. nhe
- 12/01/2009 8:24 am CST
The most embarrassing one for me is that I had the chorus wrong on a favorite song I've loved for 30+ years.......Carry on My Wayward Son - I always thought it said "player weary, had to rest", instead of "lay your weary head to rest" until, like, last year!
Pretty bad.....my kids were laughing at me.
6. Milly
- 12/01/2009 9:49 am CST
My son use to sing “from the earth to the cross my dad will pay” It was so cute, now he's 16 and doesn't sing for me.
I drove a boss crazy when I’d say “We have a butt load of that stuff.” He’d yell “Boat load! Boat load!” I'd then have something funny (I'm sure) to say back.
7. jen
- 12/01/2009 10:51 am CST
The one that I always laugh about is from when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I watched the original Star Trek on TV whenever it came on. I loved that show.
Anyway, one night at dinner I asked my dad when the Star Trek people were going to get to Boldlego? He looked confused at first and then he laughed and explained what "to boldly go" really meant in the voice over introduction of the show. I thought Boldlego was a planet that they were trying find.
Even at that tender age split infinitives drove me crazy.
8. Weekend Fisher
- 12/01/2009 11:35 am CST
My mom, when she was little, thought the song was "Gladly a cross-eyed bear".
9. shallowfrozenwater
- 12/01/2009 12:30 pm CST
i still laugh when i used to try and figure out the words to Blinded by the Light.
11. Shrode
- 12/01/2009 1:28 pm CST
Milly, you mean it's not supposed to be "butt-load"? Didn't know that. I wonder if that really is a disambiguation of "boatload". (Don't know if I'm using "disambiguation" right,there.)
shallowfrozenwater, what are you talking about?
Jen, I think your childhood interpretation makes sense. "These are the voyages of the starship enterprise. It's five year mission: To Boldlego! Where no man has gone before!"
I like it!
And Molly, I like your version of Jingle Bells better too.
15. GinH
- 12/01/2009 10:16 pm CST
My husband and son's first Gator game: while everyone else was singing (shouting) Gator Bait, Gator Bait! they were yelling GatorADE! GatorADE!
and a friend's little sister was listening to the radio when her dad changed the channel on her. It went from "Feliz Navidad" to a Gator commercial. So she always sang the song: Feliz Navidad . . . go Gators.
Yes, we are big Gator fans. Can't help it when you live in Gainesville.
16. Wickle
- 12/02/2009 11:44 am CST
There are many, but I can't think of a lot right now.
One does come to mind ... many years ago, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash covered a song called "Highwayman."
Willie Nelson's verse ends with the line "The bastards hung me in the spring of '25."
At 12, I didn't even know that word. I thought it was "the masters." I would sing that song quite a lot, and frequently got strange looks from adults.
I was VERY shocked when I finally got the right lyric, and thus what everyone thought I'd been singing all those years!
Leave a Comment:
considering most churches who liked that song always joined hands (even the non-Baptist ones) - I think we're in the majority who thought it was "join hands" as a child...
hmm... can't think of any good ones off hand, though I love sites devoted to such things... but did want to chime in as one who thought it was "join hands" as well (Though I always caught the "sod" part for some reason...)