Perhaps it was "strings", not fringe. The subtitles do come up with the weirdest mistakes. For example in Eastenders one time they had "pauper's grave" come up as "porpoise grave". Or in Snooker programmes "queue" turns up where it should be "cue".

As tbe old joke about the sailors wedding has it "I think those oars in a line outside the church looked really lovely" - "They weren't whores, they were the captain's daughters."