The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #32340   Message #4225538
Posted By: MaJoC the Filk
12-Jul-25 - 12:19 PM
Thread Name: any new mondegreens?
Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
Example time: I see one burlap (in the above sense), or possibly two, in Beware of the Beautiful Stranger:

In the last verse:

There's a slight but considerable danger

.... should I *think* be:

There's a slight but significant danger

.... which to me makes more sense: "slight but considerable" sounds like a contradiction, while "slight but significant" means the danger's small but can't be ignored. The difference is slight but significant, quite apart from fixing the rhythm to match the tune, and adding a handy bonus alliteration.

The one I'm not sure of is in the fourth verse:

That ball needs a re-gun, I said, shelling out

.... which I've folk-processed into:

That ball needs a rebore, I said, shelling out

I've heard of reboring engine cylinder blocks, but not regunning anything; enlightenment humbly requested.*

Sadly, Clive James (Pete Atkin's lyricist) has died, so we can't ask him now on either point. Right, then: Let battle discussion commence ---

* One alternative nowadays might be reboot, but that'd be as anachronistic as one quid for telling one's fortune.