What was the invented term for visualizing misheard lyrics?
November 8, 2023 4:18 PM Subscribe
Wasn't there a word to describe an approach to misheard lyrics videos, like the most famous one for Yellow Ledbetter?
That was the best known example, this clip is attributed to misheardlyricsguy but I am imagining someone else - using this term - created the original video.
I remember learning about these videos from BoingBoing (no luck in their archives) and there was a made-up word to describe this style of video: think scrobble, or potatolator, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a real word, but they meant it to describe this kind of thing.
Does this match anyone's recollection, or am I just inventing something in my aging brain?
(I'm not asking about the word mondegreen, about misheard lyrics in general, I'm specifically asking about these videos that show the lyrics with illustrations as they play the song)
That was the best known example, this clip is attributed to misheardlyricsguy but I am imagining someone else - using this term - created the original video.
I remember learning about these videos from BoingBoing (no luck in their archives) and there was a made-up word to describe this style of video: think scrobble, or potatolator, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a real word, but they meant it to describe this kind of thing.
Does this match anyone's recollection, or am I just inventing something in my aging brain?
(I'm not asking about the word mondegreen, about misheard lyrics in general, I'm specifically asking about these videos that show the lyrics with illustrations as they play the song)
not your answer, but scrobbling seems to be something different.
posted by adekllny at 4:37 PM on November 8, 2023
posted by adekllny at 4:37 PM on November 8, 2023
“Buffalaxing” is related, but seems to involve a language barrier more than mid-hearing. “Eggcorn” also seems like it might be relevant to your search terms.
“Bad lip reading” is also related but definitely not exactly what you’re describing.
Possibly useful:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mondegreen
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/misheard-lyrics-phonetic-translations-buffalaxing
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 4:39 PM on November 8, 2023
“Bad lip reading” is also related but definitely not exactly what you’re describing.
Possibly useful:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mondegreen
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/misheard-lyrics-phonetic-translations-buffalaxing
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 4:39 PM on November 8, 2023
I remember one site called "kiss this guy" which was supposed to be a mishearing of kiss the sky from Purple Haze.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:43 PM on November 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:43 PM on November 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Now I've got the French Erotic Film misheard lyrics stuck in my head. That'll be there a while.
"Animutations"might be the portmanteau your brain is reaching for, that's the name for the videos as a category, not the purposefully misheard lyrics they often include, which are called soramimi.
posted by dragon garlanding at 4:47 PM on November 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
"Animutations"might be the portmanteau your brain is reaching for, that's the name for the videos as a category, not the purposefully misheard lyrics they often include, which are called soramimi.
posted by dragon garlanding at 4:47 PM on November 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen
'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics
posted by ovvl at 4:51 PM on November 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics
posted by ovvl at 4:51 PM on November 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
OP literally said they were not asking about the word "mondegreen" in their post.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 5:14 PM on November 8, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 5:14 PM on November 8, 2023 [14 favorites]
the Mondegreen wikipedia page has suggestions of related-but-not-quite-the-mondegreen-you're-looking-for:
Related linguistic phenomena
Closely related categories are Hobson-Jobson, where a word from a foreign language is homophonically translated into one's own language, e.g. "cockroach" from Spanish cucaracha,[70][71] and soramimi, a Japanese term for deliberate homophonic misinterpretation of words for humor.
An unintentionally incorrect use of similar-sounding words or phrases, resulting in a changed meaning, is a malapropism. If there is a connection in meaning, it may be called an eggcorn. If a person stubbornly continues to mispronounce a word or phrase after being corrected, that person has committed a mumpsimus.[72]
Related phenomena include:
Earworm
Eggcorn
Holorime
Homophonic translation
Hypercorrection
Phono-semantic matching
Spoonerism
Syntactic ambiguity
...so maybe one or more of those would be promising avenues to stroll down?
posted by adekllny at 5:49 PM on November 8, 2023
Related linguistic phenomena
Closely related categories are Hobson-Jobson, where a word from a foreign language is homophonically translated into one's own language, e.g. "cockroach" from Spanish cucaracha,[70][71] and soramimi, a Japanese term for deliberate homophonic misinterpretation of words for humor.
An unintentionally incorrect use of similar-sounding words or phrases, resulting in a changed meaning, is a malapropism. If there is a connection in meaning, it may be called an eggcorn. If a person stubbornly continues to mispronounce a word or phrase after being corrected, that person has committed a mumpsimus.[72]
Related phenomena include:
Earworm
Eggcorn
Holorime
Homophonic translation
Hypercorrection
Phono-semantic matching
Spoonerism
Syntactic ambiguity
...so maybe one or more of those would be promising avenues to stroll down?
posted by adekllny at 5:49 PM on November 8, 2023
Maybe a lead: did the videos look like this?
Interpretation of Brand New
Or this?
So you’re looking for the coinage describing these or similar videos, yes?
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:53 PM on November 8, 2023
Interpretation of Brand New
Or this?
So you’re looking for the coinage describing these or similar videos, yes?
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:53 PM on November 8, 2023
This doesn’t answer the question, but I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t share O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics.
posted by matildaben at 7:52 PM on November 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by matildaben at 7:52 PM on November 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
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posted by LionIndex at 4:21 PM on November 8, 2023