Sunday, November 27, 2011
Silly Discussion: It's All in the Phrasing
I stayed up pretty late last night and, as I was falling asleep, I started thinking about the most random things. I obviously won't share them all with you but I thought you might be amused by one of them. When I was a kid, because of the way this classic Dr. Seuss book was read to me, I thought they were Green eggs and just plain-old pink ham. It's the natural rhythm of the text to read it as "gree-neggs" and ham versus the more correct green "egg-sand-ham". And then when I finally paid attention to the pictures, I thought it was terribly wrong! It's green ham and yolks, really, right?
Are there any stories from your childhood that you had the wrong impression about because of the way they were read to you? I've been trying to think of others but nothing has come to me yet. Maybe it will at 2am tonight.
Food for thought,
K
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I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but there were definitely song lyrics I had wrong. :) (Like "Give me the Beach Boys and save my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away.")
ReplyDeleteAlyce - I think it's really common with song lyrics! That's why I thought it was funny that I actually had that experience with a book. Now I want to think of another example!
ReplyDeleteIf they want to be clear, it should have been green eggs and green ham. I could see why you would be left with that idea!
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know about one for myself but I remember a coworker saying that she thought Elton John's song Tiny Dancer said "Hold me closer, Tony Danza." I always think of that when I hear that song.
Jenners - Exactly! That silly Dr. Seuss. And that Tiny Dancer thing is hilarious. I think you've ruined the song for me now. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat always trips me out is how violent nursery rhymes and children's books were and still are.
ReplyDeleteBig Bad Wolf.
Humpty Dumpty crashing off of the wall.
Stolen porridge.
Thank God crime is still low compared to how we should've all been wired.
Cubiclerebel - No kidding! I guess violence doesn't register in the same way for kids as it does for adults.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely with lyrics--not sure about books. But you're right--I always thought that the eggs were green, not the eggs AND ham. Ha!
ReplyDeleteTrish - I'm glad I wasn't the only who didn't expect green ham. :)
ReplyDelete