51吃瓜 of the Day
mondegreen
noun
a word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of another word or phrase, especially in a song or poem.
More about mondegreen
The trouble with mondegreens is that they are usually so hysterically funny that you cannot stop citing examples of them instead of describing their 鈥渢axonomy鈥� and history. Mondegreen was coined by the U.S. writer and humorist Sylvia Wright (1917-81), who wrote in an article in Harper鈥檚 Magazine: 鈥淲hen I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy’s Reliques, and one of my favorite poems began, as I remember: 鈥榊e Highlands and ye Lowlands, / Oh, where hae ye been? / They hae slain the Earl Amurray, / And Lady Mondegreen,鈥欌�� the last line being a child鈥檚 mishearing and consequent misunderstanding of 鈥渓aid him on the green.鈥� Ms. Wright persisted in her idiosyncratic version because the real words were less romantic than her own (mis)interpretation in which she always imagined the Bonnie Earl o鈥� Moray dying beside his faithful lover Lady Mondegreen.
how is mondegreen used?
We鈥檝e been misunderstanding song lyrics for decades, Elton John鈥檚 鈥渉old me closer, Tony Danza鈥濃�攅r, 鈥渢iny dancer鈥濃�斅璱ncluded. These funky musical mishearings even have their own name:听尘辞苍诲别驳谤别别苍蝉.
We still have mondegreen moments. Even though I know Creedence Clearwater Revival is singing, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a bad moon on the rise,鈥� lately it sounds suspiciously like 鈥淭here鈥檚 a bathroom on the right.鈥�
mondegreen
withershins
adverb
Chiefly Scot.
in a direction contrary to the natural one, especially contrary to the apparent course of the sun or counterclockwise: considered as unlucky or causing disaster.
More about withershins
All you have to remember is that withershins (or widdershins) is the exact opposite of deasil, and you鈥檒l get back home all safe and sound. Withershins is an adverb meaning 鈥済oing contrary to the natural direction, contrary to the course of the sun, counterclockwise (and therefore unlucky).鈥� Deasil, from Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic deiseal 鈥渢o the right, clockwise, following the sun,鈥� is restricted to Scots. Withershins comes from Middle Low German weddersins, weddersinnes 鈥渁gainst the way, in the opposite direction,鈥� formed from wider 鈥渂ack, again鈥� (cognate with the prefix with– in withstand) and sinnes, the genitive case (used as an adverb) of sin 鈥渨ay, course, direction.鈥� Withershins entered English in the first half of the 16th century.
how is withershins used?
The fishermen, when about to proceed to the fishing, think they would have bad luck, if they were to row the boat 鈥�withershins鈥� about.
Abel had walked slowly around the outside of the building, first clockwise and then withershins, but there was still no sign of his quarry, and the rest of the lower hollow was just as empty.聽
withershins
ad hominem
adjective
attacking an opponent's character or motives rather than answering the argument or claim.
More about ad hominem
The phrase ad hominem, literally 鈥渢o a person,鈥� originally meant in rhetoric and logic 鈥渂y appealing to the audience鈥檚 feelings, emotions, or interests, not to their intelligence or reason.鈥� Nowadays the usual meaning of ad hominem is 鈥渂y attacking an opponent鈥檚 character or motives, not their arguments.” Hominem, the object of the preposition ad “to,” is the accusative singular case of the Latin noun 丑辞尘艒 (inflectional stem homin-) 鈥渉uman being (of either sex), individual, person.鈥�贬辞尘艒 is also used colloquially in Roman comedy (Plautus): M墨 丑辞尘艒 et mea mulier, v艒s sal奴t艒, literally 鈥淢y man and my woman, I greet you.鈥� In the example from Plautus we can clearly see that 丑辞尘艒 鈥渕an鈥� is contrasted with mulier 鈥渨oman.鈥� In fact, all the Romance languages use a form of homin– to mean 鈥渕an鈥� as opposed to woman, e.g., Italian uomo, Spanish hombre (dissimilated from omne, which is contracted from omine), Portuguese homem, Catalan home, French homme, Sardo (Sardinian) omine, and Romanian om. The unpleasant counterpart聽ad f膿minam 鈥渁ppealing to one’s personal feelings about or prejudices against women,鈥� appeared in the 19th century. Ad hominem entered English in the 16th century.
how is ad hominem used?
In the case of online harassment, that instinctive preference for 鈥渇ree speech鈥� may already be shaping the kinds of discussions we have, possibly by discouraging the participation of women, racial and sexual minorities, and anyone else likely to be singled out for ad-hominem abuse.
Greta Thunberg, at age 16, has quickly become one of the most visible climate activists in the world. Her detractors increasingly rely on ad hominem attacks to blunt her influence.
ad hominem