A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase or song lyric in a way that gives it a new meaning. The term was coined by American writer Sylvia Wright in 1954. She wrote that as a girl, she had misheard a line from an old Scottish ballad as “They hae slain the Earl o’ Moray, and Lady Mondegreen.” It was only after she’d grown up that she realized the correct lyric was “laid him on …