Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear

[frogmarch]

Over in the Lounge there’s a fun thread pertaining to misheard song lyrics. The mishearing or misinterpretation of lyrics is called a mondegreen. An example: “There’s a bad moon on the rise” is heard as “There’s a bathroom on the right” in the song “Bad Moon Rising.” Another example: “Gladly the cross I’d bear” is interpreted as “Gladly, the cross-eyed bear” in the hymn “Keep Thou My Way.”

American author Sylvia Wright coined the term “mondegreen.” When she was a child she misheard a line from a Scottish poem:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen. (the actual line is And laid him on the green.)

I want to make a shirt or something with a Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear on it, to show my religiosity. The thought of it cracks me up.

[uriel1972]

1. Hail, Mary full of grapes...

Our father who art in heaven,
Harold be thy name...

[Rainforestgoddess]

2. When I was a kid

I thought it was "sleep in heavenly peas". I also thought pedestrian and protestant were synonyms. And because the only place I had heard the term "virgin" was in Christmas carols, I thought it meant some kind of holy woman. So for a long time, at age... 7 to 12 or so, I would vehemently deny being a virgin. Haha.


Off the religious Mondegreen, my mom thought for years the eagle's song was Hotel Zablonia. Cracked me up, so I didn't correct her.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Thanks for ruining 'bad moon rising' for me.

Now I'm always going to hear 'the bathroom is on the right-y' when I hear that song.

[JojaPeach]

4. Gladly the Cross Eyed Besr

My mom, the preacher's kid, misheard/misunderstood many songs or sermons at her day's church...including thinking that he was talking about a Cross-eyed Bear instead of the cross I bear. So we always heard when we were growing up the phase "that's just one of your cross-eyed bears" when we were having trouble mastering something or were dealing with a particularly tough situation. When she was in her 70s, she started buying small Teddy Bears, crossing their eyes, dressing them up and sending one with a small poem to friends and neighbors who were dealing with several cross-eyed bears in their life. When she was 80, her little charity had grown so much and the demand was so great that she copyrighted Gladly The Cross-Eyed Bear.

My mom passed away 9 years ago and other than holding on tight to my own Gladly, I hadn't given much thought to her little charity. Bu this Fall I had many friends and colleagues who were dealing with far too many Cross-eyed bears in their life so I reprised my mom's charity, created a Facebook page for Gladly The Cross Eyed Bear, and in mid-October started sending out Gladlys to friends and colleagues who needed a friendly cross-eyed bear in their life. Since the middle of October I've shipped out more than 150 Gladlys! All at no charge....I just ask to be reimbursed for the postage.

Soooooooo Frogmarch, I can't send you a Gladly The Cross-Eyed Bear T-Shirt but I can send you a Gladly TCEB teddy bear! If you'll go to Gladly's FB page and then message me, I'll send you one. The bear lasts a lot longer than a T-Shirt will!

Happy New Year

Gladly The Cross-Eyed Bear's CEO

[gopiscrap]

5. welcome to DU