So I'm getting my hair cut this afternoon, and a Christmas carol comes on:

[nolabear]

"Winter Wonderland". The guy cutting my hair is maybe 25, sleeve tattoos and labaret pierced ears, cute as a bug and very talkative.

"I like Christmas Carols but I hate this one!" he says. "I don't get the part about 'In the meadow we can buld a snowman/and pretend that he is possum brown'. Possums aren't brown, and if they were why would they want a possum brown snowman?"

I composed myself, and said "They're saying 'Parson Brown,' not 'possum brown'"

"Oh" he says, snips away for a while and says "What's a parson?"

Youth.

When I was a kid I didn't know beans about virgins so I always said "Round young version, Mother and Child". I sort of had a vision of many potential Marys but we had the round, young version.

And for years I thought we "darned" our gay apparel. Well, it can get moth-eater between seasons...

Any Christmas Carol glitches from your innocent youth?

Btw I look FABULOUS.

[DeadEyeDyck]

1. well, at least he didn't cut your ear off

I used to think it was
"Howard be thy name" in the Lord's prayer. I was jealous of the kid in class named Howard.

[LeftishBrit]

23. Often also rendered as 'Harold be Thy name'. Or 'Hello, what's your name?'

[Kali]

2. LOL

cute! and I bet you do look FINE!

[frogmarch]

3. Great story, and I am

glad you look FABULOUS.

Speaking of Parson Brown, I've heard some renditions that replace "Parson Brown" with "a circus clown." I wonder why. Does it perhaps have to do with a singer being Jewish?

Here's a great Snopes page on misheard Christmas song lyrics ("mondegreens"):

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/humor/mondegreens.asp

[Graybeard]

4. Johnny Mathis sings, "a circus clown".

I've never heard of Mathis being Jewish. :shrug:

[nolabear]

5. I've heard that "circus clown" line too.

Guess they were afraid of just such a mistake. Bah! Humbug!!

[nolabear]

6. "Barney's the king of Israel" ROTFL!!

[pinboy3niner]

7. The original lyric was considered "inappropriate for children"

Children's Lyric

The original bridge, about a couple who make a spur-of-the-moment decision to get married, was supposedly considered inappropriate for children. A 1953 version of the sheet music contains the following replacement bridge<1>

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
and pretend that he's a circus clown.
We'll have lots of fun with Mister Snowman,
until the other kiddies knock 'im down!
When it snows, ain't it thrillin'?
Tho' your nose, gets a chillin'
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,
Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland.


In addition, the fact that (as noted above) the circuit-traveling country Parson trekking from village to village is no longer part of the American cultural scene has also contributed to the circus clown replacing Parson Brown. However, some musicians have performed and even recorded the song with both stanzas - Parson Brown and Circus Clown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Wonderland

[jmowreader]

11. Both verses are in there

The first one:

"In the meadow we can build a snowman / And pretend that he is Parson Brown / He'll say 'Are you married?' We'll say 'no, man, but you can do the job when you're in town.'

The second one:

"In the meadow we can build a snowman / And pretend that he's a circus clown / We'll have lots of fun with Mister Snowman / Till the other kiddies knock him down."

[tigereye]

16. obviously a lot of people either never sang any of these carols as kids

with the sheet music, or can't hear very well! :rofl:

[Odin2005]

8. What IS a parson, anyway? Some kind of low-level Anglican church position?

[jmowreader]

12. It's another name for a preacher

A very, very OLD name for a preacher.

[grasswire]

9. my cousin corrupted an Easter hymn royally

The line is "Low in the grave he laid" (referring to Jesus)

My young cousin sang it "Low in the gravy ladle...."

[nolabear]

14. ROTFL!! Beautiful!

[tigereye]

15. that's great!

:rofl:

[grasswire]

10. ho ho ho...

...whobody don't go? ho ho ho whobody don't go?

That has become a family standard after little Jeff sang the line.

[soleiri]

13. what? It's not Foxy Brown?

[pacalo]

17. "Later on...we'll perspire...as we dream by the fire..."

[nolabear]

22. I remember that one!

Damn. The things you can dredge up...

[pacalo]

18. Dupe.

[begin_within]

19. Police Navidad

And by the way, there's a whole page of Christmas mondegreens here:

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/humor/mondegreens.asp

[begin_within]

20. Get Dressed Ye Married Gentleman

[begin_within]

21. On the twelfth day of Christmas,

My tulip sent to me:
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lawyers leaving,
Nine lazy Hansons,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven warts on women,
Six geezers laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a cartridge in a pantry.

[MorningGlow]

24. LOL no carol glitches, but a recent "OMG how young are you" hairstylist story

The apparently VERY YOUNG girl who washes my hair (admittedly, a remarkable airhead, and not just at Christmas :P) had never heard of Better Off Dead (and, I suspect, hadn't heard of John Cusack either). I's old. :scared:

On edit: Pics, Ms. Fabulous? :)

[LeftishBrit]

25. Not a carol. but a hymn we sang at school assembly...

'Jesus bids us shine/ With a pure clear light/ Like a little candle/ Burning in the night'.

I thought it was an advert for 'Jesus Spencer's shine/ With its pure clear light/ Like a little candle/ Burning in the night'. I envisaged 'Jesus Spencer's shine' as some sort of polish that one could buy in a shop, that was presumably a bit like Marks and Spencers but more holy.

Another school hymn was 'Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven'. I thought this was inviting the King of Heaven to praise our souls - it did sound a bit arrogant but if it's what the song said! The hymn included the lines, 'Praise Him for His grace and favour/ To our fathers in distress'. My friend thought that was, 'Praise Him for His grace and favour/ To our father in his dress.' She also thought that the line in 'God Save the Queen', 'Long to reign over us' meant that it would *rain* over us for a long time - very approrpriate to the British National Anthem!

[KT2000]

26. In egg shell sis deo n/t