Ironic

Who knew that misinterpreting lyrics had a technical name? I should note the irony of talking about mondegreens. My sisters and I live miles away from each other and as a means of communication, we have an email chain where we share our thoughts, opinions, and memories of each other at least twice a day. The current topic? The butchering of song lyrics by my oldest sister, Karen which has led to an embarrassing incident for my other sisters and me. When we were younger, my sisters and I pretty much followed my oldest sister in whatever she did. We wore her hand-me-downs, we watched the shows she watched, and we listened to the same songs she did. So when she sang the lyrics, we would sing along with her. What we did not know was that she is a member of the Mondegreen club. Her most offensive one to date is her rendition of Alanis Morsette’s “Ironic.” She believed that the first line of the chorus of that song went something like this: “It’s like ra-eah, are you ready for me?” We came to realize the actual lyrics one fateful day in an embarrassing fashion. My next door neighbor had a patio on which we would perform songs like we were famous singers, belting out the songs like it was our farewell concert. We decided to sing “Ironic” the way we understood it when her father came to the backyard and summoned his daughter. He said in a concerned voice, “Stella, it’s rain on your wedding day.” He had pulled her aside, but we knew he was talking to all of us. Imagine our embarrassment as this 40 year-old man tells his daughter that we taught her the incorrect lyrics to a mainstream pop song.

I guess when we were younger, we never really listened to songs for lyrical content. Had we done that, the correct lyrics would have made more sense. The song was about ironic situations and certainly “rain on your wedding day” is more ironic than screeching “Ra-eah, are you ready for me?” We didn’t know it then, but contextual clues could have helped us figure out the right lyrics. I know now to make sure that the lyrics I think I’m hearing match the overall message of the song to avoid creating mondegreens! Here’s a piece of advice for everyone. Don’t just use your ears to listen; include higher levels of processing in your lyrical quest!

This week’s blog entry also reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend recently about singing incorrect lyrics. She claims that since she first learned it a certain way, it’s harder for her to sing the correct lyrics even after learning them. Her argument suggested a primacy effect. I disagreed. In my own experience, it’s harder not to hear the correct lyrics after knowing them. Chris Daughtery, one of  my favorite singers, tends to slur his words. When his most popular hit, “Over You,” came out, there was one elusive lyric that my friends and I could not figure out. When we looked up the lyrics online, it was hard not to hear it. I can’t even remember what I thought it said before finding out the truth. It’s like the visual illusions we were shown in class; we can never not see the dalmation anymore!

Hearing

I love talking. I could not imagine life without being able to hear things. However, I do not believe that not being able to hear cuts you off from people. There are numerous communication techniques to convey messages between people. Sign language, body language, and facial expressions. Sometimes because of face leaks, it is hard not to see what a person truly wants to say. Also, body language can tell you so much more than words sometimes. Although you lose the ability to hear inflections in tones and sarcasm, these things can still be conveyed through facial expressions. Even more so, now with blogs, emails, letters, etc, people who cannot hear can still communicate with other people. Like with any loss, the ability to do so is made harder, but it’s not impossible. Deaf-blogs.com shows that there can be a community between deaf people as well as to the rest of the world.

Taste

Even though many people consider taste to be a minor sense, I do not. I love my sense of taste and I would be completely lost without it. I am a fan of all types of food and rarely find myself not munching. This lead me to wonder about those who were without the sense of taste. When we studied previous senses, we always pondered about those who were without the sense. I decided to research on the topic of aguesia.

Ageusia is the inability to taste sweet, bitter, sour, and salty items. This obviously means that people have a decrease in appetite and a certain disinterest in food. Also, many times a disorder in taste coincides with a disorder in smell.

What I found is that ageusia may be a symptom of multiple sclerosis. More importantly, I found that most causes of ageusia are unknown. What a scary thought! If we do not know the cause of something, how are we ever to find a certain cure for it? I guess like most loss of senses we just learn to adapt by relying on our other senses.

Another interesting thing I found was that a study done at Oxford University showed that some people had ageusia for MSG. I guess they won’t be enjoying Chinese take out anymore! The inability to taste a certain taste is troubling for me. It makes me think about the possibility of missing out on a taste without even knowing it!

Searching for ageusia, I found an even more interesting topic: a disorder of taste that makes one misread or distort a taste. Something may give off a foul taste when it is pleasing to everyone else. This disorder interests me because it reminds me of the phantom limb disorder. Even though a limb is not present, we can still feel it sometimes. This just reinforces the idea that perception is more than what we actually feel.

On the other hand, having a severely inept sense of taste could be problematic as well. Supertasters find bitter things unbearable bitter which leads to a taste aversion for them. Having a heightened sense to the point where things become unbearable seems to be a curse. It is no surprise that many supertasters are skinny individuals because they refuse to eat almost everything.

I am glad to be a “normal” taster. Otherwise, I would not be a happy person. That is not to say that those who are on either side of the spectrum are unhappy; I’m just inferring that life must be more difficult with either a strong or loss of taste.