I’m looking for a word to describe the kind of wordplay that is common to screen names and Bart Simpson pranks. As an example let me borrow a few fellow dopers such as: Satisfying Andy Licious, Sue Dunham, and Hugh Jass. Some examples from “The Simpsons,” Al Koholic, Amanda Huginkiss, and Hugh Jass. Or a couple of my favories: Harry Parratesties (try this with the appellation, Dr.) and U. Stewart Padassell (this one nearly got me pummelled in a bar).
There is a word that already describes a phrase with multiple meanings ( double entendre) but I’m looking for a word to describe a phrase where the meaning of the words themselves is secondary to the meaning created by the sound of the words.
I think this is a word that already exists. If such a word does not exist, we should NOT try to come up with one. If you want to participate in such silliness, please start your own thread!
OOooh. That is very close. Pun covers the ground too, but it seems to me I heard the word in reference to the book about misheard song titles: “S’cuse me while I kiss this guy.” etc. I’ve been searching and I can’t find this word. I know I’ve read it somewhere, but I just can’t find it. Does this ever happen to you?
I believe you’re thinking of the word “mondegreen,” a coinage from a misheard song lyric. The original lyric was “and laid him on the green” but someone misheard it as “and Lady Mondegreen” and the term was born.
So, do you think if I referred to a pun/ double entendre in a screen name as a mondegreen it would sound really weird? I’m trying to write this into something and I can’t seem to get anything to work without writing a whole paragraph…
What you’re seeking SiXSwordS is not a mondegreen. They are truly misheard lyrics to songs, ex: CCR Bad Moon Rising is misheard as ‘There’s a bathroom on the right’.
[disgression]
Oh man…talking about misheard songs!!! Yay! One of my all time favorite things to laugh at are misheard song lyrics. Perhaps one of the most misinterpreted songs is ‘Blinded by the Light’ by Manfred Man’s Earth Band. Misheard lyrics for this song range run the whole gamut.
If you’re interested, jere is the search page for amiright.com for your laughing pleasure. It’s a huge site and very well done. It doesn’t just contain lyrics either, but parodies and stuff too. A great time waster!!
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Guffawing loudly, runs off to search for “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer
Good point since the holorime, according to Bryson, was invented by the French. My tendency would be to Anglicize the pronunciation and Bryson probably does too since he uses the adjective ‘holorimic’ in his discussion. (But he also uses the plural noun ‘holorimistes’ in referring to the creators.)
IMO, if the words of the holorime are English, I would pronounce it similar to the word ‘hologram’ with its ‘holo’ pronunciation options.
The site I linked to in my first post also offers the word ‘oronym’ as another term for this. You can follow that link to see if oronym is what you want.
I don’t really think holorime, according to the definition, describes this name phenomenon accurately. The “dual dirty name” has nothing in common with a holorime, if you think about it. Personally, I think it is a form of an amphibology.
I noticed the French Connection when I did a GOOGLE search on this term. Would the French pronouciation be holo rEEm or holo rIm or something guttural at the back of the throat?
Personally, I’m leaning toward oronym because I recognize the ‘nym’ suffix. Still, I can’t find these in a dictionary (I’ve only tried merriam-webster) and I don’t think many people would recognize the words or be able to intuit there meaning.
