It’s one of those guilty secrets that I have – I like reading about mis-heard words or phrases – mondegreens. There is something addictive about it, a guilty pleasure. The only mondegreen that I have experienced first-hand is in Men At Work’s “Down Under” with “He gave me a bit of my sandwich”. Rather puzzling, why someone would give you a bit of your own sandwich – but then some would argue that Australia is a strange place.
Eventually the world has come to learn of Australia’s very own “Vegemite”, especially after the US FDA allegedly banned [^] the import of it earlier this year. Vegemite sandwich makes a bit more sense. But the whole thing is rather mundane in the scheme of things.
One of the internet’s mondegreen goldmines can be found here: http://www.sfgate.com [^] – it also tells you why they are called mondegreens. How did they manage to collect them before the internet?
I always heard the line as “and he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich”. We have no hang ups about this kind of thing in England. Except for Lola by The Kinks being banned because it mentioned Coca-Cola, not because of transvesticism.
Incidentally on the “-mite” theme, Paddington Bear is now being used to sponsor Marmite in England. He’s no longer eating marmalade sandwiches.