Mondegreen. A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near-homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning.
Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to clearly hear a lyric, substitutes words that sound similar, and make some kind of sense.[1][2] American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in her essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen", published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954.[3] "Mondegreen" was included in the 2000 edition of the Random House Webster's College Dictionary. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary added the word in 2008.[4][5] The phenomenon is not limited to English, with examples cited by Fyodor Dostoyevsky,[6] in the Hebrew song "Háva Nagíla" ("Let's Be Happy"),[7] and in Bollywood movies.[8] A closely related category is soramimi—songs that produce unintended meanings when homophonically translated to another language.[9]
Metanalysis. Inky Fool. Proto-Indo-European root. Online Etymology Dictionary.