July 19, 2007

Is that what he said?

This is a simple - and clever - TV commercial for Maxell tapes I first saw in the late 1980s. Native speakers can have problems understanding their own language too and may end up hearing strange sound combinations (like in the song below, "cheese head" instead of "she said")! Click here to learn more about connected speech.


And here's what the singer actually said:

Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir,
So that every mouth can be fed.
Poor me, Israelite.
My wife and my kids,
They are packed up and leave me.
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen.
Poor me, Israelite.

And here's another funny Maxell advert. But this time the singer simply has terrible pronunciation! :-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing. You and your students have been doing a great work.
Congratulations

Mônica said...

Hi anonymous! (you forgot to sign...)

Thank you for coming! If you liked the post, check this site: http://www.amiright.com/
It has some hilarious examples of misheard lyrics!

Hugs from Brazil