LOVEMAKING USING THE TRADITIONAL PILLOW METHOD?
I read the wording again wondering what on earth did I just read? Of course on re-reading it was “Lacemaking using the traditional Pillow Method”. It had been a prospectus of recreational activities after all. I felt a chump when I realised my mistake.
I read a Medium story in Thirty Over Fifty recently which included reference to “holler” speech.* The article being about Appalachian Mountain dialects my first thought was that “hollerin” might be a way of projecting the voice so that it carries in the mountains. It might be something like Swiss yodelling I mused. But it turned out a “holler” is a hollow.
Back in 1956 when even in the UK the success of the Davey Crockett movie and song was pervasive a British children’s comic started a strip cartoon story. It was about Baby Crockett the King of the Family. The ’f’ in ‘family’ was printed in a somewhat styalised manner. We kiddiwinks thought he was King of the “Jamily”. We did wonder what on earth “jamily” meant.
Not so much a misunderstanding, more an unfortunate choice of words. Many years ago, when I did my secretarial training in English, we touched on article writing. Before making an attempt ourselves we read examples of articles. One was about names which could have a double meaning. “ ‘The other kids teased my little Rosie unmercifully’ said Mrs Bottom” for example. “Rosie Bottom” would appeal to children’s teasing natures sadly.
I sometimes catch myself calling hillbillies “hilly billies”. Did I misread the word back in the day, I wonder.
Have you experienced any confusion when reading or in the choice of words? If so, what are your examples? I’d be relieved it isn’t just me that sometimes misreads words.
*Appalachian “holler” speech still Lingers up Yonder by Robert E. Saunders in the Thirty Over Fifty publication. It was to me an interesting read.
