Course:ASIA319/2024/Mondegreen (空耳)

Introduction

Exploring the meaning and the effects of mondegreens, or 空耳 (kōng’ěr) is important as it allows us to have an understanding of people’s perception and creativeness across languages.  空耳 refers to the phenomenon of mishearing words or phrases, especially in music. This mishearing can occur for various reasons, be it the listener’s native language, the presence of background noise, or the listener’s way of thinking.

Picture of the character "空耳" written

The significance of this project lies in its ability to help us shed light on how individuals process and interpret information.  The concept of 空耳 demonstrates that our perception of language may not be as one-dimensional as we might think, and that one’s understanding of language can be impacted by other factors. Additionally,  空耳 has also become a popular form of entertainment, particularly in China and Japan, where it is used to make funny parodies of songs, as well as other forms of media. The comedic aspect of  空耳 highlights individuals’ creative skills, as well as their ability to find humour in unexpected places. By exploring the meaning and effects of  空耳, we can better understand that the way we understand and interact with language and our surroundings is not linear. This newfound understanding is useful in improving communication and fostering creativity across languages.  

Meaning in Chinese

The Chinese term kong’er (空耳) originates from the Japanese term soramimi (空耳) meaning “phantom hearing” or “mishearing.” Kong’er is semantically similar to the Chinese term 谐音 (xiéyīn), meaning homophony or near-homophony. Xieyin describes the deliberate use of homophony of many Chinese characters. It is possible to, for example, replace a given Chinese character with a homophone or near-homophone, producing an interesting or artistic rhetorical pattern.

空

空 (kōng) is a phono-semantic compound of the characters 穴 and 工, with 穴, meaning “cave” or “hole” forming the semantic component, and 工 (gōng) forming the phonetic component. In its modern usage, 空 means hollow, empty, exhausted, or void. The character 空 can be traced back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

The word kōng comes from Proto-Sino-Tibetan. Cognates include ཁུང /kʰuŋ/, meaning “hole” in Tibetan, and Burmese ခေါင်း /ɡáʊɴ/, meaning “cavity”.

耳

The character 耳 (ěr) evolved from a pictogram depicting a human ear. Documentation of this character exists as early as the Shang dynasty.

The word ěr comes from the Proto-Sino-Tibetan word *g-na, meaning ear. Cognates include རྣ་བ /rnaba/, meaning “ear” in written Tibetan as well as Burmese နား /ná/ which also means ear.

Kong’er initially referred to genuine mishearings but has since evolved to describe intentional misinterpretations meant to sound similar to the original content for comedic or creative purposes.

Kong’er is similar to the English concept of mondegreen, where a phrase is misheard to create a new, humourous, or poetic interpretation. Kong’er, however, places a stronger emphasis on intentional reinterpretation, whereas mondegreen is often limited to accidental misinterpretations.

The Japanese term soramimi to which kong’er owes its origins dates back to the 1990s, when Japanese variety show Tamori Club (タモリ倶楽部) introduced a segment called “Soramimi Hour” ( 空耳アワー) in which certain lyrics of foreign songs were deliberately misheard in Japanese for comedic effect. The popularity of the program allowed this style of wordplay to become a widely-known cultural phenomenon. As the characters in the term soramimi exist in Chinese, the term was able to spread directly to Sinophone communities, taking on the Mandarin pronunciation kōng’ěr.

The origins of the Taiwanese understanding of kong’er can be traced to Japan’s NICO website, at which time the kong’er tag was created. This in turn further influenced the spread of the kong’er trend to Mainland China.

Adoption and Use of Chinese Characters in Japan

While kōng’ěr (空耳) now has its own established place as a word within the Chinese lexicon, it owes its origins to Japanese as a loanword. It is thus pertinent to examine the history of the Japanese writing system, specifically Kanji.

Kanji are a type of character which has been taken from Chinese and now make up part of the Japanese writing system. Early documentation details intellectuals from Baekje Korea bringing Chinese books and writings to Japanese rulers in late fourth and early fifth centuries. As early as the first century, artifacts engraved with Chinese writing were found in Japan. These objects included mirrors, coins, seals and swords. Earliest signs indicating that Japanese people were creating their own writing system with Chinese characters goes back to fifth century metal and stone engravings in Japan. The engravings generally included the name of the object’s maker along with the year it was made in. The inscription on the objects included abbreviations, variable form characters, and occasionally phonogram spelling that would not be seen in a Chinese inscription.

The introduction of Confucian and Buddhist texts in the fifth century increased the extent to which Chinese literature was studied in Japan. At first, Japanese people read and wrote in Chinese, but by 596 A.D, they had begun experimenting by writing Japanese using Chinese characters.

Modern Chinese-language terms adopted from Japanese, such as kōng’ěr (空耳) illustrate that a complex, mutually influential, and dynamic relationship continues to exist between the two languages even today.

Related Terms in Japanese

Sorame (空目) describes a phenomenon similar to that of soramimi, but refers to misperceptions owing to the eyes rather than to the ears. Sorame can describe, for example, thinking one saw something that was not actually there (hallucination). Sorame can also be used for situations of deliberately pretending not to see or turning a blind eye to something. A synonym for this case of sorame in Japanese is minufuri. (見ぬふり) Sorame can also mean an “upward glance”.

Soramimi kashi (空耳歌詞) has a meaning very similar to that of soramimi, but is more specifically used to designate song lyrics from foreign-language songs that are misheard or mispronounced in Japanese. Like soramimi, soramimi kashi is also a form of humour used in contemporary Japanese comedy.

Soramimi humour

While similar terms and traditions exist across many languages and cultures, Soramimi has the longest tradition in Japanese. In the context of contemporary Japanese online meme culture and its associated slang, soramimi refers to funny homophonic reinterpretation — the purposeful reading of words as other words that sound similar for comedic effect. Soramimi is similar to the English term mondegreen, however the two terms differ in that soramimi is generally done intentionally, whereas mondegreen describes an accidental mishearing of a song’s lyrics.

Videos with subtitles or text transcripts that are mistranslated for comedic purpose are also considered as soramimi in modern online culture in Japan. An example, of purposefully comedic soramimi in Japan, would be the segment  “Soramimi Hour”, on the TV show Tamori Club, made by Japanese comedian Tamori. During the segment, he and his co-hosts watch skits submitted by the audience based on soramimi kashi, (空耳歌詞) a term that describes the deliberate mistranscription of foreign song lyrics into the Japanese language.

Kong’er in China

Kong’er songwriting is popular on the Mainland Chinese internet. Pop-up video sites such as AcFun and BiliBili in particular contain large numbers of kong’er compositions. Popular kong’ers usually begin via users’ interactions on bullet screens, or danmu. Users send their kong’er interpretations through the bullet screen interface, and kong’er interpretations that gain traction on these sites may attract hobbyists or groups of users who subsequently collect a slew of kong’er interpratations and attach them in the bullet screen to create a second version of the song, often modifying the song’s original lyrics to make the song more compatible with the new kong’er lyrics. Rather than using accurately pronounced but unrelated words, users often take creative liberties to create kong’er lyrics that are only slightly phonetically accurate, but that are more logical in the context of the song. In addition to humourous kong’ers, users may also choose to create kong’er interpretations with a strong literary romantic style, or may base their interpretations on food.

The spread of the kong’er phenomenon throughout China has additionally given Chinese web users new means of discussing a range of politically or socially sensitive topics in a relatively comfortable and safe environment. Kong’er can be used as a tool for these individuals to express personal views and observations. Furthermore, every individual may have their own personal understanding of a given kong’er, and those who create kong’er interpretations have a level of freedom relatively unencumbered by copyright or other rules and regulations.

The environment of sites like AcFun and BiliBili also provide a space in which users are allowed anonymity through chosen online names, users can thus share experiences with one another in a casual way when discussing kong’er rather than having to treat each other as political comrades. This form of entertainment is, to an extent, free from political control and allows individuals to feel an increased sense of freedom. Furthermore, the ability to submit one’s kong’er interpretations anonymously helps users feel more freedom in expressing their views.

Kong’er videos are generally viewed as an apolitical form of entertainment, however this allows certain users a place to navigate sensitive topics or circumvent censorship as a way to express political views, especially about issues relating to North Korea.

Chinese-language examples

The earliest Chinese kong’er was of Jay Chou’s “七里香” (qīlǐxiāng), meaning “Jasmine Orange” which was spoofed by Chinese web users and adapted into a kong’er song titled “骑李湘” (qí Lǐ Xiāng)， meaning “ride Li Xiang”. Li Xiang is a hostess for Hunan Satellite Television.

Kong’er interpretations of foreign-language songs

The following examples are kong’er interpretations of foreign-language songs. The original lyrics are provided first with a romanization where applicable, followed by the kong’er interpretation of the song, and finally, the English translation of the kong’er lyrics.

From Hwang Jin Young and Ri Jong O’s “No Motherland Without You”

김정일동지 (Kim Jong Il dongji)

Comrade Kim Jong Il

金囧日偷鸡 (jīn jiǒngrì tōu jī)

Kim Jong Il steals chickens

From Kim Il Sung’s “Sea of Blood”

우리 엄마 기쁘게 한번 웃으면 (uri eomma gibbeuge hanbeon useumyeon)

My mom smiles happily

五十七秒搞个基 (wǔshíqī miǎo gǎo gè jī)

57 seconds to have sex

From bullet screen comments on a guichu video based on the Fuehrer canon

Und doch habe ich allein

And yet I am alone

我到河北省来 (wǒ dào Héběi shěng lái)

I have come to Hebei province

Fegelein

(name of Hitler’s adjutant)

飞过来

Fly here

Guichu videos in particular are frequently subject to kong’er reinterpretations. Guichu (鬼畜) is a style of fan-made video that involves remixing a video by using fast-paced, repetitive audio to achieve a humourous and often absurd effect. Similarly to kong’er, guichu origiated under the influence of Japanese subculture, specifically in the early 2000s when a series of McDonald’s commercials were aired on Japanese television that featured Ronald McDonald “performing a gimmicky gesture and yelling ‘Ran Ran Ru’ ”. Subsequent parodies were created inspired by the series of advertisements, and the term guichu was taken from the titles of one of the videos and its signification expanded to describe the video editing style as a whole.

Japanese-language examples

The following examples are from “Soramimi Hour”, along with the real lyrics of the song, the soramimi text in Japanese, a romanization, and an English translation.

Screenshot from a self-submitted 空耳 video for the Soramimi Hour”, on the TV show Tamori Club, made by the Japanese comedian Tamori

From David Lee Roth’s “Don’t Piss Me Off”:

I can't take no more, not that kind of girl

開けて飲もう, なんで噛んでんの (Akete nomou, nande kandenno)

Let’s open it and drink it, why are you biting it ?

Screenshot from a self-submitted 空耳 video for the Soramimi Hour”, on the TV show Tamori Club, made by the Japanese comedian Tamori

From Filippa Giordano’s “Casta Diva”:

A noi volgi, a noi volgi

あのイボ痔、あのイボ痔 (Ano iboji, ano iboji)

Pardon, my hemorrhoids. Pardon, my hemorrhoids

From Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Suck My Kiss”:

Should have been, could have been, would have been

白便　黒便　和田勉 (Shiro ben, kuro ben, Wada Ben)

White poop, black poop, Wada Ben

In other languages

English

The English term mondegreen differs from its equivalents in most other languages in that in the English sense, mondegreens are generally restricted to mishearings of songs in their original language. The term mondegreen comes from a mishearing of the Scottish folk song “The Bonny Earl O’Morray”, in which the original lyrics “they have slain the Earl O’Morray and laid him on the green” were misheard as “they have slain the Earl O’Morray and Lady Mondegreen”. The term was coined by Sylvia Wright in her 1954 essay “The Death of Lady Mondegreen” for Harper’s Magazine.

The English term oronym can also be used similarly to mondegreen to describe the phenomenon in which a phrase is intentionally misheard. These phrases are deliberately chosen for humourous effect, similar to how soramimi often occurs today.

A well known English-language mondegreen comes from “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots. The lyrics “all my friends are heathens take it slow” were misheard as “all my friends are eating steak and snow”. The mondegreen quickly became a popular internet meme.

A similar phenomenon can be observed particularly in many English-language children’s songs. For example, more than 30 variations of the children’s song “Stella Ella Ola” have been recorded.

Dutch

The Dutch-language term for mondegreen is “Mama appelsap,” which means “Mama Apple Juice”. The term comes from a mishearing of the lyrics of Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ ”

The Dutch term mama appelsap was originally used to describe accidental mishearings of songs, but is now primarily used to describe deliberate humouristic mishearings.

On January 4, 2022, Dutch radio station 3FM posted an article about the origins of the term mama appelsap, writing: “One day someone made a song request to 3FM, and he asked: Can you play that song that goes ‘Mama se mama sa mama appelsap?’, and we were thinking, what are you on about? What kind of a song is that? Then later we realized that he meant ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’ by Michael Jackson. This individual had thus incidentally discovered something great.”

On May 8, 2018, Michael Jackson’s official Instagram page made a post with the following caption: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’?” The fourth single from Thriller was unleashed in the UK on May 8, 1983. The famous lyrics “Mama se mama sa ma ma coo sa” which came from Cameroonian singer Manu Dibango are often heard in Dutch as “mama say, mama sa, mama appelsap.” This misinterpretation of the lyrics has spawned a phenomenon in The Netherlands dubbed “mama appelsap” which refers to lyrics resembling Dutch phrases in non-Dutch songs.”

Another example of a Dutch mama appelsap comes from The Jackson 5’s ‘Can You Feel It’ in which the lyrics “can you feel it?” can be misheard as “ken je Philip?” (Do you know Philip?)

The Dutch radio station 3FM later included an event in their program in which listeners could submit their own mama appelsap.

The Dutch game show Doe Maar Normaal included a game relating the topic of mama appelsap in 2009 in which contestants had to come up with their own mama appelsap after listening to foreign-language songs.

French

The French-language term for mondegreen is hallucination auditive, meaning “auditory hallucination.”

In the French-language context, the lyrics “gonna tell you what you can do” from Earth, Wind & Fire’s song “Let’s Groove” have been deliberately misheard as “dans la terre il ya du caillou.”(in the Earth there is rock) This particular hallucination auditive became popular on social media in 2021.

German

The German-language term for mondegreen is Agathe Bauer, which comes from a mishearing of the lyrics “I got the power” in the song “The Power” by Snap!.

Conclusion

The use of the term 空耳 and its equivalents varies, but its most common use across many languages remains comedic, especially through the mistranslation and mishearing of song lyrics. By looking at the use of kong’er in the Chinese context, we observe that the creative act of finding humour in unexpected places is shared across many different languages and cultures.

Despite many commonalities, the 空耳 or mondegreen phenomenon functions differently depending on language, country, and culture. In the Japanese-language context where the tradition of 空耳 or soramimi dates back further than anywhere else, a distinct style of humour was created around the mistranslation of foreign song lyrics. In China, kong’er interpretation often begins through bullet screen interactions, and then these various interpretations are compiled to create a full set of kong’er song lyrics.  

Through the similarities and differences in 空耳 or mondegreen usage, we can observe how individuals process and interpret information. This phenomenon additionally provides insight into different understandings of and interactions within a language. An understanding of the 空耳 or mondegreen phenomenon and its many manifestations can aid in promoting creativity and fostering better communication.

References

This resource was created by Course:ASIA319.