The Fascinating Tale of a Misinterpreted Message

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of miscommunication, particularly through verbal messages passed along a chain of people, often resulting in humorous distortions. Participants share personal anecdotes and examples of phrases that have been misheard or altered, highlighting the playful nature of this communication breakdown.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant recounts a historical example from WW1 where a message was misinterpreted, illustrating the concept of miscommunication.
  • Another participant refers to the game known as the Telephone game, where messages change as they are relayed through a group.
  • Several participants mention different colloquial names for this phenomenon, such as "Chinese Whispers" and share their own humorous variations of misheard phrases.
  • Participants provide examples of phrases from their families or personal experiences that have been misheard, such as "Rubber baby buggy bumpers" and "beef barney."
  • One participant expresses a desire to identify a song based on a misheard lyric, indicating a common experience of misinterpretation in music.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the humorous nature of miscommunication, but there are multiple competing names and examples shared, indicating a lack of consensus on terminology and specific instances.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the origins of certain phrases and the exact songs they reference, highlighting the subjective nature of misinterpretation.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those who enjoy language, communication studies, or humorous anecdotes about miscommunication.

wolram
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Have you ever had a verbal message, that has passed along a chain of
people and is nothing like the original?

One that my grandad always related was.

Officer in WW1, send reinforcements we are going to advance.

turned into, send three and four pence we are going to a dance.

three and four pence= three shillings and four pence pre decimal english
money.
 
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We call it the Telephone game here, in a large group you start the message and by the time it gets back around to you, it has changed a great deal.
 
Chinese Whispers, surely?
 
brewnog said:
Chinese Whispers, surely?
I heard it was called Try These Whiskers. Haha. :rolleyes:
 
Purple monkey dishwasher.
 
icvotria said:
I heard it was called Try These Whiskers. Haha. :rolleyes:

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
 
Pour the money fishwalker.
 
Poor honey, Skywalker.
 
Door bunny fly-over
 
  • #10
In my family, our saying was always the same: "Rubber baby buggy bumpers."
 
  • #11
With my kids, it's "beef barney". One of them said "be funny" and I heard "beef barney". :redface: So, now that's what we say any time one of us hears something wrong. :zzz:

I love to tell my kids what I think the words are to some of the songs they listen to. One famous one is "blackeyed sis is growing up". :biggrin: Can anyone guess what song that is?
 
  • #12
Evo said:
... One famous one is "blackeyed sis is growing up". :biggrin: Can anyone guess what song that is?

Don't know.

I used to think that a certain popular tune on the radio in the 1970s was saying: "That ombudsman don't know which way to turn."
 
  • #13
Janitor said:
I used to think that a certain popular tune on the radio in the 1970s was saying: "That ombudsman don't know which way to turn."
I always thought that the last line of the first verse in Radar Love was "It's a half-assed Ford and I'm shifting gears". :redface:
 
  • #14
Danger said:
I always thought that the last line of the first verse in Radar Love was "It's a half-assed Ford and I'm shifting gears". :redface:

I thought the Eagles were singing "It's a girl my Lord, in a black, bent Ford." :-p
 
  • #15
Evo said:
With my kids, it's "beef barney". One of them said "be funny" and I heard "beef barney". :redface: So, now that's what we say any time one of us hears something wrong. :zzz:

I love to tell my kids what I think the words are to some of the songs they listen to. One famous one is "blackeyed sis is growing up". :biggrin: Can anyone guess what song that is?

I can't seem to find the song. I'm pretty sure it's Greenday, or maybe Blink182 and they are saying "I guess this is growing up." I looked for about half an hour and couldn't find it. :biggrin: I'm going to lose sleep over this I can already tell.
 
  • #16
Huckleberry said:
I'm going to lose sleep over this I can already tell.
Can't you just count squished ants until you drift off?
 

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