Friday, December 16, 2011

Holy Infidel Frog!

Before I found my current job as Chief Nag at the halfway house, I spent ten years working in a small flower shop. Most of the time, there was barely enough business to keep the owner and I busy, but around the major holidays we needed extra help. Sometimes we would enlist the teenage children of family and friends to do what we called "hopping." A hopper would ride along on deliveries to take the flowers to the door while the driver turned the vehicle around, checked the route for the next delivery, and so on.

Before my own children were old enough to ride along, we had recruited the thirteen-year-old son of the owner's best friend who rode along with me on one particularly eventful trip. Our region was being hit by a major snow storm and while the areas we were driving in were relatively clear, we had the radio tuned to a Buffalo DJ who was reading an ever-expanding list of closing and cancellations.

At one point, Boy Hopper turned to me and said, "Wait! Did he just say Holy Infidel Frog Academy?!"

And, you know, in my semi-overwrought state (working retail during the holidays is full of wrought, trust me), I was pretty sure the DJ had said, "Holy Infidel Frog Academy." At that moment, it made as much sense as anything else I could think of.

As the DJ started at the beginning of the list for the umpteenth time, we cranked up the volume and were mildly disappointed to learn that it was the "Holy Infant of Prague Academy."

12 comments:

  1. Ha! But it'll always be the Holy Infidel Frog Academy for both of you, I'll bet.

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  2. So funny. I like your name much better than the real name - conjures up a whole bunch of crazy funny images!

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  3. The San Francisco Chronicle has a columnist named Jon Carroll, who writes columns periodically that cover mondegreens, which defined are mis-hearings of lines in poetry or music. If you google "mondegreen" you will get an enlightening read. My favorite was "bathroom on the right" as opposed to Credence Clearwater's intended "bad moon on the rise..."

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  4. I have just spent half the night down the mondegreen rabbit hole...it was an excellent time-waster on an unwelcome night shift at work. A few years ago, after I posted about my daughter mishearing Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" as "Bad Venison," someone left me this link:
    www.amiright.com

    I went there, started scrolling through the misheard lyrics section and laughed so hard, I suffered abdominal discomfort for several days afterward. That's a testament to the hilarity of the site or a symptom of just how out of shape I actually am or all of the above.

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  5. MM: I must give you advance warning, now that I have overcome my insecurities, and officially joined your blog, that I did a piece the other day entitled "Western New York: Masked Mom." Also, I would like to clarify that I did know there was a western New York, I just didn't know there was a Western New York. :)

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  6. Oh, we take our W's very seriously here in Western New York, Mark. To make matters worse, I'm in the Southern Tier of Western New York (also always capitalized, though I have NO idea why). ;)

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  7. And I must add, being some one who actually has an mental image of the Infant of Prague, I prefer the Holy Infidel Frog image... more my style.

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  8. I love the word mondegreen. I find it absolutely giggle worthy that The Holy Infidel Frog is (a) mondegreen.

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  9. I thought maybe the Holy Infidel Frog Academy was where wizards who couldn't get into Hogwarts go.

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  10. Haha, love it. I misunderstand things all the time, to the point where I'll start singing along with a great song in the car and my husband will just burst out laughing because I had no idea what the real lyrics were. We must have extra creative ears:)

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  11. This is what I love about the Blog Universe--the comments to this post turn out to be significantly funnier than the post itself. I am now picturing the school for Hogwarts rejects, the mascot of which is a bright (monde)green (and don't forget holy infidel)frog.

    This may just be the sleep deprivation talking, but I think I just figured out my next tattoo. Now if I can only figure out what shade of green monde is...

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  12. When you get that mondegreen mascot figured out, let me know. I may get a tattoo too!

    I am a floral shop veteran myself, MM. I am convinced my feet and knees have yet to recover from those 16-hour standing shifts day in and out around the holidays (this, Valentine's and Mother's Days).

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