As we hurtle into the festive season we will be hearing a lot of familiar songs associated with this time of the year. However, it's probably true that most of us can't remember more than a few lines of a song and even then don't get the words right.
Welcome to the world of "aural malapropisms" which is not an obscure ailment but simply the mishearing of song lyrics. Christmas songs are not immune. According to a US survey, many kids believe the third verse of Away in a Manger begins "the cattle are lonely", rather than the correct "the cattle are lowing."
Even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer can cause confusion. An American teacher tells of one lad who unintentionally invented a new name for one of the reindeer. He thought the line "All of the other reindeer" was actually "Olive the other reindeer."
