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Words Matter Week 2011 Day 4: Mangled Words

Philichart elephantWords can be mangled, misused, or misunderstood. What is your funniest example of mangling, misuse, or misunderstanding?

Here’s a story that reaches far back into my childhood. I had a soft blue elephant toy, and his name was Philichart. One day my mother asked what “Philichart” meant.

“It’s from that song. You know, ‘Revive us again, philichart with thy love . . .'”

She wasn’t usually the hysterical type, so I was surprised when she laughed and laughed and laughed until tears ran.

“It’s not philichart,” she finally explained. “It’s ‘fill each heart.'”

Fill each heart or philichart, I still loved my little blue elephant.