Mondegreen:
- a word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of another word or phrase, especially in a song or poem. [Dictionary.com]
Noted in the Feedback column of NewScientist (28 October 2017):
A MONDEGREEN that turned the social media ecosystem into an egosystem for Tony Compton reminds Howie Vernon of a similar misapprehension (30 September). “While walking down the hall, I spotted a poster on a bulletin board for a social media giant. But the poster was slightly blocked by another one, and as such, all I could see was the word FACEBO.”
Howie says this prompted him to wonder what this “facebo effect” might be. Perhaps, he says, “the phenomenon of thinking you’re having real, beneficial personal interactions, when, in fact, you’re not.”
