It comes in part from minor hearing loss, I'm sure; it requires the intervention of distance from the source and background noise interfering as well. And oft-sloppy enunciation on the part of the announcer can also contribute. But it leads to mishearing things---usually advertisements---in a way that makes them far more interesting that anything that could have possibly been the actual intent of the advertiser.
I still want to know what Marie Osmond was selling, 20 years ago, that I heard across my mother's house as "Romanian underwear."
And I just heard a commercial for one of those "buy diet meals in quantity" companies that I'd swear included the line "order now and get free weasels for a week!" This has left me with a number of questions:
- Is that a set number of weasels who come to visit for a week?
- Or do weasels keep arriving at some set rate for a week?
- Are the weasels yours to keep?
- Do the weasels simply come to visit before wandering off through your neighborhood?
- Or does someone turn up at the end of the week to collect the weasels?
- If so, do they bill you for any escaped weasels?
- Are the weasels litterbox trained?
- If not, are the costs of having the house cleaned covered, or are you out of pocket on this one?
- And finally, do the weasels bring their *own* meals, or are they going to be eating the diet meals you've just bought?
I'm not sure "free weasels" would be all that much of an incentive to buy their product....but I'm sure it's a more interesting concept than what they're actually selling. :)
