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The horse on Seventh Avenue

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A cartoon posted on Facebook by Stephen Zunes, who might or might not be its artist (hat tip to David Kathman):

Ah, a mishearing, leading to this excellent phonologically minimal mondegreen.

The model is Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer”:

Asking only workman’s wages
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers
Just a come-on from the whores
On Seventh Avenue
I do declare
There were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there

The original has whores, with final /z/; the cartoon has horse, with final /s/. It’s just voicing — and in final position, the voiced /z/ of whores is actually quite short, but (on the other hand) its voicing lengthens the the preceding vowel nucleus considerably, which makes whores quite notably “longer” than horse.

I’m not in a position to judge the likelihood of being solicited sexually by any type of creature on Seventh Avenue. Nor do I recall what life was like on Seventh Avenue back in 1970, when Simon and Garfunkel recorded Bridge over Troubed Water.

 


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