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Weekend Discussion Thread: Your Favorite Misheard/Misread Line

Alert regular MSTie suggests:

Best/Worst/Most Confusing misheard/misread/misunderstand line of dialog (sometimes known as a Mondegreen).
Without a doubt, the “Idiot Control Now” song in Pod People is one giant Mondegreen.

Many of these come from bad sound or out of focus visuals.
One of my favorites, from early in “Warrior of the Lost World,” is when Joel decides a title card says “All the gummy mints have colitis.”

What’s your favorite?

And PLEASE keep sending those topic suggestions!

104 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Your Favorite Misheard/Misread Line”

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  1. WatchOutForSnakes says:

    In Golzilla vs Megalon when the kid us on that lousy dolphin..

    “Roxon!”

    “You don’t have to wear that dress tonight!”

       5 likes

  2. littleaimishboy says:

    “I thought you were Dale” is some sort of convolutedly misheard/misremembered mondegreen, isn’t it?

       3 likes

  3. Freddie Agricola says:

    littleaimishboy:
    “I thought you were Dale” is some sort of convolutedly misheard/misremembered mondegreen, isn’t it?

    That, my friend, is answered on this very site!

    https://www.mst3kinfo.com/mstfaq/subtle.html

    And yes, it’s two commercials mixed.

       2 likes

  4. Happenstance says:

    The kid’s singsong line from Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders, which I always heard as “F***in’ robot, yeah! F***in’ robot, yeah!”

       1 likes

  5. jjk says:

    Has anyone ever found out if “Idiot Control Now” in Pod People is what the the words really are? Since the movie was dubbed it might be a mistake in the English version.

       8 likes

  6. Kenneth Morgan says:

    It took me long time before I realized that Frank was saying, “I don’t fink on soul brothers.” And that’s before seeing the outtakes of him laughing during every other take.

       6 likes

  7. Grandma Blob says:

    From Creeping Terror – the line was probably that they would use grenades against the creature, but Mike says “Renee, who’s she”?

       4 likes

  8. vicki says:

    I love in The Girl in Lover’s Lane when they call Bix Dugan Big Stupid. It makes the episode.

       7 likes

  9. goalieboy82 says:

    but there was no monster..
    i thought, wait, there was no monster, what a jip.

       1 likes

  10. MSTie says:

    jjk:
    Has anyone ever found out if “Idiot Control Now” in Pod People is what the the words really are? Since the movie was dubbed it might be a mistake inthe English version.

    http://forrestcrow.proboards.com/thread/22772/pod-people-soundtrack

    Disappointed to see that “sacks of monkeys” in your pocket are actually “stacks of money.” Much more practical, but way less fun.

       8 likes

  11. Torque the Dorque says:

    Monster-A-Go-Go

    Either I misheard a telephone “ring” that sounded like some guy TRYING to sound like an actual telephone ring or an actor misread his script and thought it was his dialogue.

       4 likes

  12. Grandma Blob says:

    Can’t remember the episode, but “the parrots must be eliminated”.

       3 likes

  13. Grandma Blob says:

    Just remembered – it was from Escape 2000 and it’s “the parrots are to be eliminated”.

       2 likes

  14. Ray Dunakin says:

    Freddie Agricola: That, my friend, is answered on this very site!

    https://www.mst3kinfo.com/mstfaq/subtle.html

    I noticed at the bottom of the FAQ are references to several predecessors of MST3K that involved riffing. One that was not included was a show very much like MST3K called “Disasterpiece Theater”. It was produced by, and shown on, a local San Diego channel back in the early 1980s. The host was “Sal U. Lloyd”. Instead of spoken riffs, they ran text riffs across the bottom of the screen.

       2 likes

  15. EricJ says:

    Ray Dunakin: I noticed at the bottom of the FAQ are references to several predecessors of MST3K that involved riffing. One that was not included was a show very much like MST3K called “Disasterpiece Theater”. It was produced by, and shown on, a local San Diego channel back in the early 1980s. The host was “Sal U. Lloyd”. Instead of spoken riffs, they ran text riffs across the bottom of the screen.

    And I’ve given up YouTube-searching for the only pilot episode of “Cinema Veri-Bad” from USA Network Up All Night, almost a year before MST3K first hit the Comedy Channel–Which only riffed B-trailers, but I can still recite the riffing.

    (And what was the name of that two-guys “Drive-In” show that was so bad it was thrown off of TCC after half a season?)

       0 likes

  16. Cornjob says:

    Space Children: Where one army guy says to another, “Call the depot” and it sound like, “Call the Devil”. If someone told me to call the Devil I’d want to know why this person thought I would have the Devil’s phone number, and assuming I did have it what good calling the Devil would do? Wouldn’t that just make things worse.

       6 likes

  17. Raigely says:

    A long, agonizing segment of dull scientist maw-flapping in “Monster A-Go Go” is done without microphones, much like the majority of the cursed film. Tom’s attempts to construe it (“Washington’s radioactive?”), while not entirely funny, go on for so long that it really drives home the point of how clumsily made the movie is.

       2 likes

  18. goalieboy82 says:

    Gobi:
    Tonight is dedicated to Uranus.

    well thank you i am flattered.

       8 likes

  19. Molly Ringworm says:

    dafs:

    Also, the famous misheard Cambot subliminal message: “kill yourself!”

    Exactly!! When I was a kid, I thought my favorite show was trying to send me disturbing subliminal messages. I don’t think it was until the Sci-Fi era where I could understand what ANY of them were saying in the theme song. I still think of “bat guano” when I hear “that’s one o,” and I don’t think I ever misconstrued Gypsy’s “Hi from me,” I just always thought it was total gibberish.

       4 likes

  20. Ray Dunakin says:

    In “Last of the Wild Horses”, they mishear Cooper’s name as “Pooper”, then have fun with the subsequent montage of headlines. “Pooper held as probe widens!”

    Also, I don’t remember which episode it was but a newspaper is shown, and below the main headline there’s a small headline, “Philanthropist laid to rest.”

    “Philanthropist laid? It’s always rock stars and philanthropists!”

       6 likes

  21. Cornjob says:

    My name is Cornjob!!

       9 likes

  22. Cornjob says:

    His green pants meant a lot to him.

       3 likes

  23. Grumpy says:

    Anything the foreign guy says in The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?

       4 likes

  24. Ericb says:

    “This is where the fish lives.”

    The script probably had ‘live” but bad sound or the actor’s slip-up made it sound like “lives.”

       3 likes

  25. Mr. Krasker says:

    Molly Ringworm: I don’t think I ever misconstrued Gypsy’s “Hi from me,” I just always thought it was total gibberish.

    According to the CLASSIFIED MST3000 Fan Club Material, the line is, “I’m Not Ready.”

       2 likes

  26. jjk says:

    MSTie: http://forrestcrow.proboards.com/thread/22772/pod-people-soundtrack

    Disappointed to see that “sacks of monkeys” in your pocket are actually “stacks of money.”Much more practical, but way less fun.

    So the real words are “Hear the engines roar now” not “Idiot Control Now.” I’m sorry I asked, I liked idiot control now better.

       6 likes

  27. Cornjob says:

    I still hear “Bat Guano” during the credit sequence. I figured it was a Dr. Strangelove reference.

       1 likes

  28. goalieboy82 says:

    from Gorgo:
    something about a knish?

       2 likes

  29. mando3b says:

    How ’bout the wimpy college kid introduced as “Butt Healer” by Johnny Longbone in “Track of the Moon Beast”? And let’s not forget Colossus (“My Cheesesteak”) telling the beautiful queen, “Delay the ceremony as long as possible. The breast is up to me.” Lord, I know there are a thousand more I’m going to remember the minute I send this off . . . :rotfl:

    Love all of the ones already mentioned: “making wappits”, “snarf farm”, Cornjob, Longbone, Toblerone, etc. I, too, always hear Crow saying “bat guano” during the song

       6 likes

  30. GlensterTX says:

    There’s the classic one from the Joel-era theme song:

    “….But his bosses didn’t like him
    So they shot him in the face!”

       8 likes

  31. littleaimishboy says:

    jjk: So the real words are “Hear the engines roar now” not “Idiot Control Now.” I’m sorry I asked, I liked idiot control now better.

    No, don’t feel bad, the real lyrics are exactly as Joel sang them. Some “prankster” apparently thought it would be funny to post a “corrected” version. Just ignore it. Sit back … relax … feel the wind in your eyes ….

       5 likes

  32. Edwin B says:

    Does the un-decipherable line from Hellcats count? “I’ll bet all of you are only children’?

    Maybe more on point is the line from Prince of Space ‘I’ll kill the differen’

    And anything Eegah or Max Keller says :-X

       7 likes

  33. Ray Dunakin says:

    Edwin B:
    Does the un-decipherable line from Hellcats count? “I’ll bet all of you are only children’?

    That’s what he’s saying?? Wow. I’ve tried and tried and never could distinguish a single recognizable word!

       3 likes

  34. Cornjob says:

    My mom thought the Hellcat’s outburst was, “I’ll have you know I’m only human”.

       3 likes

  35. mando3b says:

    Cornjob:
    My mom thought the Hellcat’s outburst was, “I’ll have you know I’m only human”.

    Yes, every time I listen to the “Hellcats” stinger, I hear “[gargle][gibberish] … only human!”

    Sure enough, I thought of a couple more: from “Outlaw”–the elder: “I needed you sooner, but my plans were not in order” Crow (I think): “Your PANTS?” And in the short “Hired!”: “my prospects” gets misheard as “my prostate”.

       0 likes

  36. NickH says:

    “Joe Don Baker IS Mittens! He’s a cop!”

       2 likes

  37. Thomas K. Dye says:

    Track of the Moon Beast: “Butt Healer??!”

       3 likes

  38. goalieboy82 says:

    NickH:
    “Joe Don Baker IS Mittens!He’s a cop!”

    alright a sex film (when ESSEX ENTERPRISESis shown)

       1 likes

  39. Into The Void says:

    In one of the Gamera movies (Gamera vs Gaos, if I had to guess) there’s a scene where some of the characters are discussing the volcano, and one of them says something about “another eruption,” to which Crow then adds, “on my face?”

    ???

    Ha, yeah, definitely an odd one there.

       3 likes

  40. Into The Void says:

    Thomas K. Dye:
    Track of the Moon Beast:“Butt Healer??!”

    Funny, I’d brought that up before too–thought it was “Butt Wheeler” …then someone here corrected me, it’s Butt FEELER, ha (if that’s what Mike says?) which should’ve been obvious, although for whatever reason when I saw it, and my recollection of it (Track of The Moon Beast) the obvious escaped me.

    Part of the problem is the funny moniker is never repeated throughout the rest of the experiment, such as “Big Stupid,” or “Cornjob,” et al …so the viewer has just that one jab at that character’s ‘riffed’ name to decipher or recall it.

       3 likes

  41. Torgo the White says:

    Johnny Longbow being misheard as Johnny Longbone was great in “Track of the Moonbeast”

    “Stop talking, Johnny Longbone!”

       4 likes

  42. EricJ says:

    Into The Void:
    In one of the Gamera movies (Gamera vs Gaos, if I had to guess) there’s a scene where some of the characters are discussing the volcano, and one of them says something about “another eruption,” to which Crow then adds, “on my face?”

    ???

    Acne joke, I’m guessing. (Similar to the Clearasil-ad parody ref when the girls run away from the monster, in Monster-a-Go-Go.)

    goalieboy82:
    but there was no–

    SHADDUP!! ;)

       0 likes

  43. Cornjob says:

    Digilicious!

       1 likes

  44. Matt says:

    Mort Saul?

       1 likes

  45. new cornjob says:

    Cornjob: I still hear “Bat Guano” during the credit sequence. I figured it was a Dr. Strangelove reference.

    ;0 “if that really is your name…!”

       1 likes

  46. new cornjob says:

    btw i think upstream someone mentioned the “piz-za!” thing during the door sequence; i always wondered what that was about that too… maybe it’s what i always heard as the doorbell-sounding chime at door #5 in the joel-era sequence; that seems louder during the “exit-out” than on “going-in”. (it’s subtle and just a synthesizer-sounding thing, but it’s kinda like a “diiing-dooong!” like a doorbell. is that what others mean when they think, “peeetss-saahh!” maybe?)

       1 likes

  47. goalieboy82 says:

    https://vimeo.com/74504707

       0 likes

  48. eegah says:

    In Attack of the Giant Leeches, where the name Cal was heard as “cow”

       1 likes

  49. Erich says:

    I’m sure this has been mentioned many times in this thread, but “making woppets” from Space Mutiny is my all-time fave.

       3 likes

  50. Slowermo says:

    Diabolik to his girlfriend, “You look weathered”.

       1 likes

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