Sometimes I mishear things, believe what I misheard, and act upon it.

A case in point: I heard Mario Lanza (not the famous Irish soprano, Mary O’Lanza) sing the song “Someday,” when he sings the line, “When the winter is over,” and I heard it as “When the wind hurries over.” I sang it that way, and someone asked me what it meant. I presented a reasonable explanation, “It deals with the passage of time, the year that rushes past winter to get to spring.”

A kind soul set me straight, showed me the lyrics.

My face got red and I said, “Oh,” or maybe, “Oops.”

The internet finds this to be a thing, and lists what they identify as “hilarious examples.”

I know I should be more cautious about acting on what I think I hear, about jumping to conclusions. I’m not too old to jump, or not.

I do know how stubbornly some people cling to a misheard mistake. Some show their ignorance by endless repetition. Some people never learn.

Which reminds me of a somewhat related bit of news from a no longer so recent history. The President at the time, let’s call him Reagan, since that was his name, was famously entertaining the Russian Premier, and said repeatedly the only Russian phrase he could remember after hours of coaching and practice, which translated as, “Trust but verify.”

He said it over and over in contexts where it didn’t apply, like, “How do you like the soup? Trust but verify.”

The Russian Premier said, “Why do you keep saying this?”

The answer was obvious. It was the only Russian phrase Reagan knew.

He was a Hollywood B actor and knew how to practice his lines. We all remember, don’t we? the famous line for the benefit of the camera, “Mr. Gorbachev… – Tear… – Down… – This… – Wall!”

And, of course, we all remember, don’t we? how our American astronaut had weeks to memorize and practice his famous line when he was the first to set foot on the moon, and said, “One small step for man, a giant leap for all mankind.”

Uh…do you mean mankind has a small step that giant leaps? Commentators have pointed out the original intended words, “one small step for a man” (we could see him take the step), extrapolating for all mankind. Forgiving explanations said, “He was nervous – wouldn’t you be?”

History.

But getting back to, what was I talking about? Oh, yes, mishearing.

My Brother was a master at mishearing. He did Elvis impersonations, singing “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, crocking all the time.”

I asked him what he meant. He said, in his Elvis voice, “Ain’t you never heard a hound dog crockin’?”

I got him the lyrics. “Cryin’ all the time.”

He said, “My hound dog is crockin’.”

He was stubborn.

When he took a music appreciation course at East L. A. J. C., he said how impressed he was by Fauré’s pavane. But he pronounced it it “FOWER.”

I gently corrected him. “Yes, Fauré, that beloved master of French music. I too love the pavane.”

He insisted, “It’s FOWER.”

He was stubborn.

I think this almost random train of thought was triggered by the daily news. I wonder about people who mishear the news, believe what they think they hear, and act upon it. It’s not just a problem of the ears, but what’s between them.

I know sometimes I myself have to listen more closely, and “trust but verify.” I wish everybody would, and I don’t know how to get them to.

What are we to make of a President, did we hear him right? when he says, “The war is over,” but the bombs are still dropping?

When will sanity return to the world?

Maybe “When the wind hurries over.”