We all mishear things. There’s even a word for it: a mondegreen — when a phrase takes on a new life because our ears decide to improvise. It usually happens with song lyrics, but last night it happened on the BBC.
Laura Kuenssberg was reporting on the government’s decision to cut the foreign aid budget. Serious topic. Serious tone. But I’m convinced she said: “A spokesperson in Dumb-ber 10…”
My ears didn’t mishear the politics, just the pronunciation. And it struck me how often miscommunication reveals the truth far more sharply than the official line.
Brands do this all the time. We think we’re saying one thing, our audience hears something entirely different, and the meaning shifts. Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s catastrophic. Always, it’s a reminder.
What you say is rarely what people hear.
If you want clarity, you have to earn it, one word at a time.
