Another mishearing

tiger tier tiger for ultimate May, the gateway to the sultry rabbits of summer, those promiscuous creatures of the great queen, Juno (is it hot in here?) A follow-up to my 5/29 posting “Three mishearings”, with yet another surprising slip of the ear, eco-terrorist heard as ego-terrorist: model utterance with /k/, variant with /g/, differing minimally, in voicing — setting up a relationship that can be exploited in an imperfect pun, a possibility that’s been ostentatiously realized in writing by Wayne Bradshaw My mishearing. From a re-play yesterday of the American tv show NCIS: S1 E7 “Sub Rosa” (1st aired 11/18/03): He’s definitely an eco-terrorist Which I heard as He’s definitely an ego-terrorist< (definitely a surprise). But the minimal /k – g/ relationship is available for half-rhyme (bigger or trigger half-rhyming with liquor or quicker: primed by liquor / his eyes got bigger) or an imperfect pun (Have you heard about Roy Rogers’ stuffed horse, Tricker? — playing on Trigger). (The…