Steer The Ship, Or Something Like That
A podcast, a misunderstanding, and a surprisingly good metaphor
Know what a mondegreen is? You do, even if you aren’t familiar with that term.
It’s when you’re listening to a song and you misunderstand what the singer was actually singing.
Classic examples include CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising” where “there’s a bad moon on the rise” becomes “there’s a bathroom on the right,” or Jimi Hendrix telling us, “‘scuse me, while I kiss this guy.”
There are also oronyms, where “ice cream” becomes “I scream.”
But another variation is known as an eggcorn. (The origin of these terms could be an article unto itself.)
With an eggcorn, you’re mishearing something, but the wrong version could reasonably make sense to someone who didn’t know better. Like looking for Chester Drawers instead of a chest of drawers. A friend of mine swore the burger chain was called Water Burger. And my ex-sister-in-law was one of many shocked to learn that Colorado’s School of Mines was not the School of Minds.
Hey, you’ve gotta be pretty brainy to get accepted, so why not?
Steering and Stirring
I bring this up because I stumbled across a perfect eggcorn for anyone trying to organize their life, either personally or professionally.
During a long walk, I tuned in to a podcast where the guest was discussing ways to optimize your time. As someone who has multiple plates spinning on any given day, I was interested.
At one point, the man spoke about how important it was to steer the ship. That’s a nice metaphor for making sure you’re on the right path.
But with his European accent, I didn’t hear “steer the ship.” I clearly heard him say you’ve got to “stir the shit.”
I had to rewind it a couple of times. Did he just say I’ve got to stir the shit?
I finally figured it out. I spent the rest of the walk laughing.
Funny, but . . .
And yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was just as apt as piloting that imaginary ship. Because when you’re managing a business, isn’t a portion of your day spent stirring the shit?
Your friendly neighborhood wastewater plant is doing that. In order to infuse the good kind of bacteria with oxygen in order to break down organic waste, they stir . . . well, shit.
For us, if we let things sit and fester too long, we end up with a pile of similar material. We must constantly stir all that muck, keeping things active and moving. I’m constantly stirring.
Kudos to the podcast guest who, without knowing it, accidentally delivered better advice than he’d intended.
Steer the ship. But don’t forget to stir the shit.
Sometimes they’re the same job.
Dom Testa writes fiction and nonfiction, and stirs both relentlessly.
Find most of his work here.
As always, you are enlightening.