As a kid, I had a Christmas song book, from which I learned the song "Rise Up Shepherd And Foller". At the time, I didn't recognize "foller" as a dialectical form of "follow". So I thought a "foller" was somebody who, like the shepherds, went to the manger to adore the Christ child. For years, I puzzled over who a "foller" was, and just how follers fit into the Christmas story.

Carla

My friend's little sister put her own surrealist spin on the carol "Ding Dong Merrily On High".
Last year she came out with the line "Gloria - Susanna is an extension" ...

Mina, UK

Handel's "Messiah" includes "For we, like sheep, have gone astray". But Handel, a German, was a bit rough on his english phrasing, so the main line comes out as "For we LIKE sheep", which puzzled our Sunday School choir - we had nothing against sheep mind you, but few Australians would choose them as special mates. A couple of us decided on our own slant, incurring strife for singing, "For we like sheep, but I prefer dogs -..... etc". "But Sir, we were in tune and everything!"

Swanny

we used to sing about cheese. 'my cheeses, nice flavour...' recognise it?!?

pixie

When my sister was about 6 at Christmas time, she came home from school and sang us a carol she had just learned.
She started alright with 'Ding Dong merrily on high'
but unfortunately finished with 'Hosannah in his trousers'

Jim Clarke

I come from Yorkshire and when we would sing Jingle Bells at Christmas I thought 'a one hose open sleigh' was 'a one horse serpent sleigh' because of the strong accents. I spent most of my childhood thinking that Father Christmas road a dragon.

Megan

I always used to think in the Christmas carol "God Bless you and Give you a Happy New Year" they were saying, "And may joy come to you, and to your mimosa, too." I figured this was because grown-ups drank mimosa on Christmas morning, and the song was hoping their mimosa was yummy.

Anon

My mom always used to think that the lyrics to "Silent Night" were: "Sleep in heavenly peas", so she thought that baby Jesus's bed was filled with peas.

Anon

again, as a child i used to sing a gospel hymn called "joshua fought the battle of Jerichoe and the walls came tumbling down"
until i was about 6 i would belt out in church "Joshua bit the bottle of cherry-coke and the walls came tumbling down"

kaitlyn

My Father had an interesting take on the carol 'we three kings'
'we three kings of trafalgar square
selling knickers at tuppence a pair
they're fantastic, no elastic
falling down everywhere...'

Anon

I used to think that church songs were pop music. Well, we did sing them in church every week...

Roxy

I could never get over why everyone would sing such a gentle, sweet church hymn about a bomb. The song lyrics sounded like "There is a bomb in Gilead, to make the wounded body whole... to heal the sin-sick soul." I thought, what kind of a bomb could that be? Only one God could make I suppose. Finally the day of revelation came... "There is a balm in Gilead"

William

Real words in "Jesus Loves Me": Little Ones to Him Belong..."
Until I was 15 I thought it was: "Little wants to hear me long"

Krista

I was telling my boyfriend about the hymn "Victory in Jesus" and when I got to the part that went "He sought me/and bought me" my boyfriend thought I said "He socked me/and bopped me."

Camille Noire

'"I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.'

I believed that this was actually 'I am the Lord of the Damp Settee', and every time it rained, I would drag our sofa outside, so that I could ask Jesus for toys...

Lord of the Things