海角大神

Lo, through centuries dark and deep cometh the yuletide vocabulary donned now by the Google doodle so we can all fa-la-la-la-la our collective Christmas bliss back a few centuries and, in so doing, find comfort and joy in words and phrases that both gain and lose meaning with age.

This leads us to the 12 dazes of Christmas.

1. 鈥楾is, it鈥檚, it is and t鈥檌s the season for confusion over the spelling, meaning, pronunciation and lyrics using Old (Olde?) English-ish words and phrases that 鈥榯were in carols and Christmas tales back in the day.

For the record, it鈥檚 correctly rendered "鈥榯is" which听is a contraction of "it is." The rule with contractions is that we put the apostrophes where the letters, not the spaces, are missing.

"鈥楾is" and "鈥榯was" ,听we bring them back to life each holiday season like dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, with much the same bizarre results.

For those who choose not to go deep into the etymological paint, this is the season to just randomly toss in extra letters, punctuation and hope for the best.听

2. For starters we get Santa Claus modified by adding an 鈥渆鈥� at the end or a 鈥渨鈥� in place of the 鈥渦.鈥� In those cases he either becomes part of a legal document or Wolverine鈥檚 portly older brother.

3. In many cases it seems just the word Christmas itself can give folks trouble in the spelling department.

颁丑谤颈蝉迟尘补蝉听听on everything from cakes to cards.

So far this year, the international press reports that in England a discount retailer called听Poundland听delighted shoppers with their mistakes on garlands that read听 听

4. In听Singapore听a political candidate Lim Biow Chuan had banners put up all over town earlier this month wishing everyone a 鈥�.鈥�

5. That last one鈥檚 actually salvageable if he just adds an exclamation point to make it 鈥淢arry! Christmas.鈥� In old English it would indicate how surprised we all are when the holiday is here before we know it.

However, if everyone knew both the grammar etiquette and the true meaning of lyrics it would be a lot less merry and marry this season because nobody would make hilarious mistakes when singing carols.

听Magazine and the website听听have each come up with lists of the most common caroling errors including but not limited to:

6. 鈥淲e three kings disorient are,鈥� is all about confusion in a modern world.

7. In 鈥淛ingle Bells鈥� kids often get their modes of conveyance mixed-up. 鈥淏ashing through the snow in a one horse open slay,鈥� is just a bit more violent than the correct lyrics.

8. 鈥淕randma Got Run Over by a Reindeer鈥� lyrics become 鈥淕randma got run over by a reindeer walkin鈥� home from outhouse on Christmas Eve.鈥� (Should be 鈥渙ur house.鈥�)

9. On the bright side, a popular new holiday children鈥檚 book and film from Matt "The Simpsons" Groening was based on one such commonly misheard lyric from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer which spawned 鈥�.鈥�

10. "Joy to the World! The Lord has drums," is what you get when you confuse the subject of the 海角大神 holiday with the popular tale of The Little Drummer Boy. In other cases, the 鈥淟ord has gum.鈥�

11. In 鈥淲inter Wonderland鈥� the word conspire converts to 鈥淟ater on, we鈥檒l perspire as we lay by the fire.鈥�

12. Of course poor old "" written by John Mason Neale and published in 1853 never really stood a chance. He鈥檚 become everything from 鈥淲encelstecelstout鈥� to 鈥淥celot.鈥�

The joy will continue to spread since this kind of faux pas isn鈥檛 limited to Christmas.

One of the most commonly misunderstood of the ancient words comes not from England but Scotland and is popular each New Year鈥檚 Eve as people may mistakenly croon, 鈥淪hould old acquaintance be forgot and never paid no mind!鈥�

That chestnut literally

The correct lyric: "Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind, should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne"

The translate to 鈥渢imes gone by鈥� and is about remembering friends from the past and not letting them be forgotten.

Of course any song lyric can be misheard in any age. For instance, back in the 1980s,听听did not sing, 鈥�.鈥澨�

Yet, once the wrong word is in your head, 鈥榯is hard to find the right one.