oronym

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 06:10 PM 1/31/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>Does anyone know when the term 'oronym' was coined?  (It's a synonym for
>'mondegreen'.)  Gyles Brandreth uses it in _The Joy of Lex_ (1980) (did he
>coin it?) and I've seen it a lot since Pinker used it in _The Language
>Instinct_.
>
>It's not in the OED and none of my dictionaries has it.
>
>Lynne
>
>M Lynne Murphy
>

According to a website listing oronyms, Brandreth discusses the possible
origin right in that book:

Brandreth, Giles, _The Joy of Lex_, 1980, New York: William Morrow and Co.,
pp. 58-59 on who coined the word "oronym"

Maybe someone has a copy handy, FWIW....



Greg Downing, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at is2.nyu.edu