“a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning” (Wikipedia)
not exactly a misinterpretation of song lyrics
but clearly a misinterpretation –
at some point in my high school years
I became familiar with the abbreviation BCE
I’d always known BC –
I’m Jewish and most of our religion is BC
when I first heard BCE, I heard ‘before the common error’
as a Jew maybe I could understand that perspective
so much changed as a result of the birth and life of Christ
I never could really understand why it was considered an error
I never asked –
and when I studied art and archeology, I learned it was era
a string of days 