It’s all about the mondegreens

It’s been a rough couple of months for aging celebrities, with comedians Dick Martin and Harvey Korman joining director Sydney Pollack, sportscaster Jim McKay, dancer Cyd Charisse and the legendary Bo Diddley as permanent guests on Tim Russert’s new afterlife chatfest. (See a comprehensive list here.)

While the passing of Larry Harmon, best known as Bozo the Clown, and former Sen. Jesse Helms both over the Independence Day weekend offered a certain cosmic symmetry, I’ve been thinking most about George Carlin and his famous “Seven Words” that now carry a crippling fine for a…