Hi all. I hope you’re all well. I myself am a little peeved. Why? It’s all to do with Bob Marley, pronunciation, and a certain former South African president. What, that wasn’t enough of an explanation? Fine, I’ll explain properly below. Enjoy!
Firstly, allow me to explain about a phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect. Some of you may have heard of it already, but for those who haven’t, it is essentially a phenomenon whereby large amounts of people all believe something that isn’t true. We’re not talking about conspiracy theories here. Instead, it is usually a small detail or thing that nearly everyone believes happened or existed, but it never did.
The name comes from one such, rather large, detail that lots of people got wrong. There were many conflicting emotions when Nelson Mandela died in 2013. There was sadness and grief. There was pride and gratitude towards the legacy he had left. There was also surprise, despite the fact he was 95 years old. The surprise wasn’t that he died, but more that a surprisingly large number of people thought he was already dead.
Now, a few people getting something wrong like this is one thing, but – if online communities are to be believed – thousands of people around the world were convinced that Mandela had died about two decades prior. Specifically, many people apparently had vivid, wrong memories of his funeral taking place in 1993. As to why this is, your guess is as good as mine.
Some other famous examples include the Disney logo and castle, with people remembering Tinker Bell flying over and using her magic wand to dot the “I” in “Disney” at the start of Disney films. This has never happened. Or, picture the Monopoly man. Come on, you know him; suit, top hat, moustache, monocle… hang on, nope, not a monocle, despite what many people believe.
One of my favourite examples is from the film Risky Business. The most famous scene from the film is Tom Cruise, sliding into the living room, dancing and enjoying the fact that his parents are on holiday and he has the run of the house. Even if you haven’t seen the film, this scene has been parodied so many times that you’ve likely seen a variation of it.
If I were to ask you to describe the outfit the character was wearing, what would be the first thing that came to mind? Possibly the socks; how else would he slide into the room otherwise? Next up would probably be the boxer shorts or the partially unbuttoned shirt. And then 90% of people would probably finish off the outfit with a pair of sunglasses. Iconic. Except, go back and watch the scene again. No sunglasses are to be seen anywhere.
So, we now all know what the Mandela Effect is. I’d like to tell you about one that I think I’ve discovered. I’ve never seen or heard anyone else talk about this before, but it’s something that drives me mad. It involves Bob Marley and, arguably, his most famous song.
Three Little Birds. It’s a great song. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know it. Most people will know the lyrics, particularly to the chorus. Chances are, you’ve heard people sing this song, whether it’s at karaoke, singing along to it at a party, or maybe even just singing along with it on the radio in the car. The chorus is particularly memorable:
🎵Don’t worry, about a thing, cos every little thing, is gonna be alright.🎵
And, without fail, every time someone sings this song, they all do the same thing. They drop the “H” from “Thing” and instead pronounce it “Ting”. I wouldn’t usually ask you to stop reading my blog, but, just temporarily, stop reading and go listen to the opening 30-60 seconds of Three Little Birds. We’ll reconvene here after.
All done? Sweet. What did you hear? I’ll tell you what I hear. It’s the same thing I hear every time I listen to the song: both Bob Marley and each of the Wailers pronouncing “Thing” correctly, with the “H” included. It’s clear as day. So why does everyone sing this wrong?
And before you bring up that the majority of people who sing this at karaoke or parties are probably drunk and/or amateurs, they’re not the only ones doing it. I caught the rendition of this song from Get Up Stand Up (the Bob Marley musical) on the radio recently, and they do it too! Tings aplenty!
It’s as if the Ting version is the official version, or at least what most people believe is the official version. And I’m struggling to understand why. Don’t get me wrong, Ting is definitely part of Caribbean culture. In fact, when on holiday in Antigua a few years back, I happened upon a fizzy drink called “Ting” and it was amazing! One of the best soft drinks I’ve ever had.
So perhaps that’s it? Despite the fact that Bob Marley clearly says Thing, perhaps people, en masse, just decided that Ting sounded better or more authentic somehow? Or, maybe Marley did a live version of the song once where he did pronounce it as Ting? Even if that was the case, it still seems strange to me that so many people would cotton onto a random live version, rather than the official version that would have been in the charts and available to stream nowadays.
Just to be absolutely clear, I don’t have a problem with people saying or singing Ting in general. I am half Jamaican, but this isn’t me trying to gatekeep the word or anything. Whether you’re from the Caribbean or not, I’m happy for you to use Ting if you’re so inclined. I’m just a little miffed that people use it in this song, for no apparent reason.
We may never know the reason why. I think it’s a pretty strong entry for the Mandela Effect collection, though. And I’m not going to stress over this anymore. As the great Bob Marley said: don’t worry about a ting, cos every little ting is gonna be alright. Oh damn, now I’m doing it!
Thanks as always for reading. Apologies if I’ve come across overly moany. If someone tried to cast me as a moaner, it’s A Part I’d strongly oppose. And on that terrible play on words, I’ll leave it there. Take it easy.
Rob Recommends
Air – Film – 8/10
The story of how Nike managed to pull off arguably the greatest endorsement deal of all time. It’s a very interesting depiction with fantastic acting performances all around. And, as we know by now, anything directed by Ben Affleck is gold.
The only reason I’m marking it down slightly is that I’m not sure how interesting this will be for people who aren’t into basketball, sports, or trainers. It’s not quite transcendent enough to be loved by all demographics, but it is a very solid film.
Black Mirror – TV – 8/10
Anyone who has read any of my TV recommendations will know that I always rate the show as a whole; I don’t rate season by season. Usually, this is easy enough for me. But I’ve found it tough with Black Mirror.
Certainly, the first three or four seasons would probably garner a nine or 10/10. But the more recent seasons have been more hit and miss. Take the latest season, which I’ve just finished watching. The episode ‘Joan is Awful’ is really excellent. But I thought ‘Loch Henry’ was average at best. Because each episode is disparate, it’s difficult to judge them all together.
Overall, do I think the series is worth watching? Absolutely. So, I’ve plumped for an eight. Ask me on another day, and you may well get another score.
Poker Face – TV – 8/10
Look at that, three of a kind: three 8s in a row. That will be the last reference to poker. Deal? Haha. Where was I?
Oh yeah, Poker Face. Really good stuff. From the creators of Knives Out and Glass Onion, this show is essentially a whodunit where we, the audience, see who committed the crime, and we then see star Natasha Lyonne try to work it out using her human-lie-detector skill.
It’s an interesting take on a sort of detective show where on-the-run Charlie travels from small town to small town, solving mysteries along the way. It’s a cool show. And I wouldn’t lie to you, I’m telling you straight…
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Film – 10/10
Holy moly, what a film! I’ve spoken briefly before about how much I love the first film (Into the Spider-Verse). So when I started to see trailers and snippets of the new film, my excitement was palpable.
But there was also fear. Because, even though logically, we know that films should be judged on their own merits, disappointing followups can taint the original. Just look at how Star Wars was viewed after The Phantom Menace, or The Matrix after Reloaded and Revolutions. I needn’t have worried, though.
It’s hard to say whether Across surpassed Into. Certainly, it did what all good sequels do; it expanded the world, introduced new characters and themes, and developed the existing characters further.
Beyond that, though, they’re both just incredibly entertaining movies, with great storytelling and fantastic action. This isn’t a spoiler, as it partly appears in the trailer, but there’s a scene in which Miles Morales (the main protagonist) has to escape from hundreds of other Spider-people. It is absolutely breathtaking!
I would urge anyone, no, everyone to see both of these films as soon as humanly possible. You won’t regret it.
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