Every Reading is a Misreading

Umberto Eco says that every reading is a misreading. With English as my second language and parents whose English language skills I surpassed within a year of arriving in Canada, I must have had misread many stories in those early years. I loved to read Archie comics and Mad magazine, but now I wonder how much of their humor I actually understood. In my memory, I laughed aloud at my favorite early reader series, Amelia Bedelia. Did I really understand all those double entendres and play-on-words?



I still remember the punch line about Amelia Bedelia "drawing the drapes".  I guess the important thing is, those misreadings taught me how to read!