My Favourite Word In A They Might Be Giants Song

Alright, I’m busy this week so I gotta make this quick.

Pet Name is a song by the band They Might Be Giants. For a group famous for oblique lyrics and songs with unclear meanings (I dare you to try and figure out what Nothing’s Gonna Change My Clothes is about), Pet Name is actually remarkably straightforward. There’s only two distinct ways to interpret it.

It describes a burgeoning relationship between two less-than-honest people who are each manipulating and playing games with each other, or it describes a burgeoning relationship between two less-than-honest people who slowly let their guard down to trust each other.

What could lead to this difference in interpretation? Whichever way you read a single word in a single line.

Waiting at the bus stop
For just about an hour
Strategies/Strategy’s for hangman
Cat’s cradle, origami

This is the only line that evokes any kind of sacrifice made for another person in this relationship, or hints at any sort of internal non-game motivation for the people involved. Someone is waiting for or with the other at a bus stop for an hour. Why are they doing this?

It depends on how you read the word Strategies/Strategy’s. If it’s Strategies, it means this tactic is being associated with tactical strategies in a game to get more information for a win. It means the person is making this sacrifice out of selfishness.

Strategy’s is a dismissal of the above idea. Strategy is for hangman. You make those kinds of moves when you’re playing a game, and even for this slightly sleazy person, the relationship he’s in has ceased to be a game. The rest of the world might be worth pulling a fast one on, but this person is purer than that.

I love it. I have no idea if this was even intentional. What other song has a load-bearing apostrophe?