This reminds me of that game we use to play in elementary school. Actually it was more of a lesson than a game, but always fun none the less. The teacher would have the class of 30 kids arrange their chairs in a large circle. She would then whisper a simple sentence into the ear of the first student. We were instructed to quietly and discreetly pass the sentence along verbatim to the next student. When the last student received the sentence, the teacher would have her/him share it aloud with all of us. Then laughter would erupt as every one of us likely heard something different passed along. The teacher would then reveal what the sentence had originally been, and the lesson was learned about how humans tend to hear things inaccurately. I think our brains hear what they want to and we likely substitute words more to our liking. Or perhaps we are just goofy when it comes to hearing. Seeing too. If 100 people witness a crime, the investigators will likely get 100 unique reports. Some might be accurate, some close, some not even close, some just bizarre. Prosecutors don't like to rely on eyewitness accounts because they are not very convincing especially when they contradict each other.