TRACEY BENDINGER | Culture | Contact

A well-educated, intelligent, grown woman has today revealed to The Advocate that she hasn’t been able to spell the word ‘bananas’ without the musical aid of Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit song ‘Hollaback Girl’ since she was 15.

“Well, before that I basically didn’t know how to spell it” says Brittany Isles (30).

“Was it one ‘n’ or two? I flat out had no clue”

“Now even though I know how to spell it, I can’t do it without singing it out”

“B-a-n-a-n-a-s”

“She should be given some kind of award for it.”

The song did in fact receive some award nominations, but not for the educational purposes Brittany is referring to.

Hollaback Girl received several award nominations, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year at the 48th Grammy Awards, but lost in both categories.

The song divided pop music critics, with some praising its minimalistic production and others declaring it embarrassing; men’s magazine Maxim called it the “Most Annoying Song Ever.”

Brittany went on to tell The Advocate that she has made up a number of other ‘cheats’ to help her with spelling difficult words.

“Dessert and desert always used to get me too – then I learnt that dessert has 2 s’s because dessert’s have double the sweetness”

“Pretty clever, huh!”