I have a semantic inquiry and this seems to be the best Agoran booth in which to ask it.  I was at my lover’s flat last night and while he lay flat on the bed beside me, I was chatting with another friend on Messenger.  After a short space, he began through forward gestures to lure me away from the computer and towards said bed.  Quickly losing interest in my text-only dialogue, I typed, "Gotta go, I’m being hearkened to the bed."  
        My nouveau beau then politely informed me that he had used that word in the same sense in an essay that same day and, spidey-sense tingling, had questioned the accuracy of that use.  He discovered no definition of "hearken" synonymous to "summon" or "call".   Consulting a very highly reputable and innovative online dictionary / linguistic paradise, I too found no such definition.  The word, of course, means "listen,"  which I, of course, already knew.
         "Why this confusion?" I thought.  "How could I make such an egregious error?"  "Is this a common mistake?" wondered I.  "How often have I unwittingly embarrassed myself with such a malaprop?"  I then attempted to hearken back to the source of my mix-up and wondered if subconciously I had substituted "hearken" for "beckon".  
         Luckily, my little hamartia was forgiven and the beckoning proved quite profitable;  still I wonder if there are others who have made a similar slip of the tongue.
        Any thoughts?  

You are definitely not alone.  My husband must be one of the worst people I know at being able to select the word he actually means to use from his mental lexicon.  Usually he comes up with a word that starts with the same letter or has a similar sounding syllable but means something humorously different from what he intends.  ::)

I wonder if you were being influenced by the construction "to hark back" to something - to return or retrace your real/figurative steps.
Apparently the expression derives from British fox-hunting, when any call to the dogs was called a "hark" (presumably because it was something the dogs were expected to listen for). If the dogs lost the scent they were "harked back" in order to pick it up again.

(In my head now there’s a line I think I suddenly understand better: "Hark, hark, the dogs do bark."
Is that from a nursery rhyme? Now I wonder if it had something to do with fox-hunting, rather than just a request for us to listen to some dogs.)

Grant

Grant’s got the source—"hark back"—and the story behind it.  Speaking quite conservatively, "hark back" should only be used when one is calling or being called back to an original point (like the dogs being brought back to the scent).  I reckon (I’m stuck on the -ck- sound), though, that all of us have used "harkened" when we meant we were being beckoned—and there’s the correct word.  "Beckon" is "to appear inviting" and "to call or signal."  

Maybe one could intensify "I’m being beckoned" with "I’m being wantonly beckoned," if one is in an exhibitionistic mood.

Cheerio,
Audra.

I don’t know about:

"Hark, hark, the dogs do bark"

but it reminds me of

"Hark, hark the lark"

Perhaps a parody?

Hello chawil@. New visitors to the Agora have a welcome habit of digging in the cobwebby corners of the Agora that some of us had long forgotten. This one is one of the very earliest. Also a sad reminder that Audra left us many months ago.

I don’t see a connection between larks and dogs here although Will Shakespeare could well have been familiar with the older nursery rhyme.

 Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings,
 And Phoebus ‘gins arise,
 His steeds to water at those springs
 On chaliced flowers that lies;
 And winking Mary-buds begin
 To ope their golden eyes:
 With every thing that pretty is,
 My lady sweet, arise:
 Arise, arise.

Cymbeline, W. Shakespeare

Hark hark the dogs do bark
The beggars are coming to town
Some in rags and some in tags
And one in a velvet gown.

A cautionary tale - Nursery rhyme dates back to 13th century England
The origins of this story, reflected in the lyrics, is seeped in history. Wandering minstrels and beggars went from town to town singing their songs and rhymes - secret messages of dissent were often found in the lyrics and could lead to plots and uprisings against the crown and governments of the day. Dogs barking alerted communities to strangers in their midst, hence the words  ‘Hark, hark the dogs do bark ...’ - " Beware of strangers"

From here, a source of controversy that I have used a couple of times recently.

Hi everybody!

Thanks for the inquiry, KatyBr!   Looking at this post sure harkened me back to simpler times.   That was about three seconds after the Agora first opened its doors.  I really don’t know why I’ve allowed my participation to fall by the wayside.  I suppose at the time I was maniacally obsessed with language and writing; now I’m a little more even-keeled.   I’m now studying theatre in Toronto - I don’t get much spare time.  
I really must make the effort to join in again.  

P.S. Patty is short for Patrick.  I must admit I had a penchant for controversy in those days.   Don’t worry - our old friend Dr. Audra said it was okay.   How I miss that lady . . .  

[quote author=PattyC link=board=grammar;num=1028306020;start=0#7 date=11/12/03 at 08:53:34]...now I’m a little more even-keeled.   I’m now studying theatre in Toronto…

I didn’t realize that the theatre attracted even-keeled people!

;D

-Tim