Punter: "What's that there you're playing? Is it a mandarin?"
Player: "No. It's a Bouzouki, (it's from Greek originally)."
Punter: "A bazooka! <insert your own smart arse comment here>"
Nothing to do with trad, but I used tolike thsoe great old songs "It's this loaf, it's this loaf, it's this loaf, it's this loaf that I'm feeling", "Tonight I sellotape my glove to you" not to mention the famous song in celebration of "Sue Lawley"
I once heard a banjo-playing friend from a remote corner of the West of Ireland say something about a 'thinner' banjo he had bought. I spent a few seconds trying to figure out what he meant - (Was his previous banjo too thick??)) - before it clicked what he had actually said.
Not a *mis*pronunciation on his part - just my inability to adjust quickly to other accents.
In a similar vein, Niall O Callanain's book 'The Irish Bouzouki" contains a diagram of a bouzouki with each of its component parts labelled. Among them is the *thrust* rod.
I was at a session once next to a flute player and about 3 different people came up asking what his instrument actually was.... they'd never seen anything other then the silver flute.
The family and friends returned to the house after great-grandad's funeral. They were having the sandwiches and such-like in the dining room looking out over the garden, and someone saw little Tommy, the great-grandson, busy digging a hole in the border with his spade. Tommy then picked up his teddy-bear and threw it into the hole, chanting "In the name of the father and of the son and in the hole he goes".
Beside the point, probably, but the 'thrust rod' above reminded me of it.
A friend of mine, many years ago, had just taken delivery of his brand new Honda motorbike. The instruction manual that came with it had clearly been 'translated' from the Japanese, and contained this gem that I've remembered ever since:
"Thrust the tickler (a) onto the plunger (b) into a few drips of oil flood from the overflow (c)"
We never quite worked out what it meant ... though we had some fun guessing!
What is this strange instrument you play?
Where you're from?
Ah, Swizterland, so this is a traditional Swiss instrument??
Tee lady asked me at an All Ireland Fleadh some years ago when we were playing on the road, with a blend of Irish and other songs and tunes.
The strange instrument is an Overtone Low Whistle in D
BTW the crowd was very enthusiastic about our version of "La Bamba" by Los Lobos
Thin Whistle
Thin Whistle
I live in Flanders and people often speak and write "thin whistle" instead of tin whistle.Any other amusing mispronunciations or misspellings?
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Thin Whistle
Some people think the bodhran is an instrument
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by Wurzel
Re: Thin Whistle
There is the obligatory exchange:
Punter: "What's that there you're playing? Is it a mandarin?"
Player: "No. It's a Bouzouki, (it's from Greek originally)."
Punter: "A bazooka! <insert your own smart arse comment here>"
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by theboymcdermott
Re: Thin Whistle
I play a melodrama.
Some people's melodramas have more rows in them than mine.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Thin Whistle
That reminds me, theboymcdermott, that I 've read 'bazouki' several times.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by Henk Bos
Re: Thin Whistle
Nothing to do with trad, but I used tolike thsoe great old songs "It's this loaf, it's this loaf, it's this loaf, it's this loaf that I'm feeling", "Tonight I sellotape my glove to you" not to mention the famous song in celebration of "Sue Lawley"
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: Thin Whistle
I know someone introduced at a tender age to a hymn that includes the line, "Gladly my cross I'd bear".
She wondered why she was singing about a cross-eyed bear called Gladly, which she did not in fact own.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Thin Whistle
I once heard a banjo-playing friend from a remote corner of the West of Ireland say something about a 'thinner' banjo he had bought. I spent a few seconds trying to figure out what he meant - (Was his previous banjo too thick??)) - before it clicked what he had actually said.
Not a *mis*pronunciation on his part - just my inability to adjust quickly to other accents.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by granama
Re: Thin Whistle
"people often speak and write "thin whistle" instead of tin whistle"
This phenomenon was presumably the inspiration behind the 'Thin Weasel' brand of whistles.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by granama
Re: Thin Whistle
In a similar vein, Niall O Callanain's book 'The Irish Bouzouki" contains a diagram of a bouzouki with each of its component parts labelled. Among them is the *thrust* rod.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by granama
Re: Thin Whistle
The thrust rod! A turbocharged bouzouki.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Thin Whistle
The leader of my first band played a G/D linoleum, accompanied by his wife on tangerine.
# Posted on February 16th 2008 by oldstrings
Re: Thin Whistle
I was at a session once next to a flute player and about 3 different people came up asking what his instrument actually was.... they'd never seen anything other then the silver flute.
# Posted on February 17th 2008 by camwebby
Re: Thin Whistle
The family and friends returned to the house after great-grandad's funeral. They were having the sandwiches and such-like in the dining room looking out over the garden, and someone saw little Tommy, the great-grandson, busy digging a hole in the border with his spade. Tommy then picked up his teddy-bear and threw it into the hole, chanting "In the name of the father and of the son and in the hole he goes".
# Posted on February 17th 2008 by lazyhound
Re: Thin Whistle
I once saw a misprint in a song catalogue.That lovely old Rabbie Burns song "My Love Is Like A Red Red Nose".
# Posted on February 17th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Thin Whistle
Beside the point, probably, but the 'thrust rod' above reminded me of it.
A friend of mine, many years ago, had just taken delivery of his brand new Honda motorbike. The instruction manual that came with it had clearly been 'translated' from the Japanese, and contained this gem that I've remembered ever since:
"Thrust the tickler (a) onto the plunger (b) into a few drips of oil flood from the overflow (c)"
We never quite worked out what it meant ... though we had some fun guessing!
# Posted on February 17th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: Thin Whistle
"Can we play the tune about the duck?"
"What........?"
"Merrily Kissed the Quaker"........
# Posted on February 19th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Thin Whistle
What is this strange instrument you play?
Where you're from?
Ah, Swizterland, so this is a traditional Swiss instrument??
Tee lady asked me at an All Ireland Fleadh some years ago when we were playing on the road, with a blend of Irish and other songs and tunes.
The strange instrument is an Overtone Low Whistle in D
BTW the crowd was very enthusiastic about our version of "La Bamba" by Los Lobos
# Posted on February 26th 2008 by swisspiper