Pronunciation Help!

[Rhomylly]

I just got an email from an Irish bouzouki player who lives about 20 miles from me, about getting together to jam.

 

Um, how do you pronounce bouzouki? I've been saying boo-ZOO-key. Is that right?

 

This is probably the only place I could ask and a) have people know the answer who won't laugh too hard at me.

[greenferry]

Oxford English Dictionary:

 

(bu: 'zu: ki) -- with the stress on the middle syllable, and the pronunciation exactly as you expressed it

Edited March 17, 2006 by greenferry

[Rhomylly]

ah. good. now I have two different answers!

 

:bangs head on desk:

Edited March 17, 2006 by Rhomylly

[greenferry]

ah. so is that buh, or boo?

 

 

boo ZOO key

 

rhymes with boo HOO key

 

[m3838]

Where I'm from, a Bah-zoo-kee -- is a bunch of shoulder rockett launchers, and Boo-zoo-kee - is a stringed instrument from Greece.

[Stephen Mills]

Listen to the American Heritage Dictionary.

bouzouki.wav

But no one's laughing, really!

[greenferry]

Where I'm from, a Bah-zoo-kee -- is a bunch of shoulder rockett launchers, and Boo-zoo-kee - is a stringed instrument from Greece.

Michael,

 

Apparently, somebody else agrees with you and his comment was:

 

"Dang, y'all lost me. I thought it was either a shoulder mounted rocket launcher, a brand of bubble gum or Godzilla's offspring."

[Animaterra]

But how fun to be playing with an Irish musician, however you end up pronouncing the name! Have fun, Rhomylly, and let us know how it goes!

[greenferry]

Trivia: I was curious about the possible connection between the Greek mandoline (bouzouki) and the rocket launcher (bakooka). Apparently the connection was with a different sort of "musical instrument" --

 

 

Bazooka Joe:

 

 

"It was after World War II ended that Topps developed its Bazooka Bubble Gum product in Brooklyn, New York. It was named after the humorous musical instrument which entertainer Bob Burns had fashioned from two gas pipes and a funnel in the 1930s. (This contraption also gave its name to the armor-piercing weapon developed during the War.) "

 

Question: How did the "bazooka" (rocket launcher) get its name?

 

Answer:

 

"Bazooka the Weapon was invented in 1941 by an army officer named Skinner. In the late 1930's he took a Swiss-made shaped charge from an army warehouse and stuck it on the end of a rocket from a rocket-propelled grenade. He then stuffed that bomb-on-a-stick into a garden variety 60mm mortar tube, balanced the mortar tube on his shoulder and let 'er rip. The army was more impressed with this shoulder-fired rocket than it was with any of the anti-tank rifles being developed at the time, so Skinner's device was dubbed the M-1, and an improved version went into production as the M9A1.'

 

"At the time it wasn't known as a bazooka, but within a few months of its introduction, GI's in North Africa had named it after this musical instrument."

 

 

"Pictured here is the most original of bazookas, on display at the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in Pine Bluff. It is one of hundreds built by entertainer Bob Burns, and possibly the only one still intact, for Bob was finishing his act by destroying his instrument before any of the members of The Who were born.

 

"The bazooka spans the musical gap between trombone and slide whistle. It's made from two nested lengths of gas pipe and a whiskey funnel. In the hands of a master it can poot across a range of about six notes."

 

"Don't mistake this for one of the many examples of toy bazookas, miniature tin replicas with kazoos set into the mouthpiece, which were marketed to America's young people at the height of Bob's popularity. Here's one of those toy bazookas on the right, photographed at the Bob Burns exhibit which is on display at the Van Buren Visitors Center, which is the old train station downtown."

 

 

"Bob Burns (born Robin Burn) was a kid from Van Buren, one of those very bright underachievers, a multitalented average student. Here's the house on the northwest corner of 9th and Jefferson, the yard filled with sumac which almost hides the sign proclaiming this to be Bob Burns' boyhood home. Musically adept, at the age of sixteen he assembled the first bazooka as a novelty instrument for his own band. When the first World War broke out, Bob enlisted in the marines and took his (musical) bazooka with him to wile away the hours on the long overland trip to basic training. By the time he got to South Carolina, the attending sergeant was well-aware of Bob's talent and apprised his commanding officer. Bob was ordered to put together a Marine Corps jazz band and he managed to do a little soldiering on the side. He was a rifle instructor and champion marksman.

 

"Bob's band was eventually shipped out to Europe. They got a note from Pershing himself that said in effect, "Go where you want, do what you want." They stretched their indulgence as far as they could, staying in France and playing gigs long after the war was over. Eventually, their abuse of privilege came to the attention of officers of sufficient rank to order them stateside and home Bob went."

 

"So Bob went into showbiz, and to make a long story short, became a huge star of stage, radio and screen. He was an entertainer that shared top billing with the likes of Bing Crosby and Tommy Dorsey, so he was a really big deal in his day. He was known as The Arkansas Traveler, and his stock in trade was country humor. Often in the movies he played a country rube that ended up outsmarting the city slickers."

 

"The word "bazooka" was coined by Burns himself as an onomatopoeic description of the sound made by the instrument. In a letter from lexicographer Thomas K. Brown of publisher John C. Winston & Co. (on display in the train station in Van Buren), Brown thanks Burns for confirming that the word "bazooka" was derived from "bazoo," a slang term for "a windy fellow." Yeah, right, politely speaking. If you believe that literally, you've got naivete out the bazoo."

Edited March 18, 2006 by greenferry

[David Barnert]

This is probably the only place I could ask and a) have people know the answer who won't laugh too hard at me.

By the way, see what happened here? You listed two items, denoting them with letters in alphabetical order and close parenthases. The "smilies engine" interpreted the 2nd one ( "b" and then ")" ) as the ascii equivalent of the smiley with sunglasses and translated it for you.

 

Whenever I post, I first hit the "preview post" button to make sure there will be no surprises like that, and to make sure any links I might have included work. In the "smilies" case, it can be dealt with by unchecking "enable emoticons" below the text entry window, (or by changing a and b to 1 and 2).

[Ivan Viehoff]

(bu: 'zu: ki) or

boo-ZOO-key

 

Fortunately these are intended to be the same as each other. Seems to be the same as the greek.

[Peter Brook]

I think it's more

 

"buz u key" than "boo zoo key"

 

Well that's what Aaron Jones sounds like he is saying (Irish baz u key player who lives in Edinburgh)

[Robert Booth]

So how did the instrument end up in Irish music at all?

[JimLucas]

So how did the instrument end up in Irish music at all?

Sailors from the Greek Armada shipwrecked on the Munster coast?

[Peter Brook]

Well Andy Irvine "famously" went travelling in the Balkans as a young man and got obsessed with the rythyms of the indigenous music - going so far as to write many tunes in this style which are now thought of as "traditional irish" so perhaps he is one of the people responsible.

Edited March 22, 2006 by Peter Brook

[JimLucas]

Well Andy Irvine "famously" went travelling in the Balkans as a young man and got obsessed with the 5/4 rythym of the indigenous music - going so far as to write many tunes in this style which are now thought of as "traditional irish" so perhaps he is one of the people responsible.

5/4? I thought those were either 7/8 or 9/8 (not the 3-3-3 of the slip jig, but 2-2-2-3). In fact, I'm puzzled by the earlier comments suggesting 5/4 as a standard Balkan rhythm, since in my many years of Balkan dancing and singing I'm unable to recall a single tune with that as a steady rhythm. The pajdushko, in 5/8, is a common dance meter, but it's quite different from 5/4.

[bellowbelle]

Well Andy Irvine "famously" went travelling in the Balkans as a young man and got obsessed with the 5/4 rythym of the indigenous music - going so far as to write many tunes in this style which are now thought of as "traditional irish" so perhaps he is one of the people responsible.

5/4? I thought those were either 7/8 or 9/8 (not the 3-3-3 of the slip jig, but 2-2-2-3). In fact, I'm puzzled by the earlier comments suggesting 5/4 as a standard Balkan rhythm, since in my many years of Balkan dancing and singing I'm unable to recall a single tune with that as a steady rhythm. The pajdushko, in 5/8, is a common dance meter, but it's quite different from 5/4.

 

Aha....this relates a bit to the thread (started by me) in the 'Tunes' forum, re 5/4 timing and all. I'll add this post to my printed-out info.