UKULELE

[Dr. Goodword]

• ukulele •

Pronunciation: yu-kê-lay-lee • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A small, four-stringed guitar closely associated with Hawaii

Notes: Ukulele presents only one spelling problem, the U in the middle of it. Since it is pronounced [ê] (uh), we don't know what letter represents it. Any letter may be pronounced [ê] in English: imitation [imêtashên], Bermuda [bêrmudê], and ukulele [yukêlaylee]. Remember that it is a U in today's Good Word. This word is a lexical orphan, no related words, and a very young one. Poor thing.

In Play: The ukulele is not held in high esteem by musicians and connoisseurs of music: "Amanda Lynn was on her way to play her ukulele at a party. Along the way she decided to stop for a bite to eat. Then she remembered she had left her ukulele in an unlocked car and rushed back to the parking lot. She was too late: someone had put another ukulele on the back seat."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from the palm-lined archipelago, Hawaii. The instrument was introduced by the Portuguese, who brought a diminutive, four-stringed guitar called the "machete" along with them. One day the vice-chamberlain of King Kalakaua's court asked to be taught to play it. He learned quickly. The Hawaiians were soon calling him ukulele "leaping flea", because his lively plunking suggested a leaping flea (uku "flea" + lele "jumping"). Soon the instrument itself was being called a "jumping flea". (A tip of the hat and a strum on the old ukulele to Jeremy Busch for suggesting this Good Word from the 50th state.)

[Perry Lassiter]

Love the "In Play" example. And I've heard people hacking up the music with a uke. (Note the e at the end of the abbreviation.)

[LukeJavan8]

my avatar, little fellow with a guitar,
is called Luke-a-lele by a friend who
posts here on 'res diversae'.
I had the little guy in black and white, and
he colored him in.

[Perry Lassiter]

Should you then become ukulele?

[LukeJavan8]

As a "user name"?

[Perry Lassiter]

Axually, I left off the L, thinking of the change from the e to the u!

[LukeJavan8]

Makes some sense. Give it some thought.
Actually I'd rather be living in Hawai'i watching
someone play the uke.

[Philip Hudson]

We had a mega-variety concert at church and one piece was played by twelve ukuleleists. It didn't bring the house down as did some of the other performances. I was underwhelmed.

[LukeJavan8]

Other than on TV, I don't think I have ever witnessed it
being played, read Hawai'i 5-O here.

[Perry Lassiter]

I had a uke in college in the 50's, and my best friend had a baritone uke. We got into folk music before it took over pop - Molly Malone and all that. If You Knew Susie was a standard uke piece.

[LukeJavan8]

Yes, I recall "Susie" being a standard piece, now that
you mention it.

[misterdoe]

Baritone ukulele?

Reminds me, for some odd reason, of a story my brother told me, of the first time he heard this song we both quickly became crazy about (Girls and Boys, by Prince). He had fallen asleep at a friend's house and was still half-asleep when he heard the song on the radio for the first time. He said he thought he was dreaming, the song sounded so unlike what he was used to. I suspect it was the croaking-frog bass clarinet riffs that play throughout the song, along with what sounds like an agitated kazoo...

[misterdoe]

Baritone ukulele?

Reminds me, for some odd reason, of a story my brother told me, of the first time he heard this song we both quickly became crazy about (Girls and Boys, by Prince). He had fallen asleep at a friend's house and was still half-asleep when he heard the song on the radio for the first time. He said he thought he was dreaming, the song sounded so unlike what he was used to. I suspect it was the croaking-frog bass clarinet riffs that play throughout the song, along with what sounds like an agitated kazoo...

[Perry Lassiter]

Yup, baritone. It's about half again bigger with a deeper and a bit richer tone. Doesn't approach a guitar, of course, but we had fun with them. I had a similar waking experience the first time I heard Chariots of Fire. My wakeup radio turned on with its two inch speaker rolling out fantastically rich tones you otherwise need a great sound system or earphones to reproduce.