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• 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.)

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.)

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.

Should you then become ukulele?

As a "user name"?

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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...

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...

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.