Wordie: Didgeridoo: Comments

Comment by bilby, 4 months ago

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:05:58 +0000

Maybe it's an issue. If you like putting a straw in your juice and blowing lots of bubbles, circular breathing is very useful. If you can't manage it you can just drink the juice.

Comment by frindley, 4 months ago

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:24:23 +0000

Didjeridu seems to be the favoured spelling for many indigenous performers.

The truly amazing William Barton is one such. (NB. He'll be touring in Italy with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in September – worth catching if you're in that neck of the woods.)

Otherwise the more "anglo" spelling is the one for this page didgeridoo. Then there are variants, which tend to combine aspects of these two. (And yes, for languages that aren't traditionally written, and in a culture where there are a great many language groups, the matter of spelling is indeed moot.)

Incidentally, the true art of didjeridu playing lies not in the "blubbery sounds", as uselessness delightfully puts it, but in the circular breathing that is necessary to sustain a performance of more than a few seconds. I can't really do circular breathing (tried when I was a serious flutist) but I guess this isn't an issue, since I'm a girl.

Comment by chained_bear, 4 months ago

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:53:05 +0000

Has Harper Collins Australia been in Australia long? How could they not know this?

Comment by bilby, 4 months ago

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:17:01 +0000

"Aboriginal leaders in Australia have called for a book teaching girls how to play the didgeridoo to be scrapped. The Australian version of the Daring Book for Girls is due to be published next month.
It has angered some indigenous leaders who view the didgeridoo as a male instrument not to be played by women. Publisher Harper Collins Australia said it was not aware of any taboos on women playing the didgeridoo, and has apologised for any offence caused."
- Nick Bryant, 'Didgeridoo book upsets Aborigines ', BBC website, 3 September 2008.

Comment by bilby, 6 months ago

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:24:22 +0000

Didjeridoo is acceptable spelling. Languages of the saltwater peoples are traditionally not written languages so spelling is moot. I sense that the more authentic term yidaki is overtaking didjeridoo in usage. A yidaki is the real thing, and only the real thing. A didjeridoo could be anything that makes a didjeridoo-like sound, including uselessness's (half-)baked instrumentation.

Comment by chained_bear, 6 months ago

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:07:22 +0000

I think cuz I spelled it differently. In this spelling it's on my list already: didjeridoo. In fact it was the first word on the list. I think I got that spelling from OED or something.

Comment by Prolagus, 6 months ago

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:45:47 +0000

C_b, why isn't this word on your list?

Bum buttery, flit fluttery
Dum didgeri-doo...

Comment by uselessness, over 2 years ago

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:55:48 +0000

Australian wind instrument. It's really just a long, gnarly, hollow tube. Played by pressing one's lips against the opening at one end and making blubbery sounds. Any time the land down under is referenced in the media, a didgeridoo will inevitably be heard. I made one in college by mutilating a PVC pipe with a blowtorch, a kitchen oven, and a beer bottle.