Wow! Never heard of ukulele before!

Dougf

Dougf

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My wife took my Makala tenor down to the post office to ship it to the contest winner (congrats snarf!), and the guy behind the counter had never heard of an ukulele before. Man, I figured that tribes people in Papua New Guinea probably know about ukes, so how could anybody in modern society still be so clueless? I guess the uke revolution still has a ways to go. :)
 
I've shipped a lot of mandolins in my time, and the conversation at UPS/FedEx usually goes like this:

"And what does the package contain?"

"It's a mandolin in a hardshell case."

"A what?"

"A mandolin. It's a musical instrument."

"Like a guitar?"

"Yes. But smaller."
 
Guy must have been at that "in between age" - too young to know of Tiny Tim (gag) and too old to have heard "Soul Sister" (also gag). LOL

John
 
When I shipped my Firefly to the in-laws house, the guy at the UPS store type "Youkoolaylee" in the package contents field. He has no idea what a ukulele is.

-Kurt
 
That's some funny stuff. I get that a lot with my banjo. Folks look at the weird looking case and ask me what's inside of it. I tell them it's a banjo, and they usually come back with, what's a banjo? Then I ask them if they ever saw "Deliverance" and it clears things up, with the addition of a funny look.

Dan
 
ksiegel said:
When I shipped my Firefly to the in-laws house, the guy at the UPS store type "Youkoolaylee" in the package contents field. He has no idea what a ukulele is.

-Kurt
Click to expand...

:rofl: :rofl: If I got a package that said that, it wouldn't click straight away. I do remember when I got Kupuna and the Royal Mail guy asked what an "Yookulaylee" was and I explained it was a musical instrument, like "a guitar but much smaller" he sort of smiled and nodded to appease the strange girl!

Joey :music:
 
RichM said:
"And what does the package contain?"

"It's a mandolin in a hardshell case."

"A what?"

"A mandolin. It's a musical instrument."

"Like a guitar?"

"Yes. But smaller."
Click to expand...

This is the EXACT conversation I had at the post office a couple months ago. I don't think it says so much about ukuleles and mandolins as it does about the limited exposure people have to making music themselves.
 
marymac said:
This is the EXACT conversation I had at the post office a couple months ago. I don't think it says so much about ukuleles and mandolins as it does about the limited exposure people have to making music themselves.
Click to expand...

yes, we need to spread our unspoken word, our music
 
I was on jury duty and they had to xray my banjo uke to get into the NY Country criminal court building.

I did not expect the security guard to say, "That looks like a cross between a banjo and ukulele. Is it?"

"well, yes, it is"

"I thought so. Please play something so I can hear what that sounds like."

And so I did. Very odd to be playing around the handcuffed guys...
 
My last trip through airport security, the TSA said that they had to check the instrument for any residue. I said that was fine, but I'd like to know what chemical they were going to use, before it came in contact with the strings. The agent said that the policy was to not touch the strings, but everything else was fair game.

And I watched him swab the top, body, neck, bridge, head, tuners, volume knob, and jack on the Fluke, as well as 3 spots onside the case. They asllo took out my little shaker - basically xtra small bbs in a plastic case, with an elastic strap. He looked at it quizically, but when he moved it, and it made the appropriate noise, he shook it in rhythm, smiled, and put it back.

I offered to play it for him, adding that I hoped it wasn't a federal offense, and he said it wasn't, and wouldn't be necessary.

(g)

The prior trip, the TSA in San Jose asked me to play it.

-Kurt
 
I had a similar experience the last time I was leaving Honolulu. The inspectors at the agriculture scanner asked me to play something for them. I obliged with "Do You Know the Way to San Jose". I think they were glad when I finished, but as I was leaving they were singing, "Wo,wo wo, wo,wo wo,....." Another good memory of my trips to beautiful Hawaii.
 
ksiegel said:
I offered to play it for him, adding that I hoped it wasn't a federal offense, and he said it wasn't, and wouldn't be necessary.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh, see, that's the main difference between us - in my case playing would be a federal offense... LOL
 
A week ago I was on the local Army post and the post exchange ad had a ukulele "kit" that came with a uke and instruction book and DVD. I asked where I could find it in the store and the two guys trying to help me had no idea what I was talking about. I had to explain to them that it was a musical instrument, and they still didn't know what it was.
I guess that's what I get for looking for an instrument outside of a music store.
 
OldePhart said:
Ahhhh, see, that's the main difference between us - in my case playing would be a federal offense... LOL
Click to expand...

Well, he hadn't heard me play when he said that. I don't know if the Patriot Act addresses me with a ukulele.

It wouldn't surprise me, though.



..-Kurt
 
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