How do YOU pronounce "ukulele"?

How do YOU pronounce "ukulele"?

  • It's "yoo-keh lay-lee".

    Votes: 76 36.7%
  • It's "oo-koo leh-leh".

    Votes: 131 63.3%

  • Total voters
    207

ChiyoDad

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This is meant as a fun poll, but it should be interesting. I chose the two most common pronunciations. ;)

How do YOU (vous, usted, Sie, anata et cetera) pronounce "ukulele"?
 
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"yoo-keh lay-lee" is just slaughtering the word. (No offense if you do say it like that...but you should probably make the switch.)
 
So is this the proper way of saying stuff?
uke = yook
ukulele = ooh-koo-leh-leh

For me: uke = ook

"I say 'an uke'. You say 'a uke'. I say 'an ukulele'. You say 'a ukulele'. Let's call the whole thing off!"
 
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ookoolaylie for me, usually poeple don't know what i'm talking about tho round my parts. but when i abbreviate it to uke. i say yuke. which i should get outta the habit of jus saying that, cuz if i do say ook. they'll be like wat da eff?
 
people who don't play the uke can it a you-kah-lay-lee
 
its weird, i call it an ook-koo-leh-leh but i say yook for just uke. but i have been trying to get myself to pronounce it ook lol
 
i jus ask my wife "eh, try go grab me da dakine." an she knows exactly wat I mean. if I gotta say um, only one way ... oo ku le le.

P.S. Not to mess up dis tread (but I goin do um anywayz) a similar ting, how you guys say karaoke? since i stay ontop da mainland now I stay so amazed how much ways people stay mess dis one up ... how hard is ka-ra-o-ke? not ka-ree-oo-kee o wateva dey say ... sigh.
 
"yoo-keh lay-lee" is just slaughtering the word. (No offense if you do say it like that...but you should probably make the switch.)

haha, it's kinnda the same as when Connan O'Brian said Jake Shimabukuroo"

I say it the correct Hawaiian way, ( wife wife taught me how to say it:eek: she is from Hawai'i )

Aloha
Acabooe:cool:
 
Yooooooooooooooooooooooooou
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Here, in Texas, if I said "oo-koo leh-leh" I'd get nothing but blank stares. So it's almost always "Yook" and "yoo-keh lay-lee". So mark me down in the "says it wrong" column!
 
Depends who I am talking to. Typically, when I say ookooleyley, the person listening says...."you mean yookoolaylee??" I get tired of always having to explain the real pronunciation. Plus, these outsiders percieve this as being a bit "snobbish". I feel.....could be wrong? So....is it REALLY worth it? Some say yes! some say no!...

End result that I use most often = yook:D
 
man, im all over the place with this one.

i say it all kinds of ways. usually its ookoo leh leh. but i get those blank stares. yeah everyone knows what im talking about. then i say yookoo laylee. and i get even more stares. then i say "you know those little guitars from hawaii..." and theyre like "ohhhhhhhhh".

i hate having to "dumb it down" for people but its necessary to get your point across sometimes.
 
Here, in Texas, if I said "oo-koo leh-leh" I'd get nothing but blank stares.
Having to deal with double-pronunciations based on community can be a problem.

For example. is Texas pronounced Tek-sess or Teh-has?
 
Having to deal with double-pronunciations based on community can be a problem.

For example. is Texas pronounced Tek-sess or Teh-has?


Tex-Is, the X is not silent.
Now here in Houston, I hear people say You-Stun, and I hate that...
 
I am loser

haha Fred. I'm joining the 'losers'. Here's why: every language, particularly English, is filled with words that are pronounced differently in different regions. Think about it. I live in a virtually ukulele-free zone known as Arizona. People don't pronounce it 'ookoolele' here, they pronounce it more like youkulaylee. For me to go around insisting that it is 'ookoolele' would be silly (to put it nicely).

Fred, I'm sure your comment was in jest. But you might want to rethink it, because we're all losers by that logic. :D

oh and then there's this
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ukulele
 
The local ukulele club here in Brisbane (Australia) was on the radio a few days ago, talking about the You-ku-lay-lee in our lovely broad Australian accent (I think we sound like hicks).

I cringed every time I heard them say the word.

Mind you, I've heard Aldrine say oo-koo-laa-le and oo-koo-le-le (le as in lets) I favour the first of those.

Hey someone mentioned Jake Shimabukuro - got these from his site which has just been updated by the looks of it!

Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO- koo-row)
ukulele (oo-koo-LAY-lay)
 
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