as everyone takes themselves so seriously…

[bloke]

I’ve noticed that drummers - who hang out together, and each only play one drum at a time - refer to themselves as “percussive arts societies“.

…so here we are - hanging out in the back of the band, each only playing one tuba and one note at a time…

… so what are our “societies“ to be dubbed?

[Jperry1466]

We used to have one called Tuba Universal Brotherhood Association. Is that close?

[Casca Grossa]

We used to have one called Tuba Universal Brotherhood Association. Is that close?

Those damned, politically correct euphoniumists put an end to that.

[bloke]

Rather than that, I suspect it was the fact that toober-dokterz didn’t find the acronym (as something appearing on their resumes) to be particularly sophisticated (ie. lacked academic stuffiness), so - having control over the thing - they chose a name with initials that also stand for about seven other organizations (which makes it quite difficult to find the organization with a search engine).

As to the sidebar “tubaist” vs. “tubist” (with many document-producing programs only recognizing the former, and not knowing what the hell the latter is), I would submit that we attempt to officially coin the word, “toober”. Could we possibly get one of our more scholarly types to send it off to both Britannica and Merriam Webster?

We used to have one called Tuba Universal Brotherhood Association. Is that close?

Those damned, politically correct euphoniumists put an end to that.

[UncleBeer]

Bloke nailed it re: T.U.B.A. I actually heard some of the background from some of those who instigated the name change, and that's exactly what happened.

And for what it's worth, I'm a "tubaist".

[bloke]

If - were I a layman - I even managed to guess that a “tubist” was some sort of musician, I would guess that they were a drummer…
i.e. they played the tubs.

[Jperry1466]

We used to have one called Tuba Universal Brotherhood Association. Is that close?

Those damned, politically correct euphoniumists put an end to that.

Oops, make that "Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association", and yes it was just fine when the euphs were called "Tenor Tubas".

[bloke]

You know…
I believe Jerry just pulled the curtain back from ~ the reason ~ for the creation of the idiotic word, “tubist(s)”.

The committee of fat guys - who created the anachronism T.U.B.A. - likely decided that it had a better lilt to it - when saying the four words - than just “tuba” or “tubaists’ “.

[Rick Denney]

Sometimes the trailing vowel is included, sometimes not. Stop making it a moral choice, or a reflection of intelligence.

Pianists are pianists, for example.

Rick “stays with tuba player to avoid triggering the sensitive, but prefers ‘Tubist’” Denney

[Mikelynch]

For some perspective on loose affiliations of tuba players, those in the orbit of Bill Bill in the 50's, had cards signifying their membership in the ""Loyal Order of S*** Pots and Amalgamated Loyal Sons of McSorley’s Marching Clam Chowder Band."

Mike

[Mikelynch]

Signed by Bill Bell himself....



Mike

[MN_TimTuba]

I'm just relieved that there are people out there smarter than I am to debate these crucial tidbits, when I'm content to just play my tuba.
Tim

[Three Valves]

I got kicked out of the Woman Haters Club.

[bloke]

There aren’t that many words in the English language that begin with pian, but there’s an extraordinary array of opportunities to misunderstand what a tub might involve.

Even flaut offers considerably more context clues (simply in its sound) than does tub.

The purpose of language (with so many thousands of word choices) is to communicate… and to do so clearly and without ambiguity.

[Rick Denney]

There aren’t that many words in the English language that begin with pian, but there’s an extraordinary array of opportunities to misunderstand what a tub might involve.

Even flaut offers considerably more context clues (simply in its sound) than does tub.

The purpose of language (with so many thousands of word choices) is to communicate… and to do so clearly and without ambiguity.

What the heck; I'm bored.

I've never had anyone misunderstand "Tuba Player". But they also haven't misunderstood "tubist", if they were educated enough to know "flautist". It's not like it comes without context. I've never had a conversation like this: "I design traffic signals for a living. And I spend a lot of my time teaching traffic signal concepts to folks in state agencies. I'm a tubist. And I also help develop traffic signal-related training programs..."

And inserting "I'm a flautist" in that conversation will probably mean they think I'm an enthusiastic proponent of civil disobedience, which would be in closer context to the subject than any musical instrument. (Though that also touches another favorite confusion between "flouting"--purposely ignoring a rule or law, and "flaunting"--showing off some possession or skill.)

But, when asked if I have hobbies, I often say, "I'm a musician." Oh, really? Do you play an instrument?" "Yes, I'm a tubist". It has never been my experience that this has left anyone behind who has the ability to remember their own name. But usually, I say "I play the tuba," because then I don't have to live up to the claim of being a musician.

It seems to me that "too-bah-ist' requires some fancy vowel modulation inconsistent with lots of regional accents I can think of, so it's likely to be confusingly pronounced in any case. The short "i" sound follows the short "a" sound less happily than it would follow, say, the long "o" sound, as in "oboist" or "banjoist", where a bit of a "w" sound at the vowel-only syllabic boundary helps makes the distinction. And, yet, we don't have "pee-ann-oh-ist".

Rick "rarely talks about tuba playing outside of the obvious musical context" Denney

[bloke]

To be clear, I never use any of the words - discussed above - in conversations other than “tuba“.

The reason that I think it’s funny to troll people into discussing this is because such discussions usually end up as comical (regardless of whether participants are aware) mockeries of a plurality of academic discussions.

…but I really do strongly suspect that Harvey, Bart, Winston, etc. really did unsuccessfully attempt to coin “tubist”, because they decided that

“Tubists’ Universal Brotherhood Association”
sounded better to them than “Tubaists’“ or just “Tuba”…

…ie. even though not a real word, in the way that it rolls off the tongue… after all, they were professional musicians, and only *amateur rhetoriticians.
_______________
* After all, just quickly analyze the words “universal“, “brotherhood“, and “association“, which are all nearly redundant.

[Rick Denney]

Yup. "Tubaist" is just hard to say, with an implied glottal epenthetic. Probably one of them got tongue-tied trying to say it.

I'm sorta doubting that Harvey, Bart, Winston, et. al., ever used the term "glottal epenthetic".

But since you are trolling, I thought I'd try my hand at breaking your low-test fishing line.

Rick " " Denney

[bloke]

I’ve already admitted to never saying tubaist, though - just now - my phone recognized it, when - experimentally - I voice texted it to this text box.

Written, it’s abundantly clear, and it’s OK to only write it and never say it (particularly as it involves fewer characters than “tuba player“ whereas avoiding the A leads a reader to thinking about various sizes of tubs.

[iiipopes]

How about:
Squires Hoisting and Imbibing Together

[bloke]

Tedious Underhanded Bullsh!t Authority