as everyone takes themselves so seriously…

[WC8KCY]

Meh, during my formative years in the little corner of the world I grew up in, I was often called a "bass horn player"...

[Rick Denney]

Meh, during my formative years in the little corner of the world I grew up in, I was often called a "bass horn player"...

Me, too, and it wasn’t that little a corner.

Rick “more like an age test we both fail” Denney

[bloke]

YES !!!
Up until I was in the 12th grade, the school owned one very very leaky King 1240. When I was in the 12th grade, we got a couple of cheap new tubas: a Reynolds model TB–10 (same as Olds O-99) and a Miraphone “Standard” model 1270 (3/4 top-action).
Everything else was/were Conn 36K fiberglass sousaphones, some old funky Holton fiberglass sousaphones, and one old King brass sousaphone.

We never used the word “tuba”, and we never used the word “sousaphone”. It was “bass horn” (per our band director), or it was “basses” (per our sheet music), and no one will be able to convince me that it was any different with Harvey Phillips, Bart Cummings, or Winston Morris - who I suspect (though they all successfully achieved infinitely more important things) were the failed coiners of “tubist”.

Meh, during my formative years in the little corner of the world I grew up in, I was often called a "bass horn player"...

[the elephant]

"Breakfast Club"

[WC8KCY]

How about the Tuba, Ophicleide, and Euphonium Society (T.O.E.S.)?

[bloke]

Sousaphone
Ophicleide
Ufonium
Saps
Association

[DLThomas]

About 26 years ago a local music teacher and I started a group for tuba and euphonium players so we could play something besides just ooms and pahs. I came up with Continental Divide Tuba Society, thinking a snappy/different band name would set us apart. Yep, you guessed it: we're inevitably introduced as the "Tuba Band".

We're definitely a group ("society") and..wait for it...live about 15 miles from the real Continental Divide in Helena, MT.

Cheers from the wintry northern part of the Great American Desert,
Dave

[Mary Ann]

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

Yesbut are they PeeANists or PEEanists? I really think there is no such thing as someone who plays the PEEano, yet you will hear them referred to in conversation.

[Rick Denney]

Sousaphone
Ophicleide
Ufonium
Saps
Association

The late Paul Haugan (RIP), of course, addressed both parts of what this thread has turned into. Firstly, he established or was caretaker for (depending on which story of establishment one believes) the exclusive Sousaphone Artists Preservation Society (SAPS), and the members thereof probably still have their gilded membership cards. I do (somewhere). When Paul sent it to me, he wrote, "here you go, sucker."

And since my thinking came to him (seeing "saps" in your acronym), I recalled that he once addressed the tubist/tubaist debate somewhere else. So, I sneaked over there and grabbed some text to memorialize it here while that remains possible. To wit:

Paul Haugan (RIP), wrote this in 2006:
=====================================================
I have gotten "called" from time to time on usage of the term "Tubaist" to describe "one who plays the tuba". "What are you, stupid? Tubist is spelled WITHOUT the "A"!" It rings in my OWN head since this is a relatively new development on my part. I've spelled it "tubist" along with everyone else for 30 years, and remarked negatively in kind to the misspelling "tubAist". Somehow though, tubist never seemed quite right. Since the "new millinium" or 2000, I feel compelled to reopen a new debate that was considered "closed" some 35 years ago, when a vote amongst the members of a neophyte "T.U.B.A." established TUBIST to be correct.

A visit to the hallowed halls of Oxford University's Department of English while on tour of England with the "Illinois Brass Band" answered for me a burning question: Is "t-u-b-i-s-t" or "t-u-b-A-i-s-t" indeed "correct"?

For those unfamiliar with Oxford University (if that's possible), it is the oldest University in existence, and the cradle of the study of the English language. The Oxford Dictionary of English is considered to be the ultimate authority on the English language by the bulk of those who pursue English as a course of study, and Oxford University boasts the most highly developed English department of any in the world. (sorry Cambridge, no brag - just fact.)

I had the day off in Oxford - It was by pure happenstance that I encountered the English Department, but it seemed an opportune time to consult an "absolute" source on English etymology (the study of word origin and usage) and research what had always seemed somehow "wrong" to me - this term: "tubist".

I entered with some degree of trepidation; I felt I might be disturbing someone with a question so trivial or bizarre as to be put off or considered foolish, but it was to prove the opposite. I proceeded inside and inquired as to where I could find an "etymology expert" or "a professor who specialized in the declention of words". I was directed to an elder professor who greeted me in a most kind and enthusiastic manner as to put me totally at ease with what seemed to him to be a fascinating question: Is tubist or tubaist correct? He was particularly amused and interested at how the language could be determined "with a vote!?" [in America perhaps alone?]

We discussed at some length the original justification for tubist - Piano-pianist, oboe-oboist, viola-violist and the like; the function of the "a" and actual pronunciation (implied or otherwise); links back to the Old Latin of the word tuba itself; all the while him withholding his expert albeit already decided opinion on the matter. It was clear this uniquely fascinating individual was as great a TEACHER as he was an English expert by the thought provoking way he approached his explanation.

Ultimately, he gave me his answer. I had known he had withheld it from the beginning, perhaps to help give me the incentive, drive and ammunition to fully consider what I might be up against in trying to change people's minds in the future.

"There IS really only one correct answer, but English survives not on the basis of rules but usage" he began. "It seems a thirty year mistake COULD be reversed."

My suspicions confirmed, he further stated: "A tubist by definition within the English language is either an "expert in tubes" or "someone who plays [washtub] bass (in music)" Not TOO far off, at least, for those who will undoubtedly insist on clinging to the term. "Ultimately the best way to test a theory is to put it to the general public. When they see ALONE (without context) the term tubist/tubaist, what is their reaction? He bid me "Good luck at fighting the tide, it seems you may have a long pull ahead." (General tubist character and the TUBA/ITEA had also entered the discussion)

I was to test the [contextless] usage experiment some months later, when a "man on the street" (literally) poll confirmed that "Joe Average" can figure out what a "tubaist" is (considering he knows what a tuba is) while the term "tubist" tends to stupify most people into a number of answers ranging from "somebody who takes too many baths a week" to "a whitewater recreation enthusiast". I must confess, I only polled some 50 people (not considered a high enough number scientifically to be truly demonstrative) but the trends became evident early on - let the opposition establish it's own standard.

Since that day some 6 years ago, I have joined the ranks of those who spell "Tubist" "wrong". TUBAIST. Feels good. Has a TUBA in it. God only knows we can be WRONG when we vote.

Just for extra measure, I returned to Oxford University in November 2005 via the wonder of the internet to poll 16 professors (the worlds leading authorities on English, if you will) and received varied responses (one kind professor sent me what amounted to a THESIS on the question) but the experts seem to be in nearly total (the dissenter opted for "tubaplayer") agreement: TUBAIST is the correct word to use to describe "One who plays the tuba"

FLAME AWAY - for once I feel fireproof. The big guns are on my side on this one. TUBAIST, Tubaist, tubaist. Ahhhhh, it just FEELS good. Its got a TUBA in it.

(reprinted from www.TubaNews. com with permission by author)
=======================================================

Rick again: That last line suggests Paul lifted this from another source, but that remained unidentified.

Bloke is, of course, feeling smug, but then that's nothing new. His responses in that prior discussion are, of course, no longer to be seen, having been excised at his request.

My own response remains (among other grand old contributors, like Chuck Guzis, one of whose contributions in that thread was "Just be glad that you don't play a blattweasel") and I'm grateful to see that I remain consistent in my opinion on (at least) that (one) matter:

Rick wrote in that 2006 exchange:
========================================================
Did you glean from those august philologists their recommended pronunciation (not that pronunciation was ever something an American could ask in Merrie Old) of Tubaist?

"Too-baste"?

It sounds like a five-year-old with no front teeth requesting the substance needed to scrub what remains.

Now, "Tuba-Ist" requires that glottal stop that is just not a happy thing for English speakers, even those who pass the hours reading in the Bodleian Library. We just like having a consonant between unaccented syllables where possible, unless the i comes first. I submit that however it is spelled, "Tub-ist" is how it's going to be pronounced no matter what. This is of great significance to groups who depend by necessity on an oral tradition, including tuba players. I suspect your field investigation required showing the subjects the printed word.

My complaint with both these alternatives emerges from a prior responsibility. Long before I was granted a probationary membership in SAPS I was the Honorary Overseer Laude Est of the Anti-Snob Snobs. In my role as A.S.S./HOLE I was compelled to search for terms that serve only keep the word "bloviate" in the language. "Tubist" comes to mind, with "Tubaist" being the same word with country decor. You know, stencilled borders. Given my expertise on bloviating, I feel compelled to promulgate a term that communicates more and impresses less, despite that such is demonstrably at odds with my own authorial sensibilities.

I've settled for Tuba Player to describe myself to non-musicians. Or, Tuba Owner or Tuba Collector, the former for musicians (or tubists posing thereof), and the latter for my wife.

Rick "whose wife is a banjist" Denney
==========================================================

Rick "halcyon days" Denney

[bloke]

A pianist is (probably) a person who plays the piano fairly well.

A PIE-Annie player - in contrast - is either that 80 year old lady who does her best to work the electronic organ in the one-room church on Sundays, or that $2/hr. guy – fifty years ago – who played at Shakey‘s Pizza Parlor.

Big
Loud
Awful
Turd
Toots