how do you pronounce "Buescher"?

[arpthark]

I have heard:

Busher

Bisher

Byoosher (my preference)

Boosher

Besher

Chatting with @humBell about this the other day, we decided it best to just say it quickly and move on before attracting too much attention.

[hrender]

Busher

[windshieldbug]

[arpthark]

When I was at Dillon last year, this is how Matt W. pronounced it, so I should've known to trust him!

It was in the context of playing this massive Buescher jumbo sousaphone:

[Rick Denney]

Yes, we pronounce names the way their owners prefer, and they preferred bisher.

But in German, it wouldn’t be bisher. It would be an umlaut ü, which is a bit twisted from something like booshuh, with the oo as in cook.

Rick “but six Germans will pronounce it six different ways if online examples are to be believed” Denney

[DonO.]

Yes, we pronounce names the way their owners prefer, and they preferred bisher.

But in German, it wouldn’t be bisher. It would be an umlaut ü, which is a bit twisted from something like booshuh, with the oo as in cook.

Rick “but six Germans will pronounce it six different ways if online examples are to be believed” Denney

Yes, “ue” is used as a substitute for umlaut “u”, a leftover from manual typewriter days. Based on three years of high school German, and having Austrian relatives, the German pronunciation would be something like “BER-sher”, but with an extended “e” on the first syllable along with the “r” sound being just barely there. But with many German surnames being Americanized, who knows how the original family pronounced it?

[Rick Denney]

And Germans would not look for pronunciation authority from Austria or Switzerland, either. Or probably from one side of the country to the other. Just like here.

Rick “thinking ‘bisher’ is a multigenerational migration” Denney

[bloke]

I suspect (??) that the people who are the most insistent that they pronounce it the way it was pronounced at the factory don't know much more than anyone else. I'm going to guess that my band director was born in the 1920s. He pronounced it the most common and plain way - like Mark. Ironically, it was in reference to a local tenor player named Paul Boenche ("bench") - another odd-looking b word also pronounced in a plain way who repaired instruments and played jazz combo and big band gigs, and who had a gravelly tone on his satin silver tenor. (I'm not even completely sure that I spelled Paul's name correctly, because he's been dead for decades.) That was the first time I heard the name "Buescher" announced. Since there's no absolute authority on this, I tend to pronounce it the same way, because I'd rather be plain wrong than weird wrong, and a person a lot older than me pronounced it that way.

Mrs. bloke and I are bringing an old neglected Buescher baritone saxophone back from the dead this week. It will play better than the other instrument owned by the school, because the other is a Selmer USA - which is a descendant of Buescher, except Selmer USA messed the design all up. This was a donation to the school. We don't have to pronounce the name, because this was their economy line called "Elkhart".

Quite a few immigrants and their descendants either Americanized their names or allowed Americans to pronounce them based on typical American pronunciations of the letter combinations. I have a pianist friend who's 90 years old named "Koopman" - who immigrated from Holland. He's perfectly fine with Americans pronouncing his name based on how double o is typically pronounced in the United States, rather than the long o sound which would be pronounced in Holland...

... so there are also different definitions of "correct". If an immigrant changes their pronunciation or allows it to be changed and goes by that pronunciation, that pronunciation becomes correct. I know good and well that my German distant cousins - who now spell my last name with one L - as some who lived hundreds of years ago having spelled it with as many as three L's - never pronounced it the way it's pronounced by me and all my American relatives. It's pretty hard to deny what's printed on that ad, but when I say that word, I also would like for others to know what I'm talking about.

Rather than how to pronounce "Buescher", I would be much more interested in someone selling me a model 400 tenor, and for a nice low price.

[arpthark]

When Matt W. mentioned something about a Buescher sousaphone, pronouncing it Bisher, I at first thought he had said Fischer, like Carl Fischer.

I suppose to me, the Americanized version that makes the most sense in my mind is Byoosher -- BUE (as rhymes with HUE, or as the final syllable in "imbue") + sher. But I'll take @windshieldbug's ad copy as sort-of-definitive.

Luckily, I type about Buescher more than I discuss it out loud with my wife, son, or coworkers.

[bloke]

' have never been impressed with much of anything made by that company, other than the saxophones.

I'm pretty sure (??) that Selmer, USA (known at that time as "H & A Selmer") bought Buescher (1963) MOSTLY to get their saxophone tooling - to serve as a "student" (Bundy) line of saxophones to pair with the Selmer - Paris, Franch (Mark VI) instruments they were importing...whereas their former "student" (Bundy) line was imported from Germany (H. Couf). Post-WWII prices of German products had been low, but - by the 60's - were climbing. The Selmer USA company continued to offer the (popular) Buescher 400 (pro) models into the 1970's, but even those were "cheaped out", and - today - the Selmer USA-made model 400 Buescher saxes don't sell for much more than Bundy saxes.

I personally don't think much of the (pre-Selmer) baritone horns, not the (unadulterated) B-flat tubas/sousaphones, not the E-flat tubas, not the trumpets, and not the trombones.

Of the saxophones, (to me) the better ones are the B-flat ones - the soprano, tenor, and (not pictured, but here's one) > https://www.getasax.com/wp-content/uplo ... 6858-3.jpg ) bass.
The E-flat altos are pretty good (certainly far better than their inferior progeny, the "Bundy" and "Selmer, USA" saxes), but don't do much for me.
Vintage players go nuts ($$$$) for the (pre-1963) model 400 tenor, but - other than the big bell flare and a little bit of bling - to me they're the same as the standard "The Buescher" and economy "Elkhart" models. The Buescher E-flat baritones made a huge sound (which was messed up via purchased-by-Selmer-USA design changes and cheaping out), but the bari intonation was a bit troublesome.

Someone please DONATE a Buescher bass sax to me, along with its o.e.m. mouthpiece.
(I've ALWAYS wanted one, and - now that I'm a "B-flat type of guy"...)



I was quite fond of this instrument (made from Buescher parts), but Buescher never configured these parts in this manner:
http://www.horn-u-copia.net/instruments ... elicon.jpg

[LeMark]

do you know how to pronounce Marriot? Are you sure you know?

[bloke]

do you know how to pronounce Marriot? Are you sure you know?

yeah..."ut" at the end.
I believe it began being pronounced the way it mostly is due to an old ad jingle where it may have rhymed - that way - with something else (??)

...but - as with Buescher - I don't need to know that one, either.

Hotels/motels (regardless of the number of stars) sort of "eww" me (peeps are disgusting - particularly in private)...so I mostly avoid (even those that are too expensive for just a few hours of sleep) them...unless there's no choice (freeway philharmonic, with no host family available that weekend - YET the orch. pays for it).

I bring my own pillow, blue tarp, blankets and sheets, and sleep on top of those provided. I also (if one of those single-unit heater/air-conditioner things) remove the filters and toss them in a drawer.

[Mary Ann]

I would be much more likely with those PTAC unit things to bring my own filter and tape it over the output. However, in the last three years, those places did a LOT to make the air inside cleaner. Which helped me out. I'm not very afraid of other people's cooties, actually. I'm don't get sick; I get poisoned, which is different.

[bloke]

Both times a got the big c were after stays in "nice" hotels.

The idea that "I need to check into a hotel, so I don't infect my family"...WOW !!! ...so just go ahead and FRIGGIN' INFECT THE ENTIRE WORLD, THEN.

[Rick Denney]

I've stayed in hotels (and flown on airplanes) perhaps for perhaps 40 trips since the start of the pandemic. I one time I got Covid from a friend whose son was behaving carelessly around his friends and their friends. That occurred while traveling but it could just as easily have happened at home.

Generally, I turn the AC off when I'm in a hotel, because no matter what the season, it dries the air out enough to desiccate my sinuses. I've even been known to run the hot water in the shower for a good length of time to rehumidify the room. WIth the AC off, whatever is in the filters can stay there.

I'm more worried about bedbugs than air quality (beyond an appropriate level of humidity). I don't put luggage on upholstered surfaces, and I check the bed I'm sleeping in carefully.

But a tarp? Seriously?

Rick "whose sinuses are far more affected by smoke and dust from working in the shop and around the 'estate'" Denney

[LeMark]

do you know how to pronounce Marriot? Are you sure you know?

yeah..."ut" at the end.
I believe it began being pronounced the way it mostly is due to an old ad jingle where it may have rhymed - that way - with something else (??)

nope, It's Marriot, as in rhymes with Chariot, with an "it" at the end.

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/money/2 ... 537678002/

[Dents Be Gone!]

I agree, guys. This is the way to go.

[bloke]

But a tarp? Seriously?

The tarp (actually, just a disposable clear plastic drop-cloth) is not so much for viruses...but for all of the horrible nasties that ooze out of peoples' bodies onto haphazardly as-little-heat/water/detergent-as-possible-to-wash-them sheets/blankets/bedspreads...and (whaddayabet) when the beds look really good, they just straighten them back out...(eh?)

If there's anything more nasty (at least, to me) than a public toilet, it's a private motel/hotel (☆, ☆☆, ☆☆☆, ☆☆☆☆, ☆☆☆☆☆) room.

If I have to make a two-day drive (I will no longer fly), I drive as far as I can, find a safe public place, nap for 1 to 2 hours, and finish the trip.
I can drive fifteen hours without needing sleep.

Once at a destination (and no friend/family/sponsor home in which to stay), I would choose sleeping in my car and using a truck-stop shower over a hotel or motel.

[pjv]

Büscher.
On the other hand, who cares.
By the way, Google translate will help give you a pronunciation which at least will make you sound dashing and guarantee you a second date with your love interest.

[arpthark]

Büscher.
On the other hand, who cares.
By the way, Google translate will help give you a pronunciation which at least will make you sound dashing and guarantee you a second date with your love interest.

Frau Büscher...?