After listening to a programme on Flemish radio about South Africa hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup, my thoughts went to the Vuvuzelu. This is a horn made from plastic and is a “soccer sports horn”.
Pronounced “ VooVoooZeLooo ( Hard Z as in Zap, not a “soft” zeee)
Debatably the most offensive sound made by an instrument. Sounds like a fog horn. And you need serious lung and lip power to get this thing to work. From what I can find out the name originates from the Zulu word for making a noise. Historically a Kudu horn was used to call villagers to a meeting.
(By the way, the Kudu gets its name from its massive thing-a-lings. When it lands after jumping a fence they go… Kuu-DU…Kuu-DU.)
The horn is painted in the colours of team you support.
Anyhow, another interesting bit is that it was believed that a baboon was killed by lots of noise. During a soccer game, especially the last quarter, horns are sounded furiously to “kill” the opposition.
I have this surrealistic vision of 30,000 Vuvuzelus doing their thing at once. That scares me. What I heard was that the Flemish estimate 400,000 overseas soccer fans coming to South Africa. That is the first time I have seen or heard a number about how many visitors can be expected. But that’s another story.
On Wikipedia, where I got this “information” , (excluding the thing-a-ling, thing, which is a figment of my imagination) reference is also made to the possible banning of the “instrument” due to its disruptive nature. That I want to see.
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