If most all of the music produced by an oompah band is in 3/4 time, and if this word is supposed to mimic the sound of the band, why is it not called an "oompahpah" band and "oompahpah" music?

P.S. Can you tell that we spent last weekend in romantic Leavenworth, a mock Bavarian town in the Washington "alps"?

Dunno FS. Maybe it's because bands in your part of the world march to the beat of a different drum?

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

In the Hofbräuhaus in Munich probably only about half of the music played by the resident band is in 3/4 time. Don't know if that's meaningful, though.

I had a thoreauly good at that one pfranz.

And it is quite likely that they were originaly called Oompahpah bands and that it has just been contracted. Perhaps when the players got contracts.

I thought the name of the kind of music was oompah, but the sound these bands tend to make is oompahpah. Oom is also Afrikaans for Uncle (as in Oom Paul). So is Oom Papa father-uncle?

Rather like the Scandinavian way of differentiating between grandmothers by whether they are your mother's mother (Mormor) or your father's mother (Farmor)?
(Same with grandads, of course - Farfar and Morfar.)

Does Dutch/Afrikaans differentiate in the same way, d'ye know?

I'm familiar with the Danish words, but I don't think Dutch distinguishes between paternal and maternal grandparents lexically. (I know that German doesn't.) Kinship terms are quote varied and interesting.

Thanks, jheem - I know nothing about Dutch at all.

In French we don't differentiate between paternal or maternal grandparents.

I'm starting another thread on grandparent names since I don't want to ambuse Father Steve's oompah thread..

Back in the twenties, many New England towns had commons
with a band stand. Quite a crowd came to listen every
Saturday night. If only for a change from what little music
they had at home. The repertoire was 90% John Phillips Souza, definitely oompahpah. Hotdogs, popcorn, and and
lemonade were an added attraction. A place you could take
a girl to, without needing much money, nor anxiety on part
of her parents.

Here's one idea about oompah bands :
In some bands (no violins or drums) the base line was carried by the bassoon (that big bell instrument the player "wears" - have I recalled the right name musick?) which has the sound ompah-pah. It made for a distinctive collective sound. Hence oompahpah bands.
The same 3/4 tunes could be played by other groups of musicians from bands with drums to full orchestras.
Well, anyway it's a place to start the ideas, right?

I think you're thinking sousaphone:

http://douglasjeffries.com/pictures/band/2002-12-08/john_on_sousaphone.jpg

sometimes inaccurately called a tuba:

http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textt/images/tuba.jpg

This is a bassoon:

http://www.cottagesoft.com/~songbird/artists/musician134.gif

Sousa didn't write waltzes (try marching to a waltz )! Strauss did, but his band didn't use Sousaphones...

3/4 time ~ The guaranteed way to be sure that your band is never in step.

http://website.lineone.net/~alan-morrison/Oompah_Band_2.JPG

Dis is vat looks like der oompah band.

yah; complete mit der lederhosen.

I have never girded my loins with lederhosen but one suspects that they become rather warm in spots by the end of the evening.

Well, I'm told they're not a problem to wear. A German acquaintance works in the tourist industry in Bavaria and has to wear them as a "uniform". He says they're as comfortable as trousers once they're broken in. Dunno!

Aren't they just shorts with suspenders.

shorts with suspenders

Aren't they just shorts with suspenders.

Nein, nein! They are LEATHER shorts with suspenders, which is quite another thing.

Do you not recall the episode of "Friends" where Ross decides to wear leather pants to impress his date? That episode amply demonstrates the horrendous potential difficulties of wearing leather close to the skin.

Well, Bel - the sad-sack rip-offs made for Oktoberfests far and wide usually are just shorts with stylized suspenders (I can be critical, I've made 'em myself!), but the real thing are made of a grade of leather (hence, leder) heavy enough that they'll pretty much stand up on their own. And once they're broken in, they smell as though they could do the Chicken Dance of their own volition. They smell so FOWL! TEd, you're a horrible influence.

Ugh, I can see how the guys'd be getting warm in all the wrong places then.

"One of the most often asked questions is how to take care of a Lederhosen? Before we answer this question, we would like to give you some advise: A good and true recommendation of Bavarians is 'never clean a Lederhosen'! Traces of wear are part of the individual look of traditional leather pants."

http://www.bavarian-shopping-mall.com/faq.htm

>>>never clean a Lederhosen

O.k. you guys are gonna have to stop now. My imagination may be getting the better of me cause this is getting icky. Smells ripe all the way over here.

My experience was that so long as an alien had a nose he would have had no trouble finding the people wearing them. No need for the line, "Take me to your lederhosen." Peggy just said, "Ted, just culotte."

TEd, the expants of your punishment seams to know no bounds...