THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE TRUE - PART TEN

Ok, it's a bit of a crap day today and I'm inside procrastinating. I should be doing a bit of cleaning in advance of The Old Girl coming home on Saturday but - well, you know.

I thought that it's time to update the THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE TRUE series and, as Richard of RBB has been banging (twanging?) on about his double bass practice, thought that a bit of interesting if not useful trivia should come your way.

Did you know that the origin of the word 'Double bass', in English is 'Bubble arse'?

The phrase "bubble arse" refers to a large, rounded pair of buttocks. The large, heavily contoured, and rounded shape of a carved-back double bass physically resembles a large backside. Musicians and luthiers often refer to the curves of the instrument as the "upper bouts" and "lower bouts", or simply its "hips" and "bottom."

Also, in British Cockney rhyming slang, "bubble" is used frequently (such as "bubble bath" meaning "laugh"). While "bubble arse" is not an officially recognized historical rhyming slang term for the double bass instrument, modern mock-slang or jokes blending the large proportions of the instrument with colloquial terms for a large rear end are common. It's likely that the Cockney rhyming slang references originated in England in the 17th century and were connected to Henry Purcell. The instrument had its origins of course earlier in Europe but no particular name was ascribed to it other than 'violino'.

The Cockney rhyming slang attributed to Henry Purcell though wasn't directly a reference to the instrument as old Purcell had no time for the violino, preferring large cellos instead. It was noted that he liked to see the cello played by attractive young women and the larger the cello the wider the leg spreading ... you can see for yourself where that's going so, in the interests of decency I'll say no more.

Purcell wasn't a particularly large man but he did have ample features in the nether regions or a 'bubble arse' as wits of the time referred to his fat bum.

Meanwhile, luthiers of the time were experimenting with trying to get deeper bass tones out of the violinos they made which resulted in some bizarre creations.

The Cockney wits were quick to jump on this and began referring to the violinos as 'bubble arses'. Because of his association with popular music of the time Henry Purcell and his bubble arse became inextricably connected to the 'bubble arse' violino much to his embarrassment. His song, "Ah cruel, bloody fate" from  Theodosius or The Force of Love (1680) is said to be a reference to this.

Over time the terms 'violino' and 'bubble arse' were phased out with the instrument becoming known as the double bass.

The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ takes pride in bringing interesting bits of history to the attention of our readers reader. No need to thank us.