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A few weeks ago, we attended our first local highschool football game. Hubby knew one of the teens playing the xylophone and he quickly pointed him out, telling me the kid was belting out a tune on the "glockenspiel."
Now, Hubs and I are constantly making one another laugh so I was sure he was just having fun with the name of the instrument, by deeming the xylophone a "glockenspiel." It did make me smile and that was that. At least until the next day, that is.
The next day while at work, Hubs was talking to a co-worker's boyfriend. Said boyfriend's teen daughter plays in the very band we had watched the night before, so Hubs chatted about the performance with her father.
When he got home, he was a bit,...well,...horrified? He began.
"Honey, did you know that the xylophone isn't really called a glockenspiel?"
"Huh? Whadda you mean?"
"I meeeean,...when I told you that Levi was banging on the 'glockenspiel' at the football game, did you know that it wasn't really a glockenspiel?"
Perplexed, I responded. "No. I thought you were just goofing around trying to make me laugh. Why?"
His look suddenly became a bit mortified as he continued.
"When I called it a glockenspiel, I was serious. That's what I thought it was. And when you didn't tell me otherwise, I had no reason to believe Levi was playing anything but a glockenspiel."
"Uh huh. I'm not following. What's the problem?"
"The problem is, I told H's boyfriend that Levi was playing the glockenspiel at the game last night, and do you know what he said?"
Me, a little concerned for Hubby now, "Uh, no? No, I don't. What did he say?"
"He looked at me kind of odd and said, 'You mean the....xylophone?'" A bit more tensely now, Hubby continued. "Honey, did you know it wasn't a glockenspiel and that it was in fact a xylophone?"
I have to say, I started laughing soooo hard. I totally thought Hubs was just up to one of his attempts to make me laugh at the game the night before. I don't recall ever learning that there was an instrument called the glockenspiel, so I didn't question it when he tossed it out to me at the game. And since I didn't question it, Hubby, who truly believed the instrument was called a glockenspiel (thanks in part to my not questioning it, coming full circle here), went to work and identified it as such to his co-worker's boyfriend. HA!
I'm happy to say that Hubby has been nearly fully redeemed in that the two instruments, the xylophone and the glockenspiel, are very similar. Both have tuned bars laid out in a fashion resembling a piano keyboard. But the xylophone's bars are wooden, while the glockenspiel's bars are metal. Oh, the silly moments that life presents as opportunities for laughter. I hope you find pause for such a moment or two in your week as well.
Live wise in Him!
~Toni~
Well I knew that spiel meant play, but I had to look up "glocken" - German for "bell". So they both sound right - "Play those bells".
ReplyDeleteI was 38 years old before I learned (from a 5 year old) that a pachyderm is not a pseudonym for an elephant, but that it encompasses rhinos and hippos as well. So if you can shorten those names (who can spell their plurals?) why don't we have elphos? Hmm...
Boni L. was 40 when she found out the phrase "Nip it in the bud" was correct and not "Nip it in the butt!"
Love the new site Toni, it's educational and inspirational.
Dan
I've never heard of a glockenspiel! Thanks for the music lesson...and the laugh! :0)
ReplyDeleteBrandi
So, the cheap METAL instrument that my daughter has been playing with is actually a glockenspiel. I never would have guessed that the primary colored toy instrument would have been anything other than a xylophone.
ReplyDelete