Talk:Bullroarer

Sharpish??

I don't mean to be a prick, but, is "sharpish" even a word?JayPetey 17:36, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Title

Bullroarers are a ritual and communications device. A better title than Bullroarer (music) should be used--ZayZayEM 07:29, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Crocodile Dunee

Wasn't one of these featured in Crocodile Dundee? IIRC, his Aboriginal mate goes off to use it, and Mick says he's "making a phone call"...? 87.236.134.146 (talk) 17:11, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Doppler effect

In the overview it is stated that the characteristic sound is not caused by the doppler effect. In "Design, use, and sound" section it is stated that it is caused by the doppler effect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.97.167.32 (talk) 09:51, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Independent invention

Are these considered independent inventions of the various cultures or is there an ancient link in cultures through the use of these whirly-gigs?Gnostics (talk) 17:32, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Article

This article is extremely poor! Do more research and stop using commercial movies as sources! --89.204.138.158 (talk) 04:58, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

What commercial movie is used as source material in this article? Crocodile Dundee is mentioned, but as an example in popular culture, not as source material. rowley (talk) 14:03, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Pūrerehua: traditional Māori bullroarer

I'd suggest there should be mention in this article of the Māori pūrerehua which is a bullroarer and is usually made of wood, stone or bone and attached to a long string. Uenuku (talk) 18:09, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Name!

Where does the name “bullroarer” come from? It is certainly not a native name; and it is not used in European languages besides English. - Wwallacee (talk) 22:12, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

Bullroarer used for communication?

Bullroarer used for communication? What could the bandwidth possibly be? 2600:1700:4CA1:3C80:506B:64CA:F333:6A75 (talk) 04:13, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

Bandwidth similar to that of smoke signals by Native Americans, and talking drums by African Natives. In other words, surprisingly complex. rowley (talk) 14:01, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Ambiguous Wording?

In the Australian Aboriginal culture section, this wording: Bullroarers have been used in initiation ceremonies and in burials to ward off evil spirits, bad tidings, and especially women and children has the instrument being used to ward off women and children -- which is a very different thing from forbidding use by or in front of women and children. It also has the instrument being used to "ward off" bad tidings, rather than simply in response to bad tidings or to convey bad tidings. I don't think this is what the writer means to say. rowley (talk) 14:09, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Okay, I looked this up. The passage given in the citation goes thus:

About a week after the boys have run away from their mothers into the bush, the old men go out and make certain wooden instruments called ttirndun. The women are not permitted to know anything about this. Three or four of the very old men who cannot hunt remain with the lads to look after them. In the evening after supper time, when it is beginning to be dusk, the other old men come up, each bringinsj with him a ttirndun. Each lad has his head covered up in a 'possum rug, so that he cannot see anything but the ground. An old man puts a throwing stick under the rug, and says, " Look at the murrawun — look where it is going to !" Then he lifts the murrawun, pointing upwards, the boy's eyes fixed upon it. Then he points to the old men round, who, in the twilight, are sounding the tumduns and says, " See the turndun !" This has been done to all the boys at the same time. They stare at the strange sight — a wonderful thing, such as they have never seen before. Each boy is held by an old man by the back of the neck with the left hand, while in the right he points a spear to the boy's eye, and says, " If you tell this to any woman you will die — you will see the ground broken up and like the sea ; if you tell this to any woman, or to any child, you will be killed."

If women and children are forbidden from ever even hearing a bullroarer or knowing of its existence, it cannot possible be used to "ward them off". Therefore, I am changing the wording in the article. rowley (talk) 14:24, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

BullRoarer, Britain and Ireland, Gentian Hill reference inaccuracy

In the interest of accuracy, you state that Sol in the novel Gentian Hill is a mute. This is inaccurate as there are several examples of Sol speaking. Specifically on pages 65, 71, 139, and 168. Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Goudge, 1949 edition, Coward-McCann, Inc. Padrou (talk) 15:41, 12 March 2023 (UTC)

Michael Boyd

I can't find any evidence of an anthropologist called Michael Boyd who specialises in bullroarers. All the online sources seem to have copy-pasted from this Wikipedia source. I read the reference in Anxious Pleasures (number 3) but the quote seems to have been altered. The version I tracked down reads as follows:

Moreover, some archeologists-notably, Gordon Willey (1971, 20)-now admit the bullroarer to the kit-bag of artifacts brought by the very earliest migrants to the Americas.

Gregor, Thomas. Anxious Pleasures : The Sexual Lives of an Amazonian People, University of Chicago Press, 1985. Cacoology (talk) 09:57, 10 April 2024 (UTC)