UT is Utah's abbre-vi-ation
The assignment of syllables to the musical scale, e.g. representing notes as do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti is called solfege. It used to be ut-re-mi-fa-so-la-si. These were taken from Ut queant laxis, a hymn to St. John the Baptist.
Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti
Labii reatum,
Sancte Ioannes.(So that (Ut) these your servants (Fa) may, with all their voice, resound (Re) your marvelous (Mi) exploits, clean (Sol) the guilt from our stained lips (La), O Saint John.)
Taking Ut-re-mi from Ut queant laxis is usually credited to Guido of Arezzo, an 11th century Benedictine monk and music theorist. Much to Rogers’ and Hammerstein’s relief, ut evolved into do, and replacing si with ti was popularized by John Curwen in the 19th century.
When i learned it in Spanish, they were sol and si, so watching The Sound of Music irked me quite a bit.
Posted by rone on August 28 2005 09:36
Since I heard the Simpsons' version, I've preferred that:
Dough - the stuff that buys me beer,
Ray - the guy who sells me beer,
Me - the guy who drinks the beer,
Far - a long way to get beer.
So - I'll have another beer,
La - I'll have another beer,
Tea - no thanks, I'm drinking beer,
And that will bring us back to -
[sees his empty glass] D'OH!
Posted by Jimcat on August 29 2005 07:33