The "A" in BAT

[sinfonian]

Ok this has bugged me for a while. We all know what a BAT is. I know that:

"B" stands for Big
"T" stands for Tuba

But does the A stand for American or A**.

My case for American

Most of the tubas that are discussed here as BATs are the old American made tubas such as the large Conns, Holtons and Yorks. While when it is used for a foreign made tuba it is considered a copy of an American tuba, mainly the York. When Germans have big tubas they are called Kaiser models.

My Case for A**

Is that music is an international brotherhood and that A** would be more international. Also serveral foreign manufactures make copies of the older american BATs and that "Big A** Tuba" sounds cooler.

[Dan Schultz]

Ok this has bugged me for a while. We all know what a BAT is. I know that:

"B" stands for Big
"T" stands for Tuba

But does the A stand for American or A**.

Perhaps some research is in order to find out how **s translates to other languages. A quick trip through an on-line translator indicates that A** could be translated as follows:

asno - Spanish
esel - German
ane - French
yaioapcc - Greek (not the right characters)
asino - Italian
nwak - Russian (again... not the right characters)

Maybe A** is universal enough but I've across some simple American words that are downright insults in other languages. For example 'gift' in English translates to 'poison' in German!

[jmh3412]

That would be AR*E in God's own language

[Dan Schultz]

It seems like most BATs are American-style. I have no problem calling them Big American Tubas, and will start immediately.

Sounds OK to me. I've never seen a tuba with a big a**, anyway. However, I've seen plenty of big-a**ed tuba players

Dan 'a big-a**ed tuba player' Schultz

[TubaRay]

Sounds OK to me. I've never seen a tuba with a big a**, anyway. However, I've seen plenty of big-a**ed tuba players

Dan 'a big-a**ed tuba player' Schultz

Alright, Dan. Let's not get personal, here.