# Buskers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422 "2004-04-16T20:42:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/1 "2004-04-16T20:42:10Z")
I travel through the CBD of Melbourne every day to get to and from work. And I encounter buskers of various musical genres and relative talent…some awfully good, some who should be shot and put out of our misery. Today I encountered a new one, a face and a sound I had never heard before. A young fellow, he stood beside a lamp-post playing an out-of-tune ukelele, and as I turned my head to find out where this abysmal noise was coming from, I spied a message pinned to his jumper with a safety-pin. Help this idiot boy to buy a real guitar I threw him five bucks just for originality. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/2 "2004-04-17T01:39:32Z")
I saw some entertaining buskers in Sweden. Or was it Denmark? (It’s been a while.) Some wacky Englishmen playing guitars and banjos and wearing pots on their heads. Then there was the Spanish guy in Munich playing “ **Joo** Are the Sunshine of my Life”. But I think my favourite busker is in Santa Monica. Some old Eastern European guy with **Psychic Cat** (s). I think someone snapped a photo at an L.A. Dopefest. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/3 "2004-04-17T02:04:00Z")
I used to be a busker, when I was poor and not able to work legally. It was pretty fun. I hope I didn’t piss anyone off. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/4 "2004-04-17T18:56:37Z")
i consider any trip on the london underground wasted unless i get at least one person badly playing “losing my religion” ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/5 "2004-04-17T21:12:52Z")
> [@BigDaiv](#): > > i consider any trip on the london underground wasted unless i get at least one person badly playing “losing my religion” At some Tube stations now they’ve got licsenced buskers - and some of them are actually pretty damned good. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/6 "2004-04-17T22:03:18Z")
I usually give buskers something, sometimes just change, sometimes more. I woulda done what you did and thrown him a few just for originality. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/7 "2004-04-17T22:06:25Z")
We used to have a guy here (he’s gone national now) who would ask tourists for their zip code, and he could not only tell them where they lived, but tell a story about their town or even neighborhood in some cases. I don’t know how he did it. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/8 "2004-04-17T22:27:25Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I travel through the CBD of Melbourne every day to get to and from work. And I encounter buskers of various musical genres and relative talent…some awfully good, some who should be shot and put out of our misery. > > Today I encountered a new one, a face and a sound I had never heard before. A young fellow, he stood beside a lamp-post playing an out-of-tune ukelele, and as I turned my head to find out where this abysmal noise was coming from, I spied a message pinned to his jumper with a safety-pin. > > Help this idiot boy to buy a real guitar > > I threw him five bucks just for originality. 😃 I think I can speak for the average American, when I say I have no idea what the following words mean: [ul] [li]CBD[/li][li]busker[/li][li]jumper[/li][/ul] Americans – we’re provincial! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/9 "2004-04-17T22:33:14Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > I think I can speak for the average American, when I say I have no idea what the following words mean: > [ul] > [li]CBD[/li][li]busker[/li][li]jumper[/li][/ul] Americans – we’re provincial! Oops, sorry. CBD = Central Business District (or Downtown) Busker = A person who plays a musical instrument/sings/dances/recites poetry for the entertainment of passers-by in return for their small change. Jumper = Pullover, Jersey or perhaps a Hoodie. Americans = Dumb Yanks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/10 "2004-04-17T22:43:06Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Americans = Dumb Yanks. 😃 Oh golly, humble apologies. I read your reply first in my [hotmail.com](http://hotmail.com) messages, and the post appeared as if you were requesting translation for \*all \* the things from CBD right down to Americans. ‘Americans’ was _bulleted_ along with the rest of the terms, so I gave my smart-arsed translation of that too before I had bothered to read your post here on the actual board. Does that make sense? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/11 "2004-04-18T01:14:56Z")
There’s a guy in the Minneapolis skyway (which is like a catwalk over the streets between building cause brrrr it’s cold!) there’s a guy who has two marionettes and sings songs from Fiddler on the Roof in a very old-country baritone. It’s so fabulously depressing and beautiful. ZJ ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/12 "2004-04-18T05:08:23Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > I think I can speak for the average American, when I say I have no idea what the following words mean: > [ul] > [li]CBD[/li][li]busker[/li][li]jumper[/li][/ul] Americans – we’re provincial! I dunno if I agree. As an average american I can say that I am quite familiar with the term busker and indeed, when I was in the UK I was with people who did not know the term. I don’t think it has any thing to do with province. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/13 "2004-04-18T13:00:35Z")
[Busker](http://home.revealed.net/ddwyer/busker.jpg) playing a saw on Grafton Street in Dublin. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buskers/240422/14 "2004-04-18T13:15:58Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Americans = Dumb Yanks. 😃 Hey, now! I’ll have you know that we \*\*PREFER \*\* the term, “Yankee Imperialist Dogs.”