Vuvuwha?

Trendy newspaper vocab word of the week (at least, a happier choice than all of those terms that mean "suffocating in tar balls"...meh).

Wikipedia tells me that a synonym is lepatata, but I think for now I'll stick with vuvuzela.  As to what it is, just turn on a World Cup match and listen for the sound of bees (you won't have to strain too hard).  Wikipedia also tells me that these plastic horns produce a monotonous B flat.

They may be traditional for South Africans, but they aren't actually that old - vuvuzelas first appear in soccer stadiums in the 1970s (in Mexico, strangely), but weren't mass-produced in their plastic glory in South African factories until 2001.  Still, any anthropologist worth her salt will tell you tradition doesn't have to be ancient.  And now you know.