Phrase Detail

Say: yuuk-wek mahm-buul-in

Vowels: Standard - 'u' as in 'put', 'ə' neutral sound as in ‘the’, 'i' as in 'hill', 'a' as in 'path' or 'car'.

This phrase comes from an old song telling the story of two groups of warriors who challenge each other from different sides of a river. Uncle Stan Day called this song 'An Ancient Tale'.  'Yukwek mumbulin!' is one of the challenges yelled out across the river. Not only does the song include some words from other languages, Wamba Wamba sung in a song uses different ways of saying things to the spoken language so it is not clear how some words like 'Yukwek' are formed. Hercus has included 'Yukwek' (I wish I had.) as a 'word' in the WW Dictionary (the Green Book) so it would be reasonable to assume that it was thought by the fluent speakers to be included in general conversation.

Extend - Look up, write down and practice saying - 'I wish I had a big hat.' 'I wish I had a good friend.' 'I wish I had a fast dog.'