“What do you call a person who plays the viola?”/“A violator.”
A person who plays the viola is called a “violist” or simply a “viola player.” However, a popular joke is:
Q: What do you call a person who plays the viola?
A: A violator.
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1932.
Wiktionary: violist
Noun
violist (plural violists)
1. (music) a person who plays the viol or the viola
Google Books
Tromboners: or, Musical Anecdotage
Edited by Ernest Schelling
New York, NY: A. A. Knopf
1932
Pg. 92:
A man who plays the viola is called a violator.
27 June 1946, Kingsport (TN) News, “Daffynitions,” pg. 4, col. 2:
Violator: A man who plays the viola.
Google Groups: eunet.jokes
What do you call a…
Outsider
12/20/99
(...)
...A Person Who Plays The Viola?
A. A Violator.
Klosi Jokes
Category: Music jokes
Date Added: 11/10/2007
Joke: Q: What do you call a person who plays the viola?A: A violator.
Google Books
The Musician’s Joke Book
By Jim Green
London: Omnibus Press
2010
Pg. ?:
Q: What do you call a person who plays the viola?
A: A violator.
Twitter
Eva Leah
@evaleah1991
Q: What do you call a person who plays the viola? A: A violator.
9:31 AM - 20 Sep 2015