WTB: Flute-playing pony

[Nanohedron]

I've read that in the zoo in Gaza, there are mules cleverly painted to look like zebras.

And so it is:



Well... donkey, mule, who's counting. But cleverly? Of course I know your meaning, Jim, but I was hoping for a touch more verité than a barber pole on legs. As long as the children are happy, I suppose.

Oh, and by the way: those are some awfully bony hips, there. When it keels over they can always say it succumbed to zebrosis.

People say unicorns don't exist but ....

Have you ever seen a hippopotamus? It's a fat unicorn!

Um... Can you show me a hippopotamus with a horn?

Had me scratching my head for a while there, too, but I suddenly think I get it now. Brus must have meant rhinoceroses.

[AaronFW]

People say unicorns don't exist but ....

Have you ever seen a hippopotamus? It's a fat unicorn!

Um... Can you show me a hippopotamus with a horn?

Had me scratching my head for a while there, too, but I suddenly think I get it now. Brus must have meant rhinoceroses.

Also, apparently "Siberian Unicorns" are a thing. Or... were a thing.

[Peter Duggan]

Also, apparently "Siberian Unicorns" are a thing. Or... were a thing.

Whoa, that one's a bit big for me!

So, never mind the thread drift, has anyone got what I asked for? Flute-playing Shetland pony or possibly musical miniature unicorn (living, not toy). And why do we read WTB posts?

[AaronFW]

Also, apparently "Siberian Unicorns" are a thing. Or... were a thing.

Whoa, that one's a bit big for me!

So, never mind the thread drift, has anyone got what I asked for? Flute-playing Shetland pony or possibly musical miniature unicorn (living, not toy). And why do we read WTB posts?

Sorry, we can't help you. This forum is really for people interested in Flute-playing Highland ponies. You'll need to find another forum about Flute-playing Shetland ponies.

[benhall.1]

Sorry, we can't help you. This forum is really for people interested in Flute-playing Highland ponies. You'll need to find another forum about Flute-playing Shetland ponies.

... and anyway, all the ponies in Shetland play fiddle. They even provide materials to rehair each others' bows.

[s1m0n]

So, never mind the thread drift, has anyone got what I asked for?

Sorry. I think you'll have to make your own.

[Peter Duggan]

and anyway, all the ponies in Shetland play fiddle.

OK, I'll accept a Shetland-fiddling pony if anyone's got one so long as he/she comes with a suitably-sized fiddle.

They even provide materials to rehair each others' bows.

True story (AFAIK)... many years ago a late fiddle-playing/sailing friend of mine and colleague of my father's dropped his bow (which quickly sank!) from a yacht anchored at Loch na Droma Buidhe (Loch Drumbuie), not that far from the somewhat more kenspeckle haven of Tobermory at the north end of the Sound of Mull. So he set off ashore to look for a horse, but was told at the small steading there they didn't have one, and given instead about a quarter to a third of the usual quantity of hairs from the lady of the house's long-haired niece. Since Pernambuco wood doesn't grow here, he also had to substitute what he could find, but was able to fashion a usable bow from his elder stick and human hair with a traditional thumb wedge to keep the hair taut. His account of the incident, where he describes the sound as 'whispery, ethereal', was published by the RNLI in December 1991 with article title of 'Bow Down in Loch Drumbuy'.

Now you might have alarm bells ringing 'tall tale' (especially with RNLI series title 'Spinning a Yarn'), but I knew this guy, discussed it with him, and believe every word of it!

[ytliek]

We have a flute-playing PONY here, whether its for sale or not is to be determined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfiLyAJUZN4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-c6r3CeXwM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQqQCLz5eE

And staying on thread Topic listen in to PONY for suitability.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQPR4P ... KFDPfKJGvQ

[Peter Duggan]

We have a flute-playing PONY here, whether its for sale or not is to be determined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfiLyAJUZN4

I've just spent the whole of that first video wondering if/why you were calling Joanie Madden a pony before I worked it out! Now to check the others...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQqQCLz5eE

Edit: and no flute in this one!

[ytliek]

We have a flute-playing PONY here, whether its for sale or not is to be determined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfiLyAJUZN4

I've just spent the whole of that first video wondering if/why you were calling Joanie Madden a pony before I worked it out! Now to check the others...

Absolutely not calling JoanieM a pony. The PONY is the whole package.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQqQCLz5eE

Edit: and no flute in this one!

Fipple-flute here may be a bit sweet for your particular needs. There are flutes and then there flutes.

[Peter Duggan]

Fipple-flute here may be a bit sweet for your particular needs.

Or too fiddly (no pun!) for the pony. In which case Joanie's flute keys might help, though I notice she's playing with perforated plates.

Edit: yay, my topic's overtaken Loren's in number of replies!

[Nanohedron]

How my word-hoard has grown just these past few days! "Kenspeckle" and "steading" from Peter, and "autoschediasm" from TSC's latest album; "steading" was easy to intuit right off the bat, but "kenspeckle" and "autoschediasm"? Glittery, unknown things! In the end I'm unlikely to find much practical use for them; the first two from Peter are too dialectical to adopt for regular Yank use, and the last from TSC? No one should seriously use it at all - ever - but that's not the point: Now they're mine. I feel like Smaug.

But I have to ask, Peter: What's a thumb wedge, and what makes it traditional?

[Peter Duggan]

"Kenspeckle" and "steading" from Peter

Plus 'jobby' and 'chanty'?

too dialectical to adopt for regular Yank use

Not actually dialect at all, but national, if still maybe of limited value in Minnesota...

But I have to ask, Peter: What's a thumb wedge, and what makes it traditional?

To quote Nigel's article:
'Modern fiddle bows have a screwed system to adjust tension; the traditional way, however, is to keep the hair taut by maintaining thumb pressure on a small wedge which slides between the hair and the wood of the bow at the frog end. The chosen stick was cleaned up and shaped; as the only other materials necessary are glue, thread and rosin (and I already had these), I was able to finish off the bow before evening.'

So not clear if he means traditional as in 'trad' or just historical strings, but there you are.

[Nanohedron]

"Kenspeckle" and "steading" from Peter

Plus 'jobby' and 'chanty'?

"Chanty" I don't recall at all, so fill the gap, would you?

Fair play on "jobby", but when I generally mean "thing" I spell it "jobbie", so let us just propose that that makes all the difference.

To quote Nigel's article:
'Modern fiddle bows have a screwed system to adjust tension; the traditional way, however, is to keep the hair taut by maintaining thumb pressure on a small wedge which slides between the hair and the wood of the bow at the frog end. The chosen stick was cleaned up and shaped; as the only other materials necessary are glue, thread and rosin (and I already had these), I was able to finish off the bow before evening.'

Thanks, Peter. I guessed as much, but Google was of no help at all.

And that story, folks, gives us a textbook example of an autoschediasm. Cobbling a makeshift fiddle bow out of human hair and an elder stick is exactly that, meaning a hasty improvisation. Or, as I like to poetically call it, pulling it outta yer ass.

[Peter Duggan]

"Chanty" I don't recall at all, so fill the gap, would you?

A chamber pot.

Fair play on "jobby", but when I generally mean "thing" I spell it "jobbie", so let us just propose that that makes all the difference.

Not when the plural of 'jobby' is 'jobbies' and some Scots probably use the 'ie' anyway, like we have both 'granny' and 'grannie' (singular)!