The Sartorial Uilleann Piper

[Beau Comiseau]

Uilliam, you are the MAN!!!

[CHasR]

Uilliam, you are the MAN!!!

I too stand in awe of his splendor
and he makes a damn fine cooboy.

[PJ]

Who's yer wan with Uilliam?

[Uilliam]

Heather Clarke and Bro Gildas

Enough is enough it is now time for ye all the viewing public to decide the McXFactor

A POLL:Who is the most imaginative...is it....
Scottish Mythology aka Sir Walter Scott

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McWaverley Novels etc..or
Scottish Mythology aka The Queen Vick

In the public bar on a Saturday over many a large one....or

Scottish Mythology aka Richard McCook
]
This is probably the most accurate depiction of Lowland Scottish dress in Elizabethan Times....or

Reedmaking Made Easy by Dave Hegarty



Or How to go insane in a few easy lessons....

Answers by PM
The winner will be published and Ist Prize is a Luxury Weekend in Coatbridge.
2nd Prize is 1 Week in Coatbridge.Holder o this years coveted "Plook on the Plinth "Award.

Uilliam

News flash...Frae Richard MacCook's own website...


"The Cook/MacCook Tartan: I felt that my family deserved its own tartan, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and design one. To emphasize the link between the MacCooks and the MacDonalds the tartan was based on the red MacDonald of the Isles (or MacDonald of Sleat) tartan. The red bands in the middle of the green portion were changed to light blue (so the MacCook tartan joins the small family of red tartans with light blue), and the single black line in the red area was elaborated into a miniature "MacDonald motif" narrow-wide-narrow)."

Soo it seems that the Victorians and Pancelticpiper have very much in common perhaps that is why he doth protesteth too much

Agus here is a bit more imagination for ye all

"The Cooks/MacCooks From Kintyre Islay And The Isle Of Arran: The Cooks and MacCooks from this region of Scotland are unrelated to English Cooks. These Cooks get their name not from the occupation of cook, but from the anglicized version of one or more Gaelic names. The experts are not, it seems, in total agreement on which Gaelic names resulted in which anglicized names. Most agree that MacCook was in Gaelic MacDhabhoc ("son of David"), but some also posit MacCuig, MacCug, and MacCuagh ("son of the cup", the hereditary cup-bearers). The "Mac" was often dropped resulting in Cook. The (Mac) Cooks are usually linked to the MacDonalds of Kintyre"

Wot experts? This seems to me a bit fanciful or even Victorian maybe.
There are more English living in the areas ye mention than there are Gaels.Tho in days o yor they were settled by the Antrim Irish and were referrd to as the Irish..ho hum .Revisionism in history is fine for those who want to believe but it would be deception would it no.
Mac agus Nic simply mean son or daughter of whatever name ye happen to have.Logical really when ye live in a Gaelic speaking community.So the English Cooks if they went to live in the Hebrides would have been called Mac Cook just the same as Mac Bampot or whatever...Its not rocket science and certainly not special.It could also be argued that the Mac was dropped because it was never there in the 1st place...who knows ....
Peace to ye all

[Ceann Cromtha]

Hey Uilliam,

First off, let me tell you that I always enjoy your posts!

A quick question for you about something that has always puzzled me, if you don't mind. Years ago, people commonly used the word 'Scotch' adjectivally to refer to people, culture, literature, etc. of your great land (cf. O'Farrell's tutor referring to 'Scotch pipes,' Robert Burns writings, titles of tunes [e.g., 'Scotch Mary'], etc.). However, in the past generation or two, the adjective 'Scotch' has been relegated to only refer to the whiskey; 'Scots' has taken over the remaining meaning domain. In fact, I have seen people (each time American highland pipers) rudely correct some poor schlump who accidently uses the older term, e.g., by saying he comes from 'Scotch' ancestry. They arrogantly say something like, "'Scotch' refers to the drink, 'Scots' refers to the people" (and say it like it's a club they've been waiting to bang over somebody's head to say "I'm in and you're out").

I believe in self-determination of any group of people and if the Scots want to be called that, then great, that's what it should be. But I've been to Scotland on several occasions and the people were extremely friendly and hospitable. I never encountered similar behavior among the natives.

Any ideas about what's up with this? (Sorry that this is a little off topic, but this has been nagging me for years and I couldn't resist!)

Best regards,
Dan

[BigDavy]

Hi Khan Krum

This article in Wikipedia seems to cover it well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch

David

[Ceann Cromtha]

Hi Big Davy,

Thanks, I appreciate the link. I've read such etymological explanations and understand the history of the words in question. The thing about which I'm most curious, however, is the attitude towards one or the other application of the terms, especially outside of Scotland (especially on this side of the pond -- a sociolinguistic analogue to Uilliam's brilliant, ongoing cultural anthropological analysis ).

One guy in particular whom I have in mind (this was at a Highland games festival in North Carolina 25+ years ago) reacted to this use of 'Scotch' in a way comparable to an African-American after having had a 20-megaton "N-bomb" dropped on him! Now bear in mind that this guy wasn't a Scot, but an American (although he was decked out in about 50 pounds of kilt gear, including having something that looked like a bear on his head and a raccoon around his midsection!). I mean, what's with the negative attitude?!

Completely off-topic: I think there's a mega-level to this kind of position whereby fanaticism often develops around the margins of an area that it aims to encompass (recall that Hitler was Austrian and Stalin [Ioseb Jughasvili] was Georgian, both born in the boondocks of the empires that they would later build and lead. Neither, however, wore kilts. I probably shouldn't have brought that up...

Best regards,
Dan

[Uilliam]

ChasR if ye are still having difficulty deciding then there is always





or for the Druid look I like to wear this wee ensemble...




Dan I have no idea I am Irish so they are all Scotch to me.
Uilliam,

[CHasR]

ChasR if ye are still having difficulty deciding then there is always

mmmm....its all about the package in the USA, isnt it?

& anyway, I said a while back, WHEN WE WERE YET DISCUSSING UILLEANN ATTIRE,
that I prefer suit + tie whenever possible.

(BTW Uilliam nice crown molding in your flat..wish I had that...better get to that crack in the ceiling tho it looks like a moisture problem...)

Although your command of history is accurate, formidable & incontradicatable; (write a book, dammit)

I'm going to put a word in for poor Richard and say that I feel his choice for presenting Cornish pipes (in & of themselves a ressurection) is appropos.

Given close ties between Brittany + Cornwall, look at Jorj & Phillipe:
most Bagadou wear vests + a ren shirt.

Look at what the Hungarians do:

(This band is really good, too, so Miklos, this is a positive comment about your group!)

and last but not least, the ultimate in Bagpipe attire, my dear, departed friend, may he rest in eternal peace, as he was a man of peace, playing 'pipes of peace': ( sholdve known any discussion about what to wear would come to this)

[simonknight]

Here's a traditonal cornish costume -



The Obby Oss from Padstow. It would tough to play the pipes wearing it.

[Beau Comiseau]

Where's that funky looking double bagpipe in that picture? Are those people druids?

[simonknight]

Where's that funky looking double bagpipe in that picture? Are those people druids?

The druids are in the pub.

[Uilliam]

Chas R Thankye for your concern for ma roof but I can assure ye all is well.I did have a leak in the roof but have had it replaced.That is just unpainted plaster that ye can see.When I get some time awa frae this feckin computer I might get around to painting it.
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
ps As an afterthought I got to thinking of Mac Cook and the statement on his website
"Most agree that MacCook was in Gaelic MacDhabhoc ("son of David
but some also posit MacCuig, MacCug, and MacCuagh ("son of the cup", the hereditary cup-bearers...."
Why would Son of David become Son of Cook?It doesnae make any sense
I don't know who posited what but in Gaelic Cuig is Five(5) and I havnae clue what Cug or Cuagh is but it certainly isnae like Cup which in Gaelic is Cupán....Chalice is Cáilis..so not that.Why would ye want to be called the Hereditary Cup Bearer?? Today it would be Wine Waiter or Slave....this is all history made up on the hoof methinks.
So if ye have MacCuig ie Son of 5 it begins to sound like Star Trek wi 7 of 9 .
My own surname Hackett became hAicéad in Irish not much difference really there, wot does it mean, it came frae Harcourt in Normandy so wen the early Hacketts went a rampaging in Saxonshire at the time of the conquest it was William de Hakett cos they couldnae read or write nor probably cared(Guilliame de Harcourt)William of Harcourt .As ye all know they went for a bit o rapine and pillage in Tipperary in 1172 and stayed there.My maws family came frae Inverneshire and went to Ireland in 1638.
Surnames are another piece of nonesense altogether and a relatively recent common phenomenon when the plebs started breeding like rabbits.But I don't want to get aff topic.



Slán Go Foill
uilliam

[totokots]

There is a reel called "The nine pint coggie" that I learned from Sean Og Potts. Sean said a "coggie" is a drinking vessel, and a nine pint coggie is a large drinking vessel.

"Coggie" isn't a million miles from "Cook".

[GalegoMan]

Here's some Galician traditional costumes (Galician historical master pipers):




The Galician elbow pipes