I am aware of the objections summed up by experts like Kieran O'Hare in his short NPU journal article on the questionable use of 'uilleanns' when referring to our beloved instrument but I am confused by the logic of your response.NicoMoreno wrote:It's actually a really bad one because uilleann in this case is an adjective, not a noun... The sticker would mean you're hanging out with elbows. People in the know call them uilleann pipes or pipes, never uilleanns. Similarly, people in the know don't ever spell it aire... that's not a word. Air is the correct spelling.maki wrote:That's my favorite.rgouette wrote: "Chillin with the Uilleanns"
I really like "My other car is a flat set".
Firstly, neither 'uilleann' nor 'elbow' are adjectives -- syntactically and semantically they function as descriptors like adjectives but morphologically they are nouns.
Secondly (and ignoring the first point), using your logic would likewise prescribe dropping the term 'piano' which comes from the Italian 'soft', which is a bona fide adjective since it passes the test of being capable of forming a comparative degree 'softer' and superlative degree 'softest'. (The full name 'piano-forte' was given because the "striking-the-string-with-a-hammer" instrument had a dynamic range vis-a-vis the "plucking-the-string-with-a-quill" harpsichord.) Your prescription would likewise prohibit us from using terms like 'bass' or 'blues' in describing, say, the main instrument Geddy Lee plays or, say, the style of music played and composed by Robert Johnson.
Lastly, do you not think that some poetic license is warranted here since we are talking about a catchy phase to be inserted on a case or bumper sticker? Jim Morrison violated grammatical rules in when he wrote, "I'm gonna love you till the stars fall from the sky for you and I (it should be objective case 'me')" but that doesn't sound very good, does it?
I think "Chillin' with the Uilleanns" is boss.