i declare the irish flute to have a new name

Jennie · Post by **Jennie** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:17 pm

sbfluter wrote:They call anything you blow a horn and anything you play an axe, don't they? I've had people refer to my flute as both a horn and an axe.

Sounds like a hoax to me.

Jennie

Cubitt · Post by **Cubitt** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:23 pm

sbfluter wrote:They call anything you blow a horn and anything you play an axe, don't they? I've had people refer to my flute as both a horn and an axe.

My dad used to call our recorders "toot flutes". Too undignified.

You are correct, although I think "horn" is best confined to something that has a bell at the end of it. And although used fairly universally, I think "ax" is generally thought of as reference to a guitar or bass. Maybe banjo and mandolin, but one tends to hear it more in rock circles than in trad.

Flute should really have its very own trad designation. One that is dignified, yet playful; descriptive, yet whimsical; folksy, yet sophisticated; self-deprecating, yet with its head held high; not too sweet, not too tart; fair and balanced; something we can all agree upon, yet flexible in its useage; a word that can be spoken trippingly on the tongue without irony, but aglow with affection. A word for the Ages. Something that says, "I am an exponent of the beautiful melodies of Ireland, hear me roar!" without being pretentious.

Is this too much to ask?

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:23 pm

Jennie wrote:
sbfluter wrote:They call anything you blow a horn and anything you play an axe, don't they? I've had people refer to my flute as both a horn and an axe.
Sounds like a hoax to me.

Jennie

Or an acorn.

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:53 pm

At the end of the show the other night, Paddy Keenen called out to someone in the audience and said something like, "Jim? Where are you? I know you've got that axe of yours, now get on up here!" Jim plays fiddle.

I think flute is fine. Wooden flute, Timber flute (that's the one Paul Bunyan plays, right?) or Irish flute.

I suggest the other guys start calling what they play a flaut.

jemtheflute · Post by **jemtheflute** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:05 pm

Pass. Call me boring, even recidivist. I like plain ol' flute. Can't think of anything better, and I think it meets all of Cubitt's criteria. Nicknames are fine when they work - that's the point, whether they're humourous, affectionate or derogatory. If they're forced and artificial, don't strike a natural chord, then they don't work. There are some mildly amusing suggestions here, but nothing that works; at least, not yet. I like word games, as most of you have realised/suffered by now, but inspiration ain't coming on this one.

Craig Stuntz · Post by **Craig Stuntz** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:14 pm

You mean "drool pipe" isn't already universal?

-Craig

awildman · Post by **awildman** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:48 pm

Ah yes. But why do we have veeolas and violins? No matter how sweet a name you try to come up with, it's still a big violin. A dog turd sprayed with perfume is still a dog turd.

I guess what I'm saying is that an instrument is what is. I've never been overly obsessed with trivia or words. More with mechanics or physics or essences. A flute is something I blow into and produce a beautiful sound. Well, kind of. Still working on the beautiful part. But beyond that, it's all about the sound and the music. Besides, labels are peeled off quite easily.

A rose by any other name.....

Post by **Nanohedron** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 4:00 pm

A fipple-free tranverse low whistle.

Terry McGee · Post by **Terry McGee** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 4:05 pm

I always liked Micho Russel's pronunciation: The Kon'sart Flu'it. Maybe we good do something with that.

We'd been discussing this topic from a different perspective. It always bothers me to write on postal documents the nature and value of the contents. Flute, $4000 seems to be going out of your way to attract potential pilferers. We thought Feadog mhor might interest them less. Or even Kon'sart Flu'it.

Terry

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:12 pm

I vote for "blinder."

Kevin Crawford said to someone at Augusta "You were playing a blinder there, _______!" (I still can't tell whether it was ironic or not)

Anyway, I've been fond of that word ever since. So if I can't call the thing The Irish Instrument of Torture (or, perhaps, a name that can't be mentioned around children), AND I take it as a noun to describe the flute instead of the playing of it, I think "blinder" would be just dandy.

The Irish Blinder. I like it!

dfernandez77 · Post by **dfernandez77** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:36 pm

Cathy Wilde wrote:So if I can't call the thing The Irish Instrument of Torture

No. That would be a bodhrán.

Jennie · Post by **Jennie** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:24 pm

The way I play sometimes, I should just call it "fffffffff..."

When it gets more musical and less hissy, the "lute" part enters in.

Jennie

rama · Post by **rama** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:27 pm

lilterschtick

daiv · Post by **daiv** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:49 am

Terry McGee wrote:I always liked Micho Russel's pronunciation: The Kon'sart Flu'it. Maybe we good do something with that.

We'd been discussing this topic from a different perspective. It always bothers me to write on postal documents the nature and value of the contents. Flute, $4000 seems to be going out of your way to attract potential pilferers. We thought Feadog mhor might interest them less. Or even Kon'sart Flu'it.

Terry

i thought of floo-iht. i like feadog mhor, but we gotta hibernize it. maybe fed?

i agree the term needs to feel right, which is why i so readily abandoned floodle. how about coke, for cocus? "i was playing my coke all day yesterday" "do you play the coke?" or for that matter, how about black. "although i play concertina, i started off playing the black."

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:22 am

Terry McGee wrote: We thought Feadog mhor might interest them less.

I always thought that feadóg stáin looked like a pet accident rather than an instrument. A potentially pilfer proof name.

~~~~~~
I would lean towards calling mine a stick. If it had more keys than a prison warden and enough precious metal rings to make a princess blush, I would call it a scepter.