.and isn't the language fascinating in its own right. "To blether on" in my
experience is to talk at length/nonsense, such as you might expect from a
wind-bag....
I'd presumed it came from the same root as bladder, but Chambers just goes
back to Old Norse blathra - talk foolishly, which is where I come in....
Oxter is also given as a verb, to take under the arm. I had only heard the
noun usage before.
Tim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Robb" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; "Francis Wood" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Nsplist NPS" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 8:46 AM
Subject: [NSP] Re: bag shape
What a fascinating thread!
The problem I see with an inverted bag is getting the chanter stock
airtight in what amounts to a ridgy hole. It's bad enough with a nice
soft bag with the seam on the outside and the usual leather wedges.
I hate to admit it but the slightly deeper, shorter Northumbrian style
bag is far less comfortable the GHB style. The narrower profile and
sloped front of the latter makes hardly any left arm contact with seam
(which is what used to cause me discomfort).
Barry's comment that the majority of his forearm is not in bag contact
at all makes me puzzled. I suppose if the bag neck was long enough the
forearm could be well below the bag and not in contact but adopting
such a position would surely make the wrists bend in two planes at
once. Is this not tiring after a while?
Barry's other comment about getting the bag well up towards the armpit
is good advice but not a new idea. There is even a dialect saying for
this process, "oxter yor blether" (oxter being armpit and blether
being bag)!
All perhaps another example of Bill Hedworth's gem , "Each has to find
their own salvation with this instrument!"
--- On Wed, 27/1/10, Francis Wood <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Francis Wood <[email protected]>
Hello Alex and all,
You seem to suggest that turning the bag inside out is unlikely.
I have two reasons for disagreeing, firstly because I have done so
myself and secondly because I have seen many early bags constructed in
this way. You will find that this was the usual method if you look at
the available iconography or examine old examples. There has to be a
good reason why this was adopted for many different kinds of pipes in
different centuries and different countries.
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