I noticed on the forum index that uilleann pipers are called " SURLY " . Can this be true ? I can,t believe it ,you could not meet a nicer ,more polite bunch than the uilleann pipers that frequent this forum !!!,me thinks!!!
RORY
don’t call me shirley.
“Surly” doesn’t seem like quite the right word.
AND DON’T CALL ME LATE FOR DINNER
twenty five years I’ve had to wait
Feck! Arse! DRINK!!!
djm
Really, I think there’s a misunderstanding. I understand that in the British Isles “surly” means a bit irritable and unpleasant. In the USA, surly means something like “cooperative and takes direction well.”
Dale
Actually, I think it means the former more than the latter.
Surely we’re surly
but don’t call us shirley
pipers rise early
our reels are too swirly
I’m crass, and I’m moody
And sometimes quite squirrely
But for a topic like this
It’s just too damned early… where’s my friggin coffee…
There was an uilleann piperess called Shirly,
Who was oft times accused of being surly,
She said:“Go and shite!” and “I’ll play what I like!”,
“Those GHB skirts are too girlie”.
Regards,
Harry.
Yes. I was being sarcastic. Or maybe sardonic. One of those.
I can be reckless
and sometimes bombastic
But still it’s too damned early
For a sardonic sarcastic… need a second cuppa…
I’m still unrepentant
Though somewhat dementant
For forum defacement
I’m stuck in the basement
(Yeah? Well, at least it rhymes! 
)
djm
I spent two hours last night wrestling with a fickle baritone drone reed. I was surly… 100%… Just ask my wife…
Jamie, I think you’ve nailed it on the head there. The reeds are #1 in producing surliness. Then it is leaks in the bag/bellows, then springs, key pads, pins… the list can go on ad infinitum it would seem.
With all of this going on, it’s no big wonder how we can be an ill tempered lot.
I want to play.
There once was a piper from Kerry.
The people said he was pissy.
When his pipes were brought out.
The people would shout.
His temper is worse than a grizzly.
Surly? You talkin’ to me?
Are YOU talkin’ to ME???
Above pic is of Donald McSurlytwat
Prince of the Surly pipers…Gaawdloveim
We’re surly as ****.
Damn straight you, you, bizzare shaped number-sized whatever you call yerself!!!