I’ve seen hornpipes written in 4/4 and in cut time. Which is more correct?
I doubt it matters all that much, so long as all the musicians agree on what to count as the beat (after all, if you subdivide in cut time you’re counting to four each measure as it is). I did notice that it “feels” like cut time, but you can get the same effect in 4/4 if you place the accents correctly. I don’t think it matters that much, but I’m just curious.
Simple solution: don’t write it down. 
Neither. I play hornpipes in triplets - a 12/8 signature I guess it would be, but I really can’t say, since I try to just play 'em as I hear 'em.
For sheet music, I prefer them in 4/4. Nice and clean. If it says “hornpipe” on it, that’s great, but I would be able to tell anyway by the melody and phrasing (in particular the standard three quarter note finish) what it was supposed to be.
There’s no “proper” amount of swing that I’m aware of. It varies from player to player and county to county, so it’s unlikely a “proper” way of notating hornpipes will ever be invented.
is danced with teh heavy accents falling on 1 and 3 and therefore is more accuratly in cut time. It doesn’t really matter though.
12/8? That would make the triplets easier, but how do you count the dotted eighth-sixteenth notes? Generally, it’s more common notation to have a triplet in a regular meter (4/4, cut time, etc) than a grouping of two notes in a compound meter.
Emphasis mine. I think you need to listen to hornpipes. Fiddler is not talking about written triplets but about the feel of the pairs of two eighths notes - which are never played straight even though they may be written straight (or sometimes dotted).
Yes, that’s right. They’re neither straight nor dotted, is what I was trying to say. In 12/8 they wouldn’t be “triplets” any more. I’ve forgotten most of what I once knew about notation - it’s been 15 years since I studied classical music. Sorry for the confusion.