Dear All
I’ve noticed over the past weeks (or months maybe) the incidence of O.T. Subjects gradually rising (Now about 50% of the top 10 Subjects on this Forum)
If you add to that the one startling statistic of those top 10 subjects . . . the fact that about 80% of all recent replies have been O.T. - I find myself stroking my stubble and going HMMMM ! more and more often.
I need to ask . . . ‘Guys ‘n’ Gals. . . are we losing it ?!’
Tony P
Tony,
did you vote for Mira or for that other totty?
/bloomfield
Damn! I was hoping to make it onto page 2 with this post. 
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-02-28 15:39 ]
Tony, isn’t this the same topic of the thread titled, “What’s really sickening (OT)(TROLL)(RANT)”?
I was going to post some flip reply to this, but in thinking about it, I decided to put on my serious hat.
Just the other day I was exchanging email with Our Esteemed Moderator, and mused upon whether an appropriate thread might be “What is Your Perceived Goal for This Message Board?” I think that this thread in effect asks that question, so I’m going to answer it.
For me, this board is to (1) exchange whistle info, (2) exchange musical info (3) interact with others of like mind (4) destress.
I have not posted pictures of my pets, but mostly because I haven’t taken any pictures of my pets. I haven’t asked for prayers for my niece who is intensive care, mostly because I don’t think prayer is an issue (and she’s doing marvelously, I might add!).
I have met some wonderful people in person and in email. Bought and sold instruments. Gotten (and NOT gotten) assistance with tunes. Blown off steam (any of you techies want to help with a fax issue? we’re having the devil of a time trying to fax internally to a Canon EP2000). Watched silly arguments and nasty exchanges. Come to respect some really cool young folk. Learned about the physics of sound (delicious, Thomas!) and community politics. . .
As long as a topic is labeled with an appropriate title, and OT is clearly stated, I’m ultra-happy with that. If friendly exchanges and OT banter is discouraged. . .well, I will be too.
Please don’t do that.
I’ve watched it for years–the board
cycles through this and that phase,
then onto something else, then back
again. No rhyme, no reason. Old
Man River, That Old Man River…
On 2002-02-28 16:47, tyghress wrote:
For me, this board is to (1) exchange whistle info, (2) exchange musical info (3) interact with others of like mind
Completely agree.
Jim’s right. Give it time, in a little while topics will migrate back to strictly whistle oriented things. And, many of the same questions that have been asked countless times will be asked again. That’s the beauty of this board. It’s a great community here, and very helpful to those who are new to the whistle. It’s helped me a lot in days past.
tyghress,
Well said and I completely agree!
Peace everyone,
Sara
Yep, I suspect much of the OT/Relevant cycle actually has to do with the fact that occasionally people just get a bit bored with tweaking fipple blades and the ABC’s to “Down by the Sally Gardens.” Chaos reigns for a while among people who maybe don’t feel like serious whistle discussion for the moment, but enjoy each other’s company and so just make up wierd things to talk about. OK.
Before long, though, the cycle comes around again and we’ll be serious again. I personally enjoy both phases. And there’s always a little of both going on.
But I still think the moon phase has something to do with it, too…
Tom
p.s. By the way, what exactly IS a Sally Garden? Whatever it is, that tune is down by them.
On 2002-02-28 18:17, WyoBadger wrote:
p.s. By the way, what exactly IS a Sally Garden? Whatever it is, that tune is down by them.
I was in a place called Sally’s Cross. . .there was a garden there, but it may not have been Sally’s.
p.s.-no, I’m not being flip…I was there! I think its a part of Kanturk.
But I still think the moon phase has something to do with it, too…
I never bought that moon phase business as an excuse for berserkness. Some people have suggested that the moon’s gravity pulls on the fluids in our brains like it does to the tides. It seems to me that effect would be most pronounced when the moon was on the same side of the planet as the sun (ie during a solar eclipse). Then the combined gravitation of the sun and moon would really warp your brain. So, like, the earth is pulling our brains toward our feet in a big way, and occasionally, the moon’s weaker gravity pulls our brains upward. Is that a bad thing? A little variety sounds good to me. And what about when you lie down? Then everything falls backward or sideways. Maybe I’m way off and it’s a magnetic phenomenon. Do people get wacky when the auroras and sunspots get active? Or is it the wavelengths of light reflected from the moon? Anyway, if everyone would follow my example and wear tinfoil on their heads, there’d be no problem.
Tony
(got to cut back on playing those aluminum whistles.)
\
Clips](http://www.nwparalegal.com/clipssnip%22%3EClips) and Snips Tunes
“When you make it to the top of the mountain, keep on climbing.” -Zen saying
[ This Message was edited by: TonyHiggins on 2002-02-28 19:32 ]
I see it this way: Suppose we all lived near each other and someone threw a party and we all went to the party and got to meet each other. I would hope like HECK that the conversation wouldn’t be “strictly about whistles.” Chiff & Fipple has never been strictly about whistles. Never wanted to be. Never will be. It’s about whistles, whistle players, the related cultures and about all kinds of other nonsense that has nothing to do with it. One of the most frequent emails I get asks, essentially, “hey, what’s up with the Crystal People?”
Dale
There are other traditional music and whistle-specific boards that are much more focused - and very much smaller. This isn’t a whistle board so much as it’s a whistle community. Communities are seldom monodimensional other than the ones that sell flowers in airports. I like hearing about Sara’s birthday gifts or Anna’s civic disobedience and everything else that happens here.
Well maybe we need a “Non-whistle” or “General Discussion” board.
Those kinds of boards are always the craziest, and thus, always the most fun. A tad explosive at times, but that just makes it more fun!
Even Congress takes a break. Though I wish they wouldn’t.
I think Chuck_Clark summed it up nicely: “This isn’t a whistle board so much as it’s a whistle community.” If people feel at home they’ll post serious questions, and on the days they don’t have anything earth-shattering to post they’ll enjoy interaction with their mates on here so their posts may be less serious. Communities are like that!
[ This Message was edited by: Mastersound on 2002-02-28 21:50 ]
There’s been a similar discussion recently at a saxophone discussion forum which I frequent. They had a separate discussion message area (the forum’s divided into topical message areas,) which has been essentially closed down because of some rather nasty interactions which took place. It’s been mentioned there that it can really get boring (for those who’ve been there for a while) to just talk hardware, and there are a lot more “hardware” issues with sax than with whistle. IMO, the mix here is really pretty good, and the worst arguments here are (usually) pretty civil. Seems to me that it takes a bit of whimsy for most of us to play the whistle, and that it sometimes spills over into silliness. For myself, I enjoy perusing (and sometimes engaging in) both “on topic” and “off topic” threads.
I think we’re just experiencing a lull in new whistle information. Just wait a bit. A new CD will come out, or a whistle workshop will be scheduled, or someone will take up whistle smithing then we’ll have some new whistle news and get back on track.
We’re all all right!
On 2002-02-28 18:17, WyoBadger asked in passing:
p.s. By the way, what exactly IS a Sally Garden?
This question came up on Irtrad about a year-and-a-half ago, and I did some research on it and now take the liberty of repeating what I posted in that forum in response:
Sally is a 17th century varietal spelling of sallow, meaning willow, from a (hypothetical reconstructed) Germanic root (*salho-z) but cognate with Latin salix (as in acetosalicylic acid, a.k.a. aspirin, originally made from a compound from willow bark) and Irish saileach.
Thus a sally garden would be a place where willows grow; a place where few food crops would grow, also, due to the swamp-loving nature of willows.
As an aside, that sallow is unrelated etymologically to the sallow used of a yellowish complexion, which is from another Germanic root, *salwo-.
For more details, see the OED entries on sallow (substantive and adjective), whence most of my information above came. (I should note that it’s the old OED, not the current revised edition, and there’s a chance scholarly consensus on the etymologies have changed, but that doesn’t affect the meaning.)
(end quote)
This demonstrates that whistle playing isn’t all my poor family has to put up with from me.
John
I found a title called "Down By My Sally’s Garden. Same fingering, earler date by 12 years. Please dont jump on this as a FACT !!! Just found it during a web search on something else and happened to remember it.
Dan