UKC

It may be funny but it is part of our Britishness.

So, should we save it from extinction because the current generation is embarrassed to do it?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5452266.ece

In reply to The Lemming:

As Oscar Wilde said, "People should try everything at least once, except incest and Morris dancing"

In reply to The Lemming:

er.......

In reply to The Lemming:
absolutely

In reply to Duncan Bourne: Why does he get attributions for all the good quotes?

I'm pretty sure that one was Arnold Bax

In reply to The Lemming:

Morris Dancing is EVIL and should be rapidly stamped out as thoroughly as possible

tlm.

(who was tortured as a child by being dragged to pubs and fetes every weekend and Monday night, sitting outside in the freezing cold, one bottle of coke between the three of us. and being told we could NEVER join in cos we wuz girls GRAAAAHHHHHH!!! EVIL I TELL YOU, EVIL!!!!)

In reply to Lemony: Yes I think you're right. But more people know Wilde I suppose.

In reply to tlm: it is said that "practitioners of morris dancing claim it to be a way of embarrassing their teen-aged daughters at social events. But historical studies have shown that they are in fact aroused by bells and handkerchiefs for some unknown and disturbing reason"
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Morris_dancing

In reply to tlm:

Gurls cam do Morris dancing, and not just the clog versions in skirts - I've seen plenty of women in smocks & breeches doing an energetic stick dance...

In reply to The Lemming:

Morris dancing is not British. It is English. The rest of the world use Morris dancing as something to ridicule the English with. I say it should be preserved for that reason alone.

In reply to Removed User:



And that is probably the reason it will die out. The English are ashamed of being English for fear of being called racist.

Or why else would you not calibrate St George's Day, or display the Union Flag or Red Cross of St George?

The welsh and Gaelic speaking peoples of this isle get help and funding to keep their language alive so why can't the English get help keeping their traditions alive?

In reply to The Lemming:

celebrate not calibrate.

Sodding spell check

In reply to The Lemming:

Actually when it comes to Morris dancing I think they fear being called stupid.


No idea, but I think most English people would be more likely to celebrate it.


I see no reason why the Ebnglish shouldn't be paid to keep a ritual alive that brings hours of harmless fun to non English people the world over. Welsh is a Gaelic language by the way.

In reply to Removed User:

I'm Irish so what do I know about the Welsh?

In reply to The Lemming:

We shouldn't let it die, but we should outsource it to Mumbai, or Merthyr Tydfil.

In reply to The Lemming:

Pull the other one: its got bells on

Y.

(sorry, I only know one morris dancer joke, and wheel it out whenever I can)

In reply to The Lemming:

I had a mate who was into morris dancing: his surname was Shakespeare.

And he was doing a gig in Stratford, when he got brayed about the head with one of those stick things.

So he wakes up in hospital, and the pretty nurses (and I understand they are pretty in Stratford) says to him "What is your name, sir.....there, there, you just lie back and take things easy, you've had a nasty bang to the head...you'll feel just fine before long..."

Y.

In reply to The Lemming: Top fell runner, and many times UK vets champion and race record holder, Ray Aucott, used to use Morris Dancing as his cross training activity.

In reply to Removed User:

But the English are a subset of British, ergo...

Scottish contry dancing is equally British. And equally gay. I prefer ballet.

In reply to The Lemming:


What a load of nonsense.


I think it's been calibrated to more or less exactly the 23rd April hasn't it?

In reply to Removed User:


It's not, Eric!

In reply to dan bailey:

That's probably cos you cant dance! It always amuses me when at a wedding or cèilidh in Scotland to see people unfamiliar with the dances look very uncomfortable.

In reply to Donald M:

Yeah, I love to see outsiders looking uncomfortable.
jk

In reply to DougG:

It's not, Eric!

Going back far enough, 2-3,000 years, both Gaelic and Welsh have Celtic language roots, but it is incorrect to say that Welsh is a Gaelic language

In reply to Donald M:

Dancing of any sort can be "uncomfortable" for many people. Strap bells to them and ask them to wave hankies and the discomfort levels soar.

In reply to jkarran:

How interesting.

In reply to Donald M:

Just seemed like an oddly phrased comment
jk

In reply to The Lemming:

The blind school set off on their annual day outing to the beach.
When dinner time arrived the teachers decide that it was time to
eat. So the coach pulled into a service station.Everybody got off
the coach to stretch their legs and admire the scenery. While the
teachers are taking the blind kids orders, one of the teachers noticed
that the group were becoming bored, so he took a ball out for them
to have a game of football with.(They play with a ball with a bell in it.)

The teachers start them off with a game of football on the grassy
area, then they go to get the food for the group. While the
teachers are at the supermarket the coach driver comes running
in.The teachers ask what's wrong. He tells them to get back to the
group because the students are kicking the of shit out of the morris
dancers.

In reply to Al Evans:


That's what I said. Why are you telling me that?

In reply to DougG: Sorry, copied and pasted it and missed Eric's name off, I thought your rebuttal was a bit lacking in information.

Your bit which you have missed from the quote above merely said
"Its not Eric"

In reply to The Lemming:

Well, back to the OP - I was at a Beer Festival a couple of years ago when a Goth Morris "team" turned up, all black outfits and sticks with skulls on. They were very good and quite a few of the youngsters joined in. Since then I have been musing over starting a Death Metal Morris, all I need is a band that can play death metal versions of traditional morris tunes...

I did think about a Prog Rock Morris but I thought I might break my ankle during a 20 minute Rick Wakeman solo.

In reply to Al Evans:

Right, if you want a bit more info:

Gaelic and Welsh share a common root language. At some stage in the past the languages started to diverge. (Maybe 2,000 years ago?)

Linguists make the distinction between 'P' and 'Q' Celtic languages, based on the way the two groups handle the indo-European sound 'q'. Q-Celtic languages continue to pronounce them as before, whereas in the P-Celtic ones the sound has mutated to 'p'.

e.g. the name Pentir in Welsh is equivalent to the name Kintyre in Scotland.

Scots/Irish Gaelic are Q-Celtic, or Goidelic.
Welsh/Breton are P-Celtic, or Brythonic.

That's my understanding of it anyway.

In reply to Clarence:

I think during the lengthier and more turgid solos the other members of the band would send out for a takeaway and a few pints. Could well be an urban myth though.

I always thought Morris was a contraction of 'Morish', a word which has quite clearly changed its meaning. Unless I'm meant to feel embarrassed for peanuts.....

In reply to The Lemming:

To add to this debate, my second name is Morris.

In reply to Donald M:

Ya dancer.

In reply to The Lemming:

Utter drivel! I'm ashamed of being English because of Dale Winton and Hole in the Wall.

In reply to Clauso:

I really hope that you are referring to the TV programme and not some sordid little pecadillo...

In reply to Clauso:

Have you been out visiting the Glory Holes again?

In reply to Clarence:

I do NOT have any sordid relations with armadillos!

In reply to Toby S:

It was free... What can I say?

In reply to Clauso:

That was Dale's defence as well...

In reply to Donald M: You call that f*nnying about in kilts 'dancing'? You're right, I can't.

In reply to Donald M:

So every time you dance its morris dancing I remember lines from a play

"Whats that going on over there?"
"Thats Morris dancing"
"I've been worried about Morris lately"

In reply to The Lemming:

my mates dad is a morris man and he does it for the free beer. they get given free beer at every pub they stop at.

In reply to doz generale:

I would need to be pissed before dancing like the sugar plum fairy with bells on.

Let it die for the love of god. We don't do bear baiting any more, we don't burn witches, and most of us think the world is an oblate spheroid, we don't need morris dancers

In reply to doz generale:

I know someone who apparently went to attend the birth of one of their children post Morris dance. I like to picture a pissed figure sitting in the corner of the waiting room hiccupping and jingling gently ....

In reply to 999thAndy:

Which is a similar argument to the one that 4x4 drivers use when faced with angry ramblers...

In reply to Al Evans:

Yes correct, when I give a performance and raise my mating display I usually bring joy to all who see me.

In reply to The Lemming:

We should no more allow morris dancing to become extinct than we should the dodo.

In reply to dan bailey:

I'm old enough to remember my Mum and Gran watching "The White Heather Club" with Andy Spewart. That pish is every bit as ludicrous as Morris dancing.

Don't just let it die, stamp it out I say.

In reply to Removed User:

Morris Dancing is not English, it is southern, which is entirely different.

In reply to The Lemming:









I hope not. I love calling English folk Morris Dancers

In reply to sjbutterworth:


Don't you mean "southern English"?

In reply to The Lemming:

Because this particular English tradition is rubbish?

In reply to DougG:

I used to work with a bloke in Manchester who was a Morris dancer. He was a complete numpty (if you'll excuse the cross-cultural references).

In reply to The Lemming:

Could be a form of punishment for unruly teens....teach 'em

In reply to tony:

Yeah, morris dancing is by no means confined to southern England. I've seen them out and about in the High Peak too. They seem to enjoy themselves, stumbling drunkenly from pub to pub with their pewter tankards hanging off their belts and yelling "Hey Nonny Nay!" at random intervals... If they were any younger then I reckon that they'd get served with ASBOs.

In reply to DougG:

Yeah, sorry Doug, southern English as opposed to southern British. Sadly carried northwards by cultural imperialists.