Whoops! thread creep again. Right at the beginning it was stated that
'a person on the committee of the village hall who doesn't follow folk music at all, but was working behind the bar ' asked the question.
Perhaps the songs he was familiar with, had been performed by Pub singers/Irish pub bands et al, that he had heard in theme pubs / social clubs and the like. Who, in such situations, have a tendency to thrash through the old favorites for the non- folk audiences to clap along with. (usually completly devoid of timing, tempo & any sort of co-ordination).
By the way I completly agree with the previous comments about the benifits of not rushing songs.
Les