The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #154768   Message #3633894
Posted By: Airymouse
17-Jun-14 - 09:11 AM
Thread Name: Jews Harp banned?
Subject: RE: Jews Harp banned?
I had a conversation with Mike Seeger about this issue. He was, by the way, an accomplished Jew's harp player. He said he had always called the instrument a Jew's harp and that he knew that the name was not perjorative. Nonetheless, he had taken to calling it a "trump" (which the OED asserts is still sometimes done in Scotland and norhtern England) because he had been fussed at at some festival for using "Jew's harp." I recommend his way of wriggling out of the problem: "Jaw's harp" is just plain stupid.