BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser

Subject: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:06 PM

Weel, I seemed to have missed out on most of the fireworks of the last couple of days but I've gleaned a lot form the aftermath and I would like to give you my three fingers' worth of two-cents plain.

My handle, Slag, comes from growing up in the welding business, not because I like to flame folks, though at times some might argue that it runs that way too. I actually took it from a game character I created named "Slaag Hammer". My first job in my Daddy's shop was chipping slag off the welds with a chipping or "slag" hammer.

Folk music, like any art, must have an audience of more than one. What you are doing is COMMUNICATING via music and poetry/prose, the various aspects and views of our cultures and societies. There is an age element here too. We have young folks and old folks. We have middle age folks and we have wee little folks and each one might be considered a sub genre of the general "Folk Music". Each has its place. The song and the singer my be full of spit and vinegar or in quiet retro-flection from atop a mound of years which only the oldster can truly relate. Doesn't matter, it's all part of the mix. Where is the argument? "We do it this way" "We do it that way." Why, yes you do! Are you saying there is only one way? Hey, it's a big wide field.

The other issue seems to be one of nastiness. Perceived and real insults and slams, slagging, if you will. Remember who your brothers and sisters are. You can have a difference of opinion without attacking the individual, their intelligence or integrity. Simply make your case. Others will either agree or disagree. It's kind of like the music itself. Those to whom it speaks will hear it. Others will sing a different song. Why can't you have both and be happy and be glad that the genre is so accommodating.

Yeah, I know that is kind of simplistic and some of the issues are more about identifying and defining just WHAT FOLK IS and WHAT IT AIN'T. But even there you can be a gentle person about it. Knowing how to prevent war begins within the individual.

2 cents, plain.

Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 09:51 PM

HeyaTom, my dad was a welder, too. Had his own rig and I loved helping him out!

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 03:25 AM

My Dad's shop was in Central California, the hottest Summers would never want to experience (110*F to 117*). Then you fire up the forge and get a few guys with heating tips hardfacing plowshares and the water just pours through your skin and all your clothes are rimed with salt.

So I became a bit of a word-smith. A little cooler climate if nothing else. I was having a bit of fun with my title for this thread but the thread doesn't appear to be getting much read. Oh well. Pop also had a portable rig and it was used mainly to set well casings on both oil and water wells. Interesting work. Check out the definition of rabble!

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 06:02 AM

You probably don't need telling what the term "slag" describes colloquially in Britain.

I've always assumed that was an intended pun anyway ...

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 07:12 AM

I'm not very familiar with British colloquialisms. To me, slag is the glass and dross that sits atop a weld or the rabble that is raked from the top of a bucket of molten metal. I suppose it has some scatological reference (what doesn't). WYSIWYG.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 08:57 AM

A slag in Britain is a woman of loose morals ...

As in "You slag!"

oft shouted by the gilfriend of an unfaithful man at the object of his waywardness.

Or indeed by the boyfriend of an unfaithful woman

Nowadays used more affectionately between friends ...

"you fancy him don't you ... you slag ... "

And in this context is used to describe men also - manslag.

As is typical with the unfair nature of gender relations, for a lad, to be called a slag is something to grin about and wear like a medal, while for a lass it tarnishes her reputation, though with the 'laddicisation' (new word describing the emergence of the ladette in british culture ... you saw it here first) of women in Britain, it is being redefined as a badge of honour for girls too.

Ultimately though, it has lost none of it's power as an insult which suggests that promiscuity it describes still carries a social and cultural stigma.

A slag ... a wanton and promiscuous person.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 09:00 AM

According to dictionary.com it means in British slang:

An Abusive Woman.

But this definition is outdated. Mine reflects comman usage.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 09:04 AM

Sadly , there is far too much 'slagging' (as in Insulting comments) on this forum these days !
Though I never thoughtv that was the origin of YOUR handle Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: frogprince
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 09:58 AM

I worked for just about a year in an old General Motors foundry. Slag for us was the scum of crude melted glass on top of the puddle in the iron melt furnace. The slag rake for removing it was an iron plate on the end of a heavy pipe, mounted on a fork lift to reach into the door of the furnace; just picture a great big safety razor.
I got a slip for a two-week layoff one night, and later that night tripped over a slag rake and broke an arm.
My Dad did his own welding on the farm, so I know welding slag too.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 09:37 PM

Well, Guest lox, knock of the ag and add ut and it seems we have virtually synonymous terms. As Mark Twain said of the Americans and the English, they are two people separated by a common language!

Can't remember which books but occasionally one would run across the term in Sci Fi stories. The atomic blasters would "slag" the other guy's (creature's) spaceship! Hot stuff anyway you look at it. It's a pretty good word for total destruction with nothing of worth leftover. How about "Glass 'em" or maybe "Glass their female donkey!"

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Peace
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 09:47 PM

I've been reading it, Slag. AND learning from it. FYI.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 08:43 AM

Slut is current English too - but for some reason it comes across as a but prim, expressing distaste from on high rather than egalitarian loathing.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: frogprince
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 10:42 AM

About a couple of years ago, I came accross the distinction (in American usage, at least) between a slut and a bitch: A slut does it with everybody; a bitch does it with everybody except me.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 03:30 PM

At a very early age I looked "slut" up in the Webster's and it defined it as a "sloven" i.e. an untidy women. "Sluttery" was a just a dirty mess. Mind you this was the #1 definition; but not the only definition. I should have read a little further! I had the occasion to use the #1 meaning but that is NOT how it was perceived! I think that is when I began to study the etiology of every word I had reason to reference!

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 03:50 PM

Drifting along. Isn't it amazing. The force of my original comment remains untouched. Hey!   Maybe it was that good! Or that obvious! Maybe nothing more need be said and if that is the case, Good! So be it. It's amazing to me how the drift occurs. The little foxes steal our tender grapes.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 04:09 PM

Slag!

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 06:19 PM

Slag, slog, slug.

What a difference a vowel makes.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: GUEST,John McGroarty
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 07:10 PM

Hi Kev - I need to update you on an urgent matter that's Cahir connected asap.
Can't find you any other way except here.
Can you respond via Email or phone ?
John McG-----y (Dublin)

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: Slag
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 07:16 PM

It always feels good to have provided some service to somebody.

Subject: RE: BS: Slagger be a Rabble Rouser
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 07:34 PM

Hi John - I've just sent a response on an email address I've got for you.