Greynomad wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:38 pm
I have been told that it was the Irish who invented the bagpipes.
They gave their invention to the Scots as a joke.
The Scots have not yet twigged…

(Can’t find a ‘stirrer’ emoji.

)
The Irish originally invented the device, but as a vaccum cleaner. There was an attachment for each pipe so the user didn't need to change bits to clean different surfaces ...... worked great until the bag filled and the user sucked in a heap of dirt .... then emptying the bag and getting it to reseal was an issue, so in disgust he through it out. A Scotsman wandered past to see what Paddy had thrown out, took it home, cut a few holes in the suction pipe and started blowing into it. It made a sort of a tune and the dirt poured out of the attachments. He then put caps on them, but the bag filled up with air so he couldn't play any more. Eventually he twigged on the idea of drilling a hole in the caps and putting in a reed valve to stop all the air escaping from the bag too fast ...... and that was where it all started .....
Yet another Scotsman went to see what the noise was and Patrick tried to sell it to him .... I'll no be paying for that, he said and went home and made his own. Late one night he down in his shed trying to get it to work and the local cats started gathering and joining in ..... Fitzgerald thought that sounded good so he tuned his bag of pipes to make a similar noise ......
......and that is the story of how the bag of pipes, or bagpipes as it became shortened to, came to be and why they sound like cats shagging ......
T1 Terry