Taking my knives to UK

**Steve Ashton** · 2nd November 17, 01:23 PM

Just a note.

The word Celtic refers to a language family. If you speak one of the Celtic languages you would be Celtic. But Celtic does not mean a culture or nationality. There is no single "Celtic Identity". At least not in the Romanticist sense it is often used today.

It is a bit misleading to think that all Celts were of the same or even similar culture with the exception that they speak one of the Celtic languages.

The La Tene peoples from around the Black Sea were probably Celts as were the Hallstatt culture which extended from Eastern France almost to the present day Ukraine . The Gauls who sacked Rome were Celts. Spanish Galicia are Celts.

Those who built the stone circles were quite distinct and different from those further East even though they both spoke one of the languages in the Celtic language family. So we really need to understand that the Celtic speaking peoples span a huge time period and need to be specific about the time and place we are speaking of.

**DerekvG** · 2nd November 17, 02:43 PM

I do agree with your observations, and usually here comes a "but" ( i will not )
Please allow me some leeway as English is not my native language, My native language is the antwerp dialect of the Brabantian sublanguage of Dutch

Someone at some moment in my career gave me during my goodbye speech a nickname he called me me "Dwarsligger" , which best translates to "Athwart lier" .. so i look at things differently

I collaborated with linguist of the ANtwerp University to create a spelling and orthography for the Antwerp dialect which has the merit of not being a phonetic representation but based on correct linguistic and phonetic theory. as part of that research I participated in establishing geographic evolution ( conserving, parallell convergent and divergent evolutions) of dialects around my native city

based on my insights in my native language I think the Celts were a people in the same way the Vikings were a people - nothing like a nation - or that the mongolians or the inuit are a people : different tribes who were not necessarily brothers or even allies, more likely they would regularly wage war on each other, over territories, water , herds of animals, women, but give them a common ennemy and they will stand together
I know that the Celts were beaten and decimated by the Romans , nevertheless i think that pockets survived keeping traditions alive for which the stories have died and mutated and unaware of their celtic origine.

I look at the deeper at the underlying communalities ... things that people categorise as culture , heritage things from the dawn of time ... that have been kept in the dusty corners of our ancestral memory things we can no longer name or correctly describe

So if I say Celtic then that is a translation of "Keltisch" which encompasses all you've mentionend language , culture, tradition ... why does bagpipemusic give some people the shivers so that they want to flee and others goosebumps ,that motivates them, gives them new strength to fight

This may be very off-topic so i i woudl not mind continuing this discussion in a new subject thread

Derek

**macmanjim** · 3rd November 17, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by The Q

You can wear a Sgian Dubh anywhere in the UK in public when wearing full highland dress, there is a specific law that allows this. (blade length max 3.5 inches).
However owners of any property, can choose to not allow you in Wearing a sgian Dubh. Down the Pub in a rough area it would get you thrown out and you'd still likely to be still arrested for carrying an offensive weapon. Some pubs / hotels / entertainment facilities just have a blanket ban on any knives.

You can carry blades larger than this providing you have justification in the polices eyes, and their eyes can be quite fickle.
An offensive weapon is ANYTHING, THEY decide is an offensive weapon, yes the courts make the final decision but do you want that hassle?

Reenactors often carry bayonets swords etc to and from events, but they are in a secure case, in the boot of a car or luggage space of a bus.

Then you have the problem of Bringing into the country I suggest you read this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/import-c...ensive-weapons

If you can get the Dirk through customs, you could probably wear it at the Church, and at the reception no Problem. But it just needs one idiot member of the public at any point to Phone 999 in a panic that someone had a big knife and the world would descend on your head.
The police tasered an old man with a fold up walking stick not long ago because someone decided it looked like a shotgun...

Personally I'd leave the Dirk at home.

There are times I am glad I live where I do. Not often, but it happens.

**macmanjim** · 3rd November 17, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

Sorry Terry but you are wrong. Yes it, an SD, could be used as a weapon and no doubt was used as such on occasion, but it's original and more usual use was as a tool, it still is----- slicing an apple, peeling an apple, cutting string, cutting a slice of cheese, etc.. Before the days of knives and forks for example it was used to eat with and you brought your own tool as the host did not provide one. Cutting off a chunk of meat or bread for example was a far better and cleaner option than using ones fingers. If you look at the design of a SD you will quickly see that as some sort of Ninja fighting knife it is not, it's far too frail. Actually the dirk is a much better design for close fighting and that was its use.

I am afraid you, among so many, have got yourself caught up in romantic tommyrot as far as the SD is concerned.

They're all tools whose work and use define them. JMO. A sword doesn't jump up and attack people without a human in control of it. Same with a sgian dubhs or a hammer or a ford f250 pickup rented from home depot. Governments and municipalities will make their laws about such stuff, often as a result of politicians using the Hegelian Dialectic, and then people have to live within whatever that is. All I can say is fear is a powerful motivator for some and for others it's a tool to achieve goals and agendas. It comes down to your level of trust for your fellow human beings and how much risk you are willing to live with.

**Damion** · 7th November 17, 02:35 AM

Originally Posted by DerekvG

why does bagpipemusic give some people the shivers so that they want to flee and others goosebumps ,that motivates them, gives them new strength to fight

For the same reason that someone sees a dagger worn on a belt and thinks, wow, nice dagger and thinks about the history and prestige attached to such an item while another goes, squeee, oh my god I'm going to die, sharp pointy thing, where are the police!

Culture, tradition, an underlying sense of what something symbolises as well as (hopefully) understanding what it is actually for. I don't understand open carry people in the USA feeling the need to walk down the main street with assault rifles hanging over their shoulders, I understand the symbolism of supporting the second amendment, but what those kinds of weapons are for is war. A simple handgun would suffice to satisfy the former while out shopping.
A dirk is enough to satisfy the old concept of free people being armed without the need to carry firearms, swords, axes and the like.

Those with an understanding of pipes would appreciate them more than those who'd never heard them before. I understand that in WWII the Japanese were freaked out when they first heard colonial forces whistling as to them it was eerie and otherworldly. To us it's just music and can be soothing - though future generations perhaps not thanks to everyone having access to music through electronic devices now.

**Jack Daw** · 7th November 17, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by DerekvG

I
... why does bagpipemusic give some people the shivers so that they want to flee and others goosebumps ,that motivates them, gives them new strength to fight ...

Derek

Point of view. (If I'm standing next to the piper and armed, I would be strengthened; if I were facing the piper and his armed compatriots, I would have a different take.)