A Night at the Bar notes · 1:58am Feb 13th, 2014
A Night at the Bar notes
“The Prancing Pony” is an inn in the center of the village of Bree in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It’s owned by Barliman Butterbur. This leads naturally to the ponification of his name to “Barlimane Butterbeer”; Butterbeer being a reference to Harry Potter. I love it when the pony puns essentially make themselves for me.
The drinks in the pub are all beers which are currently offered by the One Trick Pony microbrewery in Lansing, IL (just outside Chicago). I’ve never been there; it’s a five-hour drive for me. If you’re of age, though, and live close, by all means give them a visit! Tell them the Admiral sent you (or don’t; they have no idea who I am, either on this site [as far as I know] or IRL). You won’t be surprised to find out that the names of all their brews are horse-related.
A bail is a wire handle on the top of a bucket or—in this case—glass pitcher. Such things do exist.
Hame strings are the leather (although probably rope in Equestria) straps with buckles which fasten the hames to the horse’s collar. The hames are the curved pieces which attach to the yoke, and to which the plow is attached.
This picture shows a plow harness in use.
Cormano knocking Berry Punch up is a reference to my own A Foal’s First Words.
The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin.
I’ve seen them played at various SCA events, and the instrument captivated me. It’s got a haunting sound, and it’s just cool to watch, too. Here’s a YouTube link:
I had to chose that one, because it also has a theremin--the only musical instrument which is played without touching it.
If you want to hear the music without YouTube’s distortion, go here.
The few lines of the song are from an old English ballad. It’s called Down Among the Dead Men, and dates to 1700, so it’s out of copyright.
Did I see a SimPony joke in there?
1828339
I don't know what that is . . . .
1828375
I think he means SimCity or the Sims, but I have no idea where or what the reference would be.
That Beowulf tune is beautiful! Creepy, but beautiful.
It's like a bagpipe for the out-of-breath acoustic terrorist!
1828536
I wonder if AC/DC's Long Way to the Top would have been better with a hurdy-gurdy? Hmmm.
I wonder if anyone's ever done a duet with a hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes? That would be freaking epic.
Uh... ok...
Lol, as soon as I saw that bucket I was reminded of local resturant the "Machine shed" which is farmer themed and has similar metal buckets at the tables for water instead of plastic pitchers or another alternative.
[Chapter review]
All inall, this one did a good job of being descriptive and understandable without suffering from pacing issues. Nice job, as always. I did get momentarily confused as to who was talking, and when, occasionally, but that usually got cleared up in a few paragraphs.
[/chapter review]
1828375 1828459
'William Wright' stuck out as a rather odd name for a pony, so I assumed it was a reference to the guy who made SimCity.
1830408
Ah, I see. I got the name off the list of ponies wiki; it's the fan name for the stallion who has the scroll cutie mark that was seen with the mayor and "Lady Justice." As such, it may very well be a reference to SimCity.
i.imgur.com/ioT9D.png
1830461
Ah, so it probably is a SimCity joke, just not yours. That makes sense.
1830492
That seems likely. I don't know who comes up with the names on the Wiki, to be honest.
So is Lecol's name a deliberate pun?
1880836
Yes; it was initially "Lecul du Cheval" -- French for 'horse's ass.' I changed her first name to 'Lecol,' since some people complained; now it would roughly translate to 'school of a horse' (I think). It may not be changed throughout all the text.
1881231
Yes, it means horse school.
1828616 I like the way you think.
3442909
Well, this wasn't on the YouTube when I wrote this chapter, but it is now
4477137
Eh, call me a traditionalist, but I prefer the natural sound of the hurdy gurdy. Just the same, it's pretty sweet that you can do that with one. I really like how he's using the drone strings--that's super creative.