Talk:Rent party

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[edit] dictionary definition

I changed it because

1) It's odd to have a dictionary definition in the article. I don't see that in a lot of other articles. It's also contradictory to other disctionary definitions. Webster's says "Skiffle" is music, played at Rent Partys. Should we add that definition too?

I have put derivations and etymologies from the OED in lots of articles. We don't like having simple dictionary definitions posing as articles, but there is nothing wrong with explaining where words come from. See Bridge. It certainly is incorrect to remove valuable information from any article. If you want to add something, add it and see what survives the editing process. I can't find the rent-party/skiffle connection in the two Webster's I have here, but I see no reason you shouldn't add it. That's why I put the OED information in here that you took out. After you took that information out you then incorrectly stated that Fats Waller and the others mentioned in the article played skiffle music, which they did not. (You also added a grammatical error.)

2) the link to Skiffle Music isn't even talking about music. People clicking on the link are going to have no idea where they are going.

I added a separate link to Skiffle music because I saw that you were confused about that. Skiffle music is about music, and nothing else. Rent party is about music. Skiffle means "rent party". It all fits together and is hyperlinked so that people can follow it. There are also links to Jug band in the Skiffle music article.Ortolan88

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Merriam-Webster's :

Main Entry: skif·fle Pronunciation: 'ski-f&l Function: noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1926

American jazz or folk music played entirely or in part on nonstandard instruments (as jugs, washboards, or Jew's harps); also : a derivative form of music formerly popular in Great Britain featuring vocals with a simple instrumental accompaniment

I have played both washboard and washtub bass. I know what skiffle music is. That's why I am contributing to these articles. The article on skiffle music refers to rent party. The article on rent party refers to skiffle music. The article on skiffle music refers to jug band. The article on jug band refers to skiffle music. Tnis is called linking. That's the way online information works. It would be silly to take the link to skiffle out of this article, if that is what you are proposing.Ortolan88

never wanted to take a link out of either article. I am fully aware of the connection between Skiffle Music and Rent Parties. My question was about the definition. This article quotes one dictionary that says that "Skiffle" means "Rent Party" I was pointing out that at least some other dictionaries say that "Skiffle" means music, and do not mention Rent Parties at all.

This is really not that big of a deal, and I didn't mean for it to go on this long because it's really not an issue I care about all that much. I'm only questioning whether it is more accurate to say that "Skiffle means Rent Party" , or to say that "Skiffle is the type of music played at Rent Parties". Or is the answer that it means both?

The two dictionaries are not in conflict. One says the origin of the word is not known. The other gives the origin of the word. The "one dictionary" quoted with the origin is the premier scholarly dictionary of English and one of the greatest dictionaries of all time. It consists of 18 volumes (approximately ten times the size of Webster's Unabridged and is universally regarded as the single best source on the history of the English language.

Insofar as the OED's citation of the word skiffle, I think it means that rent parties were sometimes called skiffle parties and that while somebody played a piano or guitar, the next thing you know somebody else picked up a tambourine or a kazoo and then somebody else started calling it skiffle music because it was played at "skiffles". There were also rent parties where this never happened -- would you pick up a kazoo if Fats Waller was playing? Over the years there were a few commercial attempts at skiffle music in the US that were actually called skiffle music (see article) and that much later, in the late 50s, when some hip Brits began to do this kind of music they were also hip enough to call it skiffle music. Ortolan88