[Straight Vermonter]

Oh c'mon what do you have against the hurdy gurdy?!?!

j/k

[AnAmericanMother]

Now nothing is wrong with a hurdy-gurdy . . . (I mean a real one, not an street organ as in organ-grinder's monkey.) It's a stringed instrument with a waxed wheel that vibrates the strings when you turn a handle.

It's actually very useful in church when you need a drone line. An Advent Processional setting of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" that we did in our old (ECUSA) parish actually calls for a hurdy-gurdy (as well as finger cymbals, handbells, and a bodhran). My husband played the hurdy-gurdy.

It actually sounded neat (very medieval) and was perfectly respectful.