The Over Opinionated

[Kilted Cole]

Okay soo I went to my old units x-mas party in my black watch and one of my co-workers wifes came up to me and started asking " Why are you wearing that if your not from Scotland? I'm of Scottish ancestry and you don't see my family or myself wearing them."
My question is what is the best way to deal with over opinionated ignorance? I understand that some people just don't get it but that still isn't an excuse for such rudeness. What are your thoughts?

[beloitpiper]

"Why are you wearing that if your [sic] not from Scotland? I'm of Scottish ancestry and you don't see my family or myself wearing them," she pointedly asks.
To which our bold hero responds, "Well, my dear, to each their own. I could agree with you that I shouldn't be wearing the kilt, but then we'd both be wrong." And with that, he turned, giving his pleats a most handsome airing, and resumed his most excellent party with more appropriate company.

[Spartan Tartan]

I would just mention that wearing the kilt is a culturally relevant item from my family. Regardless of whether her family shares that same sense of heritage and chooses to express that by wearing a kilt or not is of no concern to me; similarly, what I and my family do should not be any concern of hers.

[Jack Daw]

Smile and explain, but don't argue or insult. You probably won the crowd's understanding when she uttered her rude question.

[Steve Barclay]

Walk away, say nothing, but fire a quick look of disgust.

[Mark Stephenson]

I might have been tempted to have exclained, "Wat>! A kilt>! I thought this was a skirt!" and then turn and walk away.

[Kilted Cole]

I merely explained that I'd read in some Scottish magazine that by wearing the kilt on a regular basis actually increases sperm production up to 30% on average. And that she in fact was the first person to comment negativly about it and that its one of those things. You understand or you don't, it's in the heart and it's in the blood. When all that in you tells you that what your doing is right you don't second guess yourself. You go all into it, full force, no questions, and no cares about what some random person you bump into you say's. Then walked over to the bar where another guy from my unit who's step-dad was married in one bought me a round.

[CDNSushi]

Okay soo I went to my old units x-mas party in my black watch and one of my co-workers wifes came up to me and started asking " Why are you wearing that if your not from Scotland? I'm of Scottish ancestry and you don't see my family or myself wearing them."
My question is what is the best way to deal with over opinionated ignorance? I understand that some people just don't get it but that still isn't an excuse for such rudeness. What are your thoughts?

Well, if you ARE indeed of Scottish ancestry, then the simplest reply would be the best: "Well, I'm truly sorry that YOUR family's Scottish culture has gotten watered down and lost through the years, but in MINE, these fine traditions are still strong."

Or even simpler yet: "My deepest condolences." Then, walk away.

For someone like me, who gets most of their Scottish blood from a bottle, I generally respond: "Because I'm Canadian." That usually shuts them up too -- especially if I don't follow up with any other explanations.

Another good one that XMTS members seem to be fond of (and that I've used on occasion) is: "You don't have to be a cowboy to wear blue jeans, or a baseball player to wear a ballcap. So I fail to see why anyone has to be Scottish to wear a kilt."

[Cygnus]

I usually answer rude questions like this with another question. I think that, in this case, a "why not?" would be appropriate. It is usually unexpected and forces the person to think about why it is that their family doesn't have the tradition of kilt-wearing. It occasionally causes the person to open up a bit and think about what he/she does rather than what you are doing.

I've actually had a number of good conversations that began with rude questions like this one and, generally, end with a sincere apology.

[muirkirkca]

Keep your response simple - "What you wear is your business, what I wear is my business" - then walk away.