Fairy Tales and Future Kilts: X Marks in a Hundred?

**Bugbear** · 26th December 11, 05:32 PM

It's always interesting to me to come across writings of what someone invisions the distant future to be like. I was looking up a few things in Erik Christian Haugaard's translations of Hans Christian Andersen's (1800's), The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories (Random House, 1974). I noticed "The Millennium" and was reminded of XMTS and Panache's written adventures here on the forum that manifested in the little airship traveling the world from X Marker to X Marker.
It's under the title "In a Thousand Years" in Project Gutenberg's Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (EBook #27200).
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27200...h.htm#thousand

So... what do you think kilt wearing and X Marks the Scot will be like in a hundred years?

**Bugbear** · 26th December 11, 11:36 PM

All right, I think in the future, The Wizard of BC will invent a machine that presses and steams people into a standard size and shape; therefore making all kilts the same size, which a robot can easily assemble. Furthermore, there will be twelve-million registered tartans, and new wool fibers from genetically modified sheep will be able to be programmed to display tartans rather than having them woven; however, it will still be frowned upon, by future traditionalists, to display more than one tartan at a time, as well as, alternate between tartans being displayed. It will be in poor taste to display a blinking tartan, or switch back and forth between pleating to the sett and stripe.

Perhaps in two centuries, you will be able to personalize your perception of the appearance of those around you. For example, if you can't stand to see white hose, you can program your brain to see some other color in their place.

**Jock Scot** · 27th December 11, 04:46 AM

There will be pages and pages and pages of debate at regular intervals through the years about the contents of a faded picture of some fellow called GRANT---who is wearing a rubber chicken sporran striding(ok maybe not striding) through downtown Canada. Is it traditional? Is it true? Did it ever really happen? Could any one have the poor taste to wear one? Yes he did? Did many follow this trend? It must be so, they all did, we have the picture to prove it. After 20 or 30 years of this endless debate who knows they might be all wearing rubber chicken sporrans!

**New World Czech** · 27th December 11, 05:59 AM

Hamish will still be here posting pictures and his kilt count will be well into the thousands!

**James Hood** · 27th December 11, 07:26 PM

Canes will be exceptionally common and a daily subject for discussion, because all of us posting now will be substantially oulder.

**Bugbear** · 28th December 11, 01:23 AM

And what of Scotland? I suppose it will have changed ever so slightly... or not.

**Bugbear** · 29th December 11, 02:48 PM

And of course, let us not forget there will be genetically engineered spider-sheep that spin the digitally-programmable, wool yarn... out the back side.

**CMcG** · 29th December 11, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by Bugbear

<snip>
So... what do you think kilt wearing and X Marks the Scot will be like in a hundred years?

A hundred years isn't that long in the greater scheme of things, so I don't have any sci-fi predictions...

If Xmarks is still around, it will have become a more immersive multimedia environment, while becoming more user friendly. People will be able to share pictures and video as they are taken, without having mess about too much with uploading and hosting. Maybe it will all go down in 3D.

As for the kilt, I think THCD will change very little. Daywear might continue to tend towards more simple and casual style, as this has been a trend in general menswear for many years. I suspect that formal evening wear will experience the least change.

Modern kilts will go in two directions. The first will be the solidification of utility style kilts into a tradition as several generations of wearers will have gone by. This could be the "traditional American kilt" (TAK) and act as the unbifurcated equivalent to a pair of jeans or cargo shorts. The other will be some new direction, as yet unknown. Wearers of these "future kilts" will cause some consternation to devotees of TAK, while Scottish traditionalists will look at how TAK did the same to THCD in the early 2000s and have a good chuckle

**Kilted Karl** · 29th December 11, 07:42 PM

Dear All,

This is a forum on clothing... and clothing changes more than a lot of things. Again, some articles of clothing like the kilt change very little. From when kilts came into style in Scotland we have gone through many and interesting forms of the trousers/breeches/pantaloons article of clothing. Meanwhile, the kilt has gone from the great kilt to the utilikilt style which has only come around recently. In other times (not modern) in history in the span of 100 years how much can we seen that the kilt changed?

Therefore, we can reasonably hope or expect that the kilt will not change much. With clothing styles changing as they do we may also hope (or dread

) that people will start dressing less casually and start "dressing up" more and dressing more "traditionally".

These are just the guesses of a guy who wears plus fours on a regular basis and is planning on wearing historical clothes on a regular basis as well.

Your Obedient Servant,

Karl

**Kilted Karl** · 29th December 11, 07:52 PM

Just a funny thing,

If you type utilakilt, (which is a wrong spelling but the way I have always heard it pronounced) spell check will tell you that it is wrong (on my computer).

If you ask what the dictionary might suggest as better spelling one word comes up......

Mutilate....

I thought that was so funny

The computer thinks like a traditionalist.

Your Obedient Servant,

Karl