Quote Originally Posted by Bjarg Jonsson View Post
I remember back in the 1980s being at the Gatlinburg Highland Games, when I overhead a Scottish woman who had recently become an American citizen making comments about people "Playing at being Scots". I did not ask her if she was "Playing at being an American." I knew she would not understand, because she wanted to be in a position of superiority. However, that is not always the case. It is my observation that often Scots ex-pats take a different position. When they lived in Scotland, they had no interest in things Highland, but when they come to America things change. They are no longer surrounded by Scottish culture and thinking about what they left behind, they take an interest in it. They buy their first kilt and join a St. Andrews Society. Typically the ex-pats make good friends and treat you as kith and kin- as the cousin you are. I do not know their motives, but I hope that it is kinship.
Of course there is the flip-side to the lady you overheard at Gatlinburg. I remember an older Scots woman who had come to live in the US some decades back, who was interviewed by a local paper after attending a Highland Games. They were looking for her perspective as a "native Scot." She loved it! She said that she had never seen that many men in kilts gathered in one place when she was in Scotland and it was nice to see the heritage being carried on here in the states.

So there are many different opinions on the issue among native born Scots.

And, I will also say that my experience with Scots ex-pats now living in America, and their attitude toward the kilt, as been on the whole similar to what you describe above. I've sold many kilts to Scots now living in the States who never even had the desire to own one till they moved here.