I'm amazed at you people

[OC Richard]

fishing in a kilt
had dinner in a kilt
hill walking in a kilt

To me I like my kilt it is part of my heritage and clan but that's it, it's an article of clothing and nothing more, yes it sends out a statement “Hi look at me I'm not dressed like you” but that is all, I don't look at it any difference that a smart suit etc.
Or is it that most of you live in the US of A and you feel left out and away from Scotland and you put on an act more so than people that actually live in Scotland.

I find myself pretty much in agreement with you.

I'm a working piper and Highland Dress is my work clothes, something which I must wear in order to get paid. It's rare for me to wear a kilt otherwise.

Part of it is the expense of it all... my kilts are traditional tartan wool handsewn kilts. Maybe if I were interested in utility kilts or sport kilts or casual kilts it would be different.

Unlike most pipers, I will sometimes wear Highland Dress when not being paid to do so; for example my wife and I attended a concert of the Royal Regiment of Scotland a while back and I dressed up for that. And I'll often wear a kilt to a Highland Games that I'm not performing at (once again, unlike most pipers).

About some Scottish-Americans putting on their Scottishness, yes, it's a bit much sometimes. What strikes me is how often a man's propensity to dress up in elaborate Highland Dress and loudly boast about his ancestry is in inverse proportion to his knowledge about Highland Dress and Scottish things in general.

My own ancestry is rather vague; perhaps that's why men beating the drum about their Scottish ancestry strikes me as a bit over-the-top.