While I was talking to a friend at work about my next kilt, a coworker kept butting into the conversation with snide comments about skirts. I finally stopped and told Stan (not his real name), "When you're man enough to wear a kilt, come talk to me. Until then, don't bother."

He thought about that a minute while my friend and I continued talking. Suddenly Stan had his retort ready and he blurted out "I don't think I'll be measuring my manhood based on whether or not I wear a skirt!"

Really now. Measuring and all.

"Well Stan," I said, "if you wear a skirt, I can assure you we will all be judging your manhood."

Everybody in the vicinity paused, waiting for Stan's comeback that never materialized. Too bad for him that he insists on calling kilts skirts.

Stan is one of three - out of more than a hundred at work - for whom my kilt has revealed who they really are. The other two people I would have never expected to be so hostile towards something they didn't understand. Their vitriol strikes me as being in the same vein as the intolerance that leads to things like racism. The hostility they've shown when I'm dressed in a kilt was surprising.

Abax