An Open Question for 'Jock Scot' (and Scots)

[O'Searcaigh]

Post Script: If a man wears trousers, is he "playing at" being a Saxon?

[Tobus]

Post Script: If a man wears trousers, is he "playing at" being a Saxon?

While that may have been in jest, it does touch on a subject that some, including Scots, may not want to admit.

All the world over, people have adopted American styles of dress. Blue jeans (especially Levi Strauss) have become wildly popular. You can hardly look anywhere in the world without seeing people wearing American style sneakers, trousers, t-shirts, baseball caps, etc.

Are they playing at being Americans?

Or is it just part and parcel of being a human being in this global age, where styles which were once unique to a particular country have been exported elsewhere?

Let's be honest. Every culture borrows styles from other cultures. These things may wax and wane in popularity, but to imply that any particular one is "playing at" being another is an exercise in futility. No doubt there are a select few individuals who actually do "play at" or pretend to be from another culture in an effort to deceive. But the vast majority are simply borrowing a style as it suits their fancy or if they feel a kinship to that particular culture. It's human nature. It's really not that hard to "get it", considering that it happens everywhere.

And I daresay that every single one of us have done it in one form or another. Whether it's a native Scot wearing distinctly English styles, or a German wearing distinctly American clothing, or an American wearing distinctly Scottish garb.

We Americans don't sit here and shake our heads at Europeans wearing blue jeans. We may chuckle a little when we see a busload of Japanese tourists in the Western stores buying up all the cowboy boots and Stetson hats, but we don't go home and worry about why they would want to play at being Americans. We're actually pretty proud that others would want to emulate us, and if some Scots can't feel the same about their own culture, one has to ask... why not?

[MT4Runner]

All the world over, people have adopted American styles of dress. Blue jeans (especially Levi Strauss) have become wildly popular. You can hardly look anywhere in the world without seeing people wearing American style sneakers, trousers, t-shirts, baseball caps, etc.

Are they playing at being Americans?

Or is it just part and parcel of being a human being in this global age, where styles which were once unique to a particular country have been exported elsewhere?

And I daresay that every single one of us have done it in one form or another. Whether it's a native Scot wearing distinctly English styles, or a German wearing distinctly American clothing, or an American wearing distinctly Scottish garb.

Very, very, very well-said.

[O'Searcaigh]

Very, very, very well-said.

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