Two Telling comments? The Answer Perhaps?

[CeilidhDoc]

Haha!!!

LOVE it Kyle.

Slàinte

[creagdhubh]

I really can't speak for Creagdhubh so I will let him speak for himself, but I think if you go through his many posts on this forum you will find that he has a fairly close relationship with his family in Scotland and has many photos of himself with his clan chief to show that for them the relationship would appear quite relevant. I agree that this is not so common, which is why I used the word unique to describe his vantage point on things highland.

Personally I have found a great many of his posts to be both knowledgable and relevant to wearing the kilt in the modern world, both in Scotland and in North America.

I did not mean to drag him into a discussion against his will however. So for that I must apologize in advance of any commentary he may or may not have later in this thread.

Slàinte

No apology necessary, mate. Thank you for your eloquent choice of words. I've been on holiday the past two weeks, so I'm just now "playing catch up" on the forum.

Cheers,

[TheOfficialBren]

Spot the tourist!

Honestly, Kyle, if I didn't know that you were carrying the flag I'd actually assume the tourist was the chap in the black pirate shirt carrying the sword or the one several back wearing the plain white shirt with the dark jacket and black bow tie at midday!

Good to see you back.

[James Hood]

So might it be even faintly safe to speculate upon the concept, more people "outside" the Highlands of modern, industrial, internet-cell-phone-ing, jeans, tees, athletic shoes, cable TV, tabloids, workaday earnest living...

..."not-interested in traditions / clans, et al," Highland Scotland...

...are interested in "old Scottish culture and history and allure of the kilt and its accoutrements," than "the real, modern" Highland Scots?

If so, dare the genuinely-interested but not genuine...

...ponder, if the or a metaphorical "torch" of sort has been passed to them (or picked up, "discarded")...largely by default?

PLEASE forgive any potential offense; NONE meant.

[Blake Roth]

I live and work in Gettysburg, one of the most frequented and 'sacred' sites in the western hemisphere. When I leave work for the day I can still get comments from most people about my long side-whiskers (which look more like beard at the moment)-to which they either think 1) that I am of the local plain folk (Amish/Mennonite/Dunkard) or 2) I'm a re-enactor on my spare time. I am neither. I just like the elder look I think it gives me, but any tourist will automatically think its one of the two categories because of where they spy me. I would not be caught dead wearing a kepi, in either blue or gray here. I whole heartedly understand the opinion of the neighbor's son....I do not have anything to do with Civil War/American Victorian anything in my life outside of work because that's what we trade to the tourist here: the 'official' image, the way it is packaged/presented to the tourist, the certain exploitation applied to it, and most crucially and uncontrollably, the final interpretation/expression of the tourist him/her self which is infinitely variable. Manifested outwardly, the expressions evoke the ever-growing stereotypes. I should believe the same is probably similar in other localities, including our Scotland.

[Aussie_Don]

Ah yes... but what exactly is "too high?"

And where is "too low?"

I love that tip on buying a size smaller. Although I would have to replace a lot of hose to go that route, lol. Perhaps I will have to attempt to master the art of multiple rolls. When I have done it in the past, then it has frankly looked terrible so I just undid it.

Perhaps then my thoughts ARE all wrong on where the hose should be. I agree with "show some knee," but my hose seem to be showing less than is perhaps desirable in many cases.

Slàinte!

I'm still sort-of new, but as far as hose length I'm more or
less forced by biology. I've got big calves -- as in 16" -- and
the only place that works for hose tops is just above the
bulge of the muscle. This leaves my kneecap and just a bit
below it showing. Any lower and they'd fall down. And my
sgian dubh would fall out.

-Don

[Aussie_Don]

I live and work in Gettysburg, one of the most frequented and 'sacred' sites in the western hemisphere. When I leave work for the day I can still get comments from most people about my long side-whiskers (which look more like beard at the moment)-to which they either think 1) that I am of the local plain folk (Amish/Mennonite/Dunkard) or 2) I'm a re-enactor on my spare time. I am neither. I just like the elder look I think it gives me, but any tourist will automatically think its one of the two categories because of where they spy me. I would not be caught dead wearing a kepi, in either blue or gray here. I whole heartedly understand the opinion of the neighbor's son....I do not have anything to do with Civil War/American Victorian anything in my life outside of work because that's what we trade to the tourist here: the 'official' image, the way it is packaged/presented to the tourist, the certain exploitation applied to it, and most crucially and uncontrollably, the final interpretation/expression of the tourist him/her self which is infinitely variable. Manifested outwardly, the expressions evoke the ever-growing stereotypes. I should believe the same is probably similar in other localities, including our Scotland.

Ha, I grew up in Lancaster County, about 40 miles East of you.
In my misspent youth, before I moved to Oz, I had longish hair
and a full beard and moustache, as one did in the early 70s. I
worked for a while delivering aluminium and paper products to
various tourist locales. I also wore bib and brace overalls a lot of
the time - they're comfortable. If I had a dollar for every tourist
who thought that I was Amish, my semi-enforced early retirement
would be a lot less stressful. I know exactly what you mean.

The really funny (to me) point is that the Amish explicitly do not
wear moustaches. (Associated with the military in the 17th
century and they're pacifists.)

The real point is that tourists see what they want to see, not
what's really there in most cases.

-Don

[KentuckyCeltophile]

Spot the tourist!

A very fine picture. Can't tell a difference. so which on are you?

[BCAC]

A very fine picture. Can't tell a difference. so which on are you?

Kyle wears highland dress well, but on this occasion, oh those big white gauntlets! They are not traditional and scream "is he trying to show everyone that he's carrying the flag, even when he doesn't have the flag?"

[Ron Abbott]

Kyle wears highland dress well, but on this occasion, oh those big white gauntlets! They are not traditional and scream "is he trying to show everyone that he's carrying the flag, even when he doesn't have the flag?"

punishment time....incarceration in Cluny's cage......