Quote Originally Posted by ThistleDown View Post
Back to Jock's first post.

Sally said it. "Oh come off it Harry you don't look anything like a tourist when wearing the kilt!"

Sally sees a manner -- a bearing -- in Harry that marks him as a native no matter what he wears.
That's very interesting food for thought. I agree that we see those close to us in a different light even to friends, let alone strangers. I think Sally sees Harry as the man, perhaps a bit further than just "bearing" but the whole Harry that probably only she knows. So whatever his appearance, he's still Harry, not a kiltie or non-kiltie or whatever.

Harry though is looking at himself and definitely doesn't see himself in any way a tourist or visitor to his homeland but does associate the kilt wearers generally as said visitors.

One could ask, does he see Jock as a tourist? I would think obviously not. Aside from Jock always appearing impeccably dressed in his photographs, what's the difference? I suggest it's that Harry sees Jock the whole man he knows so well, not some arbitrary bloke in a kilt.

You could take any one of the people Nathan mentioned or perhaps just look at the Avatars of McMurdo or Steve, who appear strikingly similar in dress to Jock. Until they spoke (I'm assuming you have Canadian accents, guys) why would Harry see them in any other light than Jock? Would he see them as tourists? If so, what would single them out as such?

And how about the "Tartan Army" of Rugby and Soccer fans. I doubt anyone could see them as tourists, could they? And their standard of dress ranges from very formal to, shall we say, equally casual!

Clearly Harry wants to portray himself as a native of his homeland and that's great, so is his reticence in wearing a kilt due to the kilt itself, which I would have thought unlikely in the Highlands, or just the usurpers (no offense intended to anyone) of his national dress, which one could perhaps more understand in Edinburgh in the summer?

I don't have the answers to these questions but this thread, even with its deviations, has caused me to think about it a whole lot more.