Tank Talk

[James Hood]

Had never heard "tank" used to refer to a heavy kilt before this forum, either. Thank you, Fr. Bill, for the clarification.

BTW, "tank" as applied to an armoured fighting vehicle had its origin in WW I when the British Army was introducing them and wanted to keep their purpose and identity secret-ish <inferring self-propelled water / fuel tanks>.

The Mk I lozenge-shaped, turret-less tracked fighting vehicles were called "tanks" and the term caught on, at least in English. The Germans called them "Panzerkampfwagen;" which is "armoured fighting wagon (vehicle)."

So in actual reality, neither a heavy kilt nor tracked main battle vehicle...is really a "tank."

Don't y' love language?

[Standard]

As has been said, the term Tank is somewhat unique to us here on XMarksTheScot , and is generally agreed to refer to an 8 yard, hand sewn, 16oz (or more) heavyweight kilt that is sturdy and built to last. "Built like a tank." Much better than referring to them as brick sh*t houses.

[OC Richard]

I dislike the term, which I've only encountered on this Forum, because it carries with it the implication that a kilt requires some special designation other than "kilt".

When I started wearing kilts there were only kilts.

A kilt was made of wool kilting cloth, between 13 and 22oz weight. It had 7-9 yards. It was entirely hand-made. The stitches were entirely hand-sewn.

That was it.

Much later, quite recently in fact, other kilt-inspired garments appeared. These, differing from kilts, required an additional qualifying designation such as "Utility Kilt" or "Casual Kilt".

Without such qualification it was understood that he word "kilt" referred to the same garment it always had.

Putting a qualifier on the word "kilt", or indeed inventing a new word for a kilt, is unnecessary as long as one uses the word "kilt" for a kilt and puts a qualifier on any other kilt-like garment. I will continue to do that, myself.

("Tank" for "kilt" is what's called in linguistics a "back-formation".)

[sailortats]

I am curious as to why a "tank" can only be a "tank" if it is hand sewn.
I understand the 16oz and 8 yds but I cannot see why it must be hand sewn.

[Father Bill]

I am curious as to why a "tank" can only be a "tank" if it is hand sewn.
I understand the 16oz and 8 yds but I cannot see why it must be hand sewn.

Good question. Just support for traditional craftsmanship, or is there really superior quality?