Lowland/Scotch-Irish/American Colonists vs. Highlanders.

[ThistleDown]

Yes, I agree, Peter. Other than my university years at Aberdeen I've never lived in the Lowlands. At school in the Highlands I was kilted and that continued most often during my university years. My fellow students respected my choice just as I respected theirs. Children in the streets I walked to my lodgings called 'kiltie kiltie cauld bum' but that was the extent of it. (My second degree was at Manchester and after a very few strange weeks, I packed my kilt into a box and and sent it home.)

Those young Aberdeen townies were, as you say, of a different socio-economic class than I was, but they have grown up to be the middle-aged users of kilt-hire shops today. Most often they take their instruction from the owners of those shops, without having the advantage of generations of kilted ancestors. Even if their names are Highland.