It's time to mention the unmentionables: me grundies

[Iain]

Iain,

Your post brought back a long-lost memory to me. When I was at Grammar School in Devon in the late 1950s, a new boy joined my class, who had a pronounced Scottish accent. As usual when anyone new joined we were eager to find out who he was and where he was from. Although we had assumed he was a Scot, it turned out that he had been born in Devon, but had been taken off to Scotland at the age of four, when his father (who had been a manager at the Devonport Naval Dockyard) was transferred to the Dockyard at Rosyth. He told us that he had attended a private school there, where a part of his school uniform was a kilt. Of course the usual question of what he wore under his kilt soon came up, and he freely admitted that he had worn navy blue gym knickers. At the time most of us didn’t believe him and thought he was teasing us, but now that I have read your post, I realise that he had almost certainly been telling the truth.

When his father had been transferred back to Devonport Dockyard, he had been placed at my school, where trousers formed part of his school uniform. If my memory serves me correctly, he stayed at my school for a couple of years before his father was again transferred to a new post in Wales. I wonder what his new Welsh school pals thought of a Devonian with a Scottish accent coming to live in Wales. All this was long before I first wore a kilt myself.

Rob

Pleased to hear from you Rob and to be able to confirm something from a while back.
Some people seem to think that there was an East West split with the East of Scotland preferring Bottle green knickers and the West Navy blue but i think that it just depended what was available.

Iain

[Rob]

Some people seem to think that there was an East West split with the East of Scotland preferring Bottle green knickers and the West Navy blue but i think that it just depended what was available.

Iain,

Could it have been a case of whichever colour matched the predominant colour in the tartan of the kilt? In this way it would have helped to disguise any accidental flashes of underwear, i.e. a good camouflage colour.

Rob

[Archangel]

:rolleyes:
Back when I was a lad growing up in Scotland we never had a problem with what we should wear under our kilts. We wore what our mothers gave us to wear and in my case and the case of many of my contemporaries what mothers gave us was schoolgirls bottle green or navy blue knickers.
Now to those of you who think knickers are those trousers that some golfers wear, let me tell you that girls knickers are what schoolgirls in the UK wore under their school skirts. Mothers chose them because back then the only underwear that was available for boys were off white trunks and it was felt that those under a kilt would draw attention when the lad was horsing about while playing or if they were to sit incautiously or should the wind lift the pleats. It was thought that wearing girls knickers of a colour that toned with the main colour of the tartan would make any flash less obvious.
Anyway I was given bottle green knickers to wear with my kilts and I found them so confortable that i have continued to wear similar items under my pleats to this day.
These items can be seen for sale on e-bay just click on to girls gym knickers and see what is under my kilt.
Iain.

no wonder Pat Robertson said such nasty things about us.

When I was younger and worried about my friends playing silly games I would wear flesh coloured bikini just in case. When I got older I would wear black because it was less obvious and now I don't really care. Although, looking around in the past few weeks, now that I am wearing the kilt more often, I can't find that flesh colour anymore.

hmm, here I am near midnight talking about underwear on the net. Gotta get that in focus too.

[sav]

hmm, here I am near midnight talking about underwear on the net. Gotta get that in focus too.

Archangel, you have succeeded in getting me to spit soda all over my computer screen! Well said!

[James]

Reverting to the original question, whilst a firm advocate of the kilt for most occasions: there are some activities related to work etc-where unfortunate as it might seem, trousers are more suitable.

Moving on: I too can remember the schoolgirl knickers, and not thinking twice about it at the time. Amusing though to think that those of us brought up in a traditional way were taught that underwear should be worn-and then to have all the stuff about 'regimental' in respect of adults.

James

[Bill]

[QUOTE=Archangel]no wonder Pat Robertson said such nasty things about us.=QUOTE]

When, where, and what did he say?

On subject: Although I enjoy regimental I have come to realize that something 'neath is wise when around children here in North Dakota with our incessant wind. I also have to take into consideration that my dear wifes' comfort level rises immeasurably when she knows I won't be hauled in for indecent exposure or worse. ;)

Bill

[Archangel]

[QUOTE=Bill]

no wonder Pat Robertson said such nasty things about us.=QUOTE]

When, where, and what did he say?

On subject: Although I enjoy regimental I have come to realize that something 'neath is wise when around children here in North Dakota with our incessant wind. I also have to take into consideration that my dear wifes' comfort level rises immeasurably when she knows I won't be hauled in for indecent exposure or worse. ;)

Bill

google ""Pat Robertson", Scotland". The BBC story is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/...ile/359926.stm

I think that is a very strong point, while our companions hope things stay appropriate, they are not so willing, in fact, my experience is that they are closer to terrified that they will be ones to have to say, "eh, bit windy, eh?".

[leathercubby]

Dancing, I have found that boxer brief or trunk style with a high lycra content work really well. Black of course. I like the ones from H&M.
Eric

[Hamish]

On the very (and I mean, very) rare occasions when I feel it necessary to sqeeze myself into underwear, I generally go for a flesh-coloured 'slip' thing! I found them several years ago, bought two pairs and, as yet, have only broken into one pair. I also hold in reserve, an unopened multi-pack of eight pairs of briefs each pair a different colour (red, navy, khaki, yellow, two greens, black and maroon) - I thought I might be able to achieve a close match with almost any kilt when I bought them, and that was several years ago too!

Frankly, having been a kilt-wearer now for just over 55 years, it seems to me that those who are so paranoid about accidental exposure are those who have had little experience of wearing the kilt! Handling, or dealing with, the kilt in all situations comes with experience. The only occasion, in many years, when I very nearly lost control of my pleats, was just two weeks ago whilst taking the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria. Raphael and Dave W. were literally in the same boat (pun intended). We all three were out on a very gusty and windy deck taking photographs and gave much amusement to fellow passengers who were seated behind the glass windows of the restaurant area - I believe I gave the onlookers less cause for mirth than the other two did. Experience counts!!

[Archangel]

On the very (and I mean, very) rare occasions when I feel it necessary to sqeeze myself into underwear, I generally go for a flesh-coloured 'slip' thing! I found them several years ago, bought two pairs and, as yet, have only broken into one pair. I also hold in reserve, an unopened multi-pack of eight pairs of briefs each pair a different colour (red, navy, khaki, yellow, two greens, black and maroon) - I thought I might be able to achieve a close match with almost any kilt when I bought them, and that was several years ago too!

Frankly, having been a kilt-wearer now for just over 55 years, it seems to me that those who are so paranoid about accidental exposure are those who have had little experience of wearing the kilt! Handling, or dealing with, the kilt in all situations comes with experience. The only occasion, in many years, when I very nearly lost control of my pleats, was just two weeks ago whilst taking the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria. Raphael and Dave W. were literally in the same boat (pun intended). We all three were out on a very gusty and windy deck taking photographs and gave much amusement to fellow passengers who were seated behind the glass windows of the restaurant area - I believe I gave the onlookers less cause for mirth than the other two did. Experience counts!!

Had a fairly windy day here on Monday and my wife had a laugh at me because I reminded myself out loud to be careful. (Sister-in-law that a passerby had said it.) Another time I was loading my guitar case into the car and the wind hit. Nothing happened but I remember thinking, how much wind can this take? Almost did the Marilyn Monroe a few months back.

Your post has reminded my how I usually deal with learning about these kinds of situation. Sometime soon, on a very windy day, I'm going to drive to an isolated spot wearing my kilt. There, I will try various things and find out how much wind it takes to move this kilt. I don't remember this as an issue with my original kilt but it was a lot heavier than this modern heavyweight.