Poking fun at men in kilts.

[auld argonian]

Oy! I've sat by and listened to many of my friends argue about "who's the biggest non-conformist"...these discussions were usually fueled by alcohol and chemistry. I seem to daily see folks who are going out of their way to affect some "eccentric" bit of business that makes them stand out from the crowd...here in Chicago we have an alderman (who is female but hereabouts we say "alderman" and not "alderwoman" for some strange reason) who started wearing flamboyant hats so as to get herself a "trademark" and be instantly recognizeable...trouble is that Bella Abzug beat her to the punch on this trick something like thirty years earlier so how well does that work? In a world of non-conformists who is the true non-conformist? But your point, Robinhood, was not so much about non-conformity, I think, as it was about what you feel is unfair criticism of guys wearing kilts in ways that some forum members deem inappropriate..."who are we to judge?", in effect.

Good question...I've been hanging around this forum for a while and seen members post photos of how they wear the kilt...runs from total formal traditional to contemporary kilt with sandals...the whole gamut. Some guys look overdressed (to me) and some guys look like they're just going out with a tartan towel around their waists (again...to me)...I'm thinking that most of us fall into the big bell curve belly of the middle of these extremes with occaisional side trips toward either end of the curve. There is a sort of sensitivity, though, about how we are perceived...because wearing the kilt is not the norm we are subject to criticism both postive and negative...hoping to advance the cause of kilt wearing, most of us are sensitive to anyone wearing the kilt in a manner that might bring ridicule upon the "cause". If you were here for the famous "Nathan Warmack Affair" you saw the uproar that occured when a principal called a kilted student "a clown"...holy schnikes! Ol' Nathan had just gotten his kilt and, if I remember correctly, hadn't "accessorized" completely (sporran, belt, etc.) but was anxious to wear it and show it off...the photos of him from that time showed that he wasn't exactly passing "The Hamish Test" but that he was proud and sincere...our kind of guy. I'd be more concerned about some dude who stands up for a wedding where the groomsmen are fully formally kilted and acts inappropriately (we'll leave it up to everyones vivid imaginations to conjecture on what the nature of that behavior might be) because he thinks that it's "funny" and he wants to be the class clown.

The "Do's and Don'ts" thing did have some funny bits in it (hey, I laughed). Pour1 is a real character and I'm sure that it was all in good fun. It's like Jewish Humor...self deprecating at times but warm at its core...keeps the group together in a way: poke a bit of fun at ourselves among ourselves before the rest of the world at large does. I'd like to think that if someone went up to the guy in the kilt and the cowboy boots and told him that it was a kilted faux-pas that he would just look them in the eye and say, "So...?" and pop another beer. (One thing's for sure: that dude did NOT check his outfit with his wife before he left the house!)

I commend you on your empathy, though...it's a good thing that you would even consider that point of view. I don't think that anyone here ever really takes the attitude that someone who breaks the kilt-rules is just "too off the wall" and should be an object of derision...we might point out possibilities that they might have to spiffy up their look but I don't think that there's any malice in it.

Best

AA

[way2fractious]

...self deprecating at times but warm at its core...keeps the group together in a way: poke a bit of fun at ourselves among ourselves before the rest of the world at large does.

Hear, hear! The world at large does - and will continue to - poke fun at us poor kilt-wearers. So let's poke fun at ourselves first, so we can get over the shock.

[Pour1Malt]

... Pour1 is a real character and I'm sure that it was all in good fun. It's like Jewish Humor...

cheers fur thot Auldy!


aye, yur richt...

[Moosehead]

So anyway, its funny that people who are supposed to be showing their security by wearing a kilt, are acturally showing their insecurity by poking fun at how some else wears a kilt differently.

I must have been out sick that day. My wearing kilts has nothing to do with showing my security, but everything to do with pride in heritage.

Others opinions differ.

[The Supreme Canuck]

I must have been out sick that day. My wearing kilts has nothing to do with showing my security, but everything to do with pride in heritage.

Hear, hear!