The Importance of knowing the Rules of Kilted Fashion

[Jock Scot]

My apologies...I don't want to hijack this thread but I just have to ask:

And I want to ask this as respectfully as I possibly can (frankly, it is just a matter of curiousity more than anything else)...

But your profile says that you are posting from "the Highlands, Scotland," and yet you say "this is the USA...."

???

Tim Little has answered for me,thanks Tim. Is that OK DWF11? Can I point out that I am not arrogant enough to think that my advice is spot on and that everyone, or, even anyone should follow my advice! Very far from it.

[Tim Little]

Tim Little has answered for me,thanks Tim

Jock -- Hope I didn't overstep my bounds here....

[Jock Scot]

Jock -- Hope I didn't overstep my bounds here....

No,I mean it! Thank You! You came up with an answer that was far better than the one I was thinking of.

[DWFII]

Tim Little has answered for me,thanks Tim. Is that OK DWF11? Can I point out that I am not arrogant enough to think that my advice is spot on and that everyone, or, even anyone should follow my advice! Very far from it.

Jock,

It doesn't matter to me one way or the other...so if it's OK with you that's all that counts.

But the remark that "this is the USA" is so quintessentially American I wondered if you were a native Scot or an "implant."

We in America tend to be very jealous of our God-given and constitutionally guaranteed right to be obnoxious, self-righteous , anti-social and to flaunt the traditions and sensibilities of anyone and everyone ...especially if it is someone else's customs or traditions. Most folks on this forum are not like that, and I've never in my life said (that I can remember) "This is the USA." But I've heard it said often enough...just never from a native Scot.

I too felt that some of the more recent remarks about Americans were a bit overdrawn but there is an element of truth there, as well. Americans, like our British ancestors, do sometimes seem more enamored of other peoples cultures than our own.

On the other hand, if a culture, that comes under the assimilative eye of that segment of America, does not value its own traditions to the point where the only...or the most common...representation is in the most commercially acquisitive shops in "touristy" strips, we can hardly be faulted for getting it wrong.

Maybe that's why I think that an understanding of...and maybe even a respectful nod towards...those traditions and "rules"/conventions (whatever semantic sleight-of-hand pleases a person) is in order.

But "this is the USA"--not even a well reasoned dissertation, much less a disagreement, on a discussion forum of note such as this one, compels anyone to any behaviour that they don't owe allegiance to.

[Jock Scot]

DWF11

I was concieved on Skye,both parents part Scots, born in Cheltenham England,spent the first seven years of my life in Scotland being looked after by my grandfather whilst my parents were away during WW2,went to school in England until I was 18,went to Sandhurst,served in an English regiment,retired, went to the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester England, Took over my father's English farms and inherited my grandfather's patch in Scotland where I live for most of the time now. So, no US connection there.

I hope you don't mind me saying that some,a small minority, give the impression that as they are American they can do what they like when they like and to the devil with anyone else and that was the point I was trying to make.I know that most of you are not in the least like that and I am proud to say that I have many American friends. Every country,including the UK,has an arrogant and ignorant part of the population,but it never hurts to remind ourselves of that fact from time to time, even if it "treads on a few toes" whilst saying it.

All the very best,
Jock.

[DWFII]

I hope you don't mind me saying that some,a small minority, give the impression that as they are American they can do what they like when they like and to the devil with anyone else and that was the point I was trying to make.I know that most of you are not in the least like that and I am proud to say that I have many American friends. Every country,including the UK,has an arrogant and ignorant part of the population,but it never hurts to remind ourselves of that fact from time to time, even if it "treads on a few toes" whilst saying it.

All the very best,
Jock.

Jock,

I don't mind and I don't take offense...not only because I firmly believe that these discussions are more like intellectual calisthenics and will never change the world nor even someone else's mind; but also because I am not a person who takes offense easily and I understand that you meant none. I sincerely hope that you, in fairness, will understand that I am basically just thinking "out loud" here and do not intentionally mean to offer any offense, either.

That said, I also have to admit that you are probably right about some Americans...maybe more than some. I don't harbour any false pride but neither do I bear any rancor towards my country or countrymen. We are what we are and as Panache implied, a lot (maybe most) of it is noble and good.

And viewed objectively, we are not so different from any other people or nation. As an example...for over a hundred years the British had the attitude that "they (could) do what they like(d) when they like(d) and to the devil with anyone else" and, I might add, there were no small number of Scots as a proportion of the population of the Empire that helped enforce that dictum.

Nor are we guiltless with regard to marketing our most valued treasures and hallowed traditions. The great battlefields of the American Civil War are slowly being lost to strip malls and other commercial ventures. Never mind that they are what Shelby Foote called the "crucible of our nation"...they might as well be tat shops.

I make no apology for being a "traditionalist." I do what I can and try to be as respectful and as true to traditions as I can...for the simple reason that traditions are the fingerprints of history. And like fingerprints, when you wipe them out, or put them aside, or try to forget them, you lose a large part of what gives your culture (and yourself) character.

That's the way I feel about it. I'm just one person, however, my words are not written in either stone or blood and my opinions ...like everyone else's here (despite fervid beliefs to the contrary)...are just so much dust in the wind.