Positive Re-enforcement

[Bog Trotter]

My wife and I stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel and total strangers approached, and made some very flattering comments concerning my kilt. It was quite uplifting, all pun intended.

[McFarkus]

One funny experience - I was walking down the street near my house and a really drunken street bum walked up to me and said, "I really like your quilt." And then asked if I was Rowdy Roddy Piper's dad.

[troxel87]

I've had only a few friendly jib-jabs at wearing a "skirt", but they always relax and say "it looks good on you." It never fails that I get someone in the mall or at the grocery walk up and say "I just love it".

One memory that comes to mind most immediately, however, is when I was in the grocery with my wife and son the other day sporting my kilt (as usual for the past couple months). An elderly couple walk up to me and ask "Is it time for the Highland Games already?!" I said "No, I just prefer kilts!" The husband continued to ask "Are you of Scottish decent?" I replied "No, a little Irish, but no Scot." Then they asked me if I worked at the Renaissance Faire! I told them "Of course not! I'm actually in the military!" The both looked slightly nonplussed, but smiled and said "Well, either way, it looks really cool!"

I haven't ever had a serious derogatory comment come my way (to my knowledge, anyway) when kilted. Most everyone, it seems, enjoys seeing a man in a kilt in Maryland.

I do plan on getting a few friends together to start wearing them with me and hopefully pick the trend up a little bit in the area though. It's a style that never dies.

[sathor]

does this count? I was wearing my new MacDonald kilt to take my son to the bus stop, and one of the kids recognized the kilt, and said I looked like a ( are you ready? really? are you sure?) like a........ NINJA.

I will never understand kids.

[MacBean]

Went to an "Enter the Haggis" show in a small venue in NJ some months back with my son and I both kilted. It was my son's first kilted appearance. I wore tweed jacket and tie, while my son wore a black shirt. The piper from the band came up to us afterwards and thanked us for the kilts. That was nice.

Same night, a man at the bar offered to buy us both drinks. We also overheard on the street, "It's not a skirt, it's a kilt!"

[Old Hippie]

Well, I got whistled at by a couple of First Nations cowboys -- does that count?

Grinned and gave them a thumbs up, so I guess we were pretty much on the same wavelength.

When I went through my citizenship ceremony a couple of years ago, there was a "parade of nations" section where every new citizen said their name and their home country (some of us are dual citizens, others were becoming only Canadian). Of course the closest countries had the most new citizens represented, but one woman announced that she had come to Canada from Scotland. Afterward, she introduced herself to me and said how odd and wonderful it was to become a citizen of Canada at the same time as an American who was wearing a kilt.

My UK Mocker still raises eyebrows at the Caledonian Society, but in a good way. A frequent remark I hear: "Why, you could wear that every day just like pants!" Once people who see me get their heads around the kilt as an article of clothing instead of something special to wear only when we're "acting Scottish/Irish" the practicality of it really opens up new doors for them.

:ootd:

[fixornot]

I concur, ladies like men in kilts, I don't understand it and I don't care, it's just plain nice to hear the comments and catch those smiles, I'm an old dog and it does my heart good.

[MacGuffin]

While kilted I stopped at a Vietnamese sandwich shop (Lee's sandwiches). Earlier I had just finished a presentation on the history of the kilt for my Celtic Anthropology class. While waiting for my order, a man walks up to me and asks " What tartan are you wearing?". We strike up a quick chat and he mentions that he used to wear the kilt often when he was a boy in Canada.

[Jimmy]

Living all my life in Scotland, obviously the kilt is totally accepted here, it could not but be accepted here, but it is always gratifying to get compliments about how good you look in the kilt whether casually or formally dressed. I have never ever had any negative remarks addressed to me when wearing the kilt, in fact Scots in Scotland like anyone else the world over always like to see someone in their national dress.
It certainly is a long time since someone from the other side of the street has sung 'Donald where your troosers' as I walked by, even that is positive recognition.
I have said previously on this forum about my admiration for kilt wearers in small towns, say somewhere in the states, who are kilted on a regular basis, somehow I envy them

[Stiavo89]

I had a compliment from a fellow kiltie in the changeroom of our local swimming pool this morning. He admired my x-kilt, and bemoaned the fact his traditional kilt was too large, as he had lost some weight. I mentioned how easy moving the straps/buckles can be, and suggested he contact his kiltmaker or another seamstress experienced in modifying kilted garments to take care of that for him.

Having been kilted full time for the last 5 or so months, I have to agree that 99% of the comments I receive are positive. While I am most often in an x-kilt with a T-shirt and casual socks and shoes, last Friday I wore my traditional tartan kilt, a dressy shirt (in a complementary but not matching colour!) and my belt, waistplate and sporran while I took my wife out for dinner and adult conversation, leaving our 13 yr old with her 3 younger sibs for a couple of hours. Walking across the parking lot outside the restaurant we walked toward a young man and his pregnant wife, and he loudly exclaimed "nice!" as we approached, only to have him grin and ask "are you wearing underwear with that?" I grinned back, asked "are you?", and heard his wife burst out laughing as he blushed. Five months, and I do think that's the first time I've heard "the question"!