To button or not...?

[Nighthawk]

Didn't anybody like my limerick on buttons? Did anybody smile? Seems the forum can use a little frivolity from time to time. After counting Father Bill's "one's" I realized that "once" is not enough so used it twice! BTW, I keep the bottom button on the waistcoat unbuttoned. Feels like there's more room to move and doesn't get in the way of the sporran...

It did in fact make me smile. I love limericks!

[Irish Jack O'Brian]

A laddie once feasted on mutton.
At once he noticed his button.
It felt tighter than ever; his mind being clever;
He counted to four and the fifth, he unbuttoned!

Very clever, sir! To quote Captain Jack Aubrey: "What a witty rattle you are, to be sure!"

[thescot]

. . .Bottom line on this: I met an awful lot of really nasty people in high school (and, subsequently, in the rest of my life) who made a great point of being sure that their bottom vest button was undone while they were busy screwing people over. I have also met a lot of people who BUTTONED the bottom button and who were the salt of the earth.

. . .

And I've known well dressed, convention-following fellows who were the best people I've ever known. I've also known poorly dressed guys who would stick a knife in your back. That door swings both ways because one's mode of dress says little about one's character. These are sartorial issues, not matters of life and death.

All are free to dress as they please; we are all agreed. But the conventions are the conventions, and one must choose either way. When someone suggests that I button my lower button, I ask "why?" and reason that they haven't been to town much.

And, coming from a blue collar railroad family myself--both sides of the family in fact--I fully understand and have experienced condescension and shallow airs put on by my "betters." But my grandfahter also wore Hickey Freemen suits to church, that is between his road trips in starched overalls. We were all taught to know about such things. It is certainlyh a matter of personal choice, stylistic preferences, or even a definace of convention. Never a matter of a person's quality. However, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is alive and kickin', and demonstrated daily.

[Calico]

But the conventions are the conventions

No, here I have to disagree. If this statement were true no one not of Scottish blood, or possibly even living in Scotland would wear a kilt.

We all do (well, maybe not Bugbear anymore), so obviously all of us not in Scotland are gladly flaunting the "conventions". Why would your (a generic your, not you personally thescot) concept of the conventions be more relevant than mine?

I agree fully with auld argonian. Anyone who would turn up their nose at me for leaving my bottom button buttoned - I do not wish to associate with anyway.

[Bugbear]

Why would you want me to agree with you, I'm wrong...

[auld argonian]

However, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is alive and kickin', and demonstrated daily.

Dunning-Kruger? I love that store! We used to just get the catalog but they opened a bricks and mortar store up on Michigan Avenue for a while back there. Closed though...guess people just didn't need all of that clever stuff they sold.

Best

AA

[thescot]

Dunning-Kruger? I love that store! We used to just get the catalog but they opened a bricks and mortar store up on Michigan Avenue for a while back there. Closed though...guess people just didn't need all of that clever stuff they sold.

Best

AA

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

I think I got a pair of socks there once myself.

Good one, AA.

[Downunder Kilt]

Going back to the MacLeay highlander pics I've seen, I don't recall any of them (where a determination CAN be made) where the bottom waistcoat button is left undone. So the practice with Highland wear in Scotland appears to go back at least to the 1800s.

Having just looked at them again, just the one gentleman on the right

[Dale Seago]

Having just looked at them again, just the one gentleman on the right

Good catch! And with the other lad's waistcoat being done up at the bottom, it would seem that at that time either was acceptable -- unless there was some now-lost "rule" regarding tartan vs. solid-color waistcoats.

[Jock Scot]

Having just looked at them again, just the one gentleman on the right

The exception that prooves the rule, perhaps? Depending on which rule we are applying of course!