Familiarity Breeds Contempt

[cruiser348]

Glad I found this thread. My future mother in law is thinking about knitting matching kilt hose for my future father in law and myself. I just need to help with color choice. Two, problems I'm terrible at picking colors to begin with, and that'd only made worse by the two different tartans. I'll be wearing Mackay modern and he'll be wearing Macrae modern. Would appreciate any suggestions.

[xman]

... I am puzzled that no reference is made in either this thread or the other one to where the belief that white setts were for women came from. ...

I recall reading that arisaids were frequently lighter or whiter setts especially for marriages and such. This could be the root of it.

[davedove]

No it doesn't. It makes it a fashion trend. Saying that wearing white hose out of familiarity makes it a tradition is like saying that ebonics is a language. It's just an excuse not to do things right.

This always brings up the question of when does a trend become a tradition. Like it or not, traditions are not carved in stones by holy fire, never to be changed. They can and do change (just like languages do). The main point is when does something become tradition. Some will say, well it's traditional because my father and his friends always did it. Others will say that something is not traditional because their great grandfather would not of heard of such a thing. We have to remember that EVERYTHIGN traditional was at one time a fashion trend. It's just the ones that tend to stay around that get labeled traditions.