I live is a small town in south central Pennsylvania about a hour south southwest of Gettysburg. I know that there are a number of kilt wearers in the area, but, I am more likely to meet a hiker from the Application Trail then one of the local kilt wearers. Imagine my surprise when I started in to one of the local restaurants and find a man in a kilt. He was facing away and as I came close to him I said in my normal irreverent manner “I love a man in a skirt.” He whirled around and said “it’s a kilt not a skirt.” In another thread it was said a number of times that when someone apologized for calling a kilt a skirt "no offense was taken."

To me “It is not a skirt it is a kilt” is the same as saying “it is not a dog it is a Border Collie.” Not all dogs are Border Collies, but, isn't a Border Collie still a dog? Dictionary.com defines a skirt as “a one-piece garment extending downward from the waist and not joined between the legs” sounds like a kilt to me. A kilt is one form of skirt. The best looking form of skirt but still a one-piece garment extending downward from the waist and not joined at the waist. It would seem to me that not all skirts are kilts, but, all small kilts are skirts.

When I have heard the comment “great looking skirt” I say back in pride "it is a nice kilt isn’t it", since, it is the subclass of skirt called a kilt. To be offended by this statement would be the same as a German Shepherd being insulted by being called a dog. If anything I just assume that the person is having a “brain gas" and couldn’t think of the proper subclass of skirt.

In honesty Dictionary.com does go on to say “worn especially by women and girls.” I have little doubt that there are more women’s and girl’s skirts in Scotland than there are men’s kilts, so this is also true.

If we are men enough to wear a kilt in public shouldn’t we be men enough to admit that is a kilt is:

Class -> Clothing
Order -> Skirt
Family -> Kilt
Genus -> Clan or fashion
Species -> Pleat style