Kilt, Skirt, MUG, etc.

[Archangel]

MUG (Male Un-bifurcated Garment) is a term coined by the Utilikilts crowd.
The UK is not, and does not pretend to be related to the Celtic Kilt, Cilt.
Because the intent was to develop a totally new type of garment it was thought a new term should be invented also.

My choice for a term to describe the style of Kilt I manufacture is "Contemporary Kilt".

For high waisted, buckled, Tartan kilts I use the wording "Traditional", with a differentation between "Tank" for an 8yd. handsewn, and "Casual" for a less than 8yd and/or machine sewn.

Works for me. the end.

[Miah]

I am about the same lines as Steve, but I might say Modern Kilt, for the FK, USAK, UK, PK, Bear, and all the other modern styles, they are all still kilts but they have a slight modern twist. Then there are the older style traditional 8 yard tank, and the 4 or 5 yard Hill walker.

[Blu (Ontario)]

The whole kilt definition theme has been raised many times in the past. I guess I'm at the point where I no longer care about it. The debate is ultimately moot. All technical details aside... this is like arguing the differences between shorts and long trousers. These garments are what they are and those who happen to see you on the street will evaluate what they see in their own context regardless of what you or I think.

[Blu (Ontario)]

I could never quite get used to the term MUG. A mug is something you put coffee in or perhaps the face that stares back at you in the bathroom mirror in the morning. Nahhh... KILT will do just fine thanx.

[bubba]

I could never quite get used to the term MUG. A mug is something you put coffee in or perhaps the face that stares back at you in the bathroom mirror in the morning. Nahhh... KILT will do just fine thanx.

Coffee????? MUGS are for BEER! :mrgreen:

[Eujeankilt]

Upon wearing my UK for the fourth or fifth time, an aquaintance I hadn't seen for ten years asked "So what's up with the dress". This guy always did like to push people's buttons. After an intital flash of indignation, I answered that it was more comfortable. It was obvious that he was just being an ***. People's reactions and labels for garments are reflections of their own limited views of the world. The confidence I express by wearing a Kilt (or MUG or skirt) scares some people, but generally tends to boost my confidence.

I recentely met an attractive British speaking lady who complimented me on my skirt. I took it as it was intended, a sincere compliment.

The bottom line is that I am confident in my identity and masculinity, no matter what anyone calls my kilts.


Dale

[Iolaus]

Currently, I only wear UKs (when I wear a kilt), but I wear them anywhere when the mood takes me - to the college campus where I'm a student, to my wifes elementary/junior high school where she is a teacher, to the grocery store ... whatever. Generaly, people who don't know me don't say anything unless it's positive in some way. Those that do know me, actually or by sight, and haven't seen the UKs before, aren't sure what to call it so by default they call it a skirt. The comments are generaly either quizzical, which I answer, or positive, which I simply smile and say thanks. I don't see any reason to get upset over a name if it's not someone being truely malicious; if you don't take offense they generaly stop trying to get a rise out of you. Besides, kilt or not, it's still a skirt ... a man's skirt!

A case in point. Today I went to my wife's school to take her out to an early dinner before going home. On my way into the campus, one of the girls that recognised me as a teachers spouse called out to me that she liked my "skirt." The teacher that she had been talking to (and who knows me) corrected her and told her and her friend, very matter-of-factly, that it was a kilt. On our way out of the campus, a couple of young teen girls stopped us and asked "What are you wearing ... why are you wearing a skirt?" I grinned at her confusion, told her it was a "kilt", and then affirmed that it was skirt like she thought, but a man's skirt. She and her friends simply nodded their heads, confusion satisfied, and went on their way. The point is, there are now two more groups of kids who saw people they know and respect acting cool about a man in a kilt and they will, in the future, know and correct the other kids around them the next time I'm seen on campus.

As for the truely malicious comments ... I'm 6'2", 220lbs., and have what more than a few friends and strangers have described as "a dangerous look" about me (why? I'm not sure), so I haven't had to deal with the really rude people. ;)

[James]

Move the whole thing to one side a bit!

First, everyone on this board wears skirts-no not your nether garments, rather as a part of your coat jacket etc.

Second, several chums of mine who like me have worn the kilt all of their lives, just as I do find it mildly amusing when our kilt is called a skirt.

Third the dictionary makes it quite clear that the kilt, along with such garments as the sulu-dhoti-fustanella, lava-lava and many more are men's skirts.

Four, I cannot but think that the main objection to the word skirt, is a feeling that it is necessary to distance what is being worn from any suggestion of cross dressing and the like: and a need to reinforce the fact that the wearer is clad in an entirely masculine way. Possibly a need that is stronger in those new to the kilt, or wearing it in places where the kilt was not previously known as men's wear.

Having said all that, to be blunt I think the whole question is akin the old religious one of how many angels could dance on the point of a pin.

Might it not be better in the long term interest of widening the popularity of the kilt, and of course it's acceptance for day to day wear: to accept that it is a man's skirt: and just as women did-when they fought for the right to wear trousers-hit the problem head on.

At this point there would be a bifurcation of the kilt into two main types:-

The traditional-usually tartan and made in the conventional way, with spin offs such as number of pleats-the hillwalker, gentelman's and so on.

The modern-where the new variants be they Utilikilt or whatever might be found.

There is something else that worries me: whilst accepting that there are a few trouble makers who are seeking a bit of 'their fun' when making reference to the kilt as a skirt or whatever. I would suggest that the great bulk of those who refer to the kilt as a skirt are not doing so out of malice-rather they have no idea of what they are encountering - and use the first and most obvious word that comes to mind. A sharp retort-put down riposte or the like is more likely to alienate them: here my own experience has been that a smile and pleasent chat rather than a put-down has ended with a pleasing, very positive encounter.

Whilst to end on a light note-it was not unusual in one highland regiment when a chap appeared wearing his kilt in an odd fashion, say covering his knees-for the order being given to 'remove that man in a skirt and only bring him back then he's properly dressed in the kilt'.


James

[Burnout]

I agree with James. Also, it is a natural tendancy to want to make ourselves more psychologicaly comfortable with the facts and also to help shield ourselves from critisism. And like Mr. blu has said a few times... a kilt is what it is. The sooner we just accept it, the better off we'll be in the long run.

[Mike1]

The whole kilt definition theme has been raised many times in the past. I guess I'm at the point where I no longer care about it. The debate is ultimately moot. All technical details aside... this is like arguing the differences between shorts and long trousers. These garments are what they are and those who happen to see you on the street will evaluate what they see in their own context regardless of what you or I think.

Blu, I quoted this because I think it makes one heckuva lot of good sense. It's worth reading a second time, for all of us.