Sgian dubhs and Dress Codes

[nessy357]

Sgian dubhs were traditionally worn concealed , quite often in your left sleeve, and out of respect when you were visiting , you would put your sgian dubhs in your hose to show your guest "look nothing up my sleeve" so to speak.
Kind of ironic eh ?
Cheers Boaby.

[Jock Scot]

It is entirely optional to wear the SD, or not, in your hose. I think wearing one in your boot, if you must wear boots, is not really done from a traditional point of view and would possibly catch the eye of officialdom should one do so.

[Jock Scot]

Sgian dubhs were traditionally worn concealed , quite often in your left sleeve, and out of respect when you were visiting , you would put your sgian dubhs in your hose to show your guest "look nothing up my sleeve" so to speak.
Kind of ironic eh ?
Cheers Boaby.

Traditionally the SD is worn in one's hose. Historically and perhaps even in the stuff of romantically inspired hearsay, the SD was more often than not worn under the arm pit. Although I think wherever the owner could carry it comfortably is probably more likely.

You know the SD is not and was not some sort of Ninja fighting knife although like anything else it could be used for dark deeds if there was nothing better to use. The SD was in reality more of a general purpose tool than anything else. These days there are far better and stronger designs about for a general purpose blade so whilst the SD can be used for light work and yes it is true it can be used as a weapon, this ninja stuff is really not in the equation.

[DyerStraits]

Sgian dubhs were traditionally worn concealed , quite often in your left sleeve, and out of respect when you were visiting , you would put your sgian dubhs in your hose to show your guest "look nothing up my sleeve" so to speak.
Kind of ironic eh ?
Cheers Boaby.

An interesting (for those of us who are interested in social customs) variation on the handshake gesture, which of course has similar origins...

[OC Richard]

The literal translation is the black knife, or concealed knife.

I'm certainly no Gaelic speaker, though I took a Scots Gaelic course at University and have a smattering of knowledge and some dictionaries. There are many meanings in Irish and Scots for dubh but "concealed" doesn't show up in my dictionaries.

Black, lamentable, disastrous (Scots). Add to those bigoted, malevolent, sinister, and strange (Irish). But no senses of concealment or hiding. Of course there are/were many dialects so who knows.

[OC Richard]

The SD was in reality more of a general purpose tool

That's what I had always thought, that it was a pocket knife for somebody with no pockets, a utility knife, and not a weapon per se.

My old Pipe Major kept his sharp and used it to shave chanter reeds.

Strictly speaking, discussions of sginean should be held in the "kilt accessories" forum, rather than this, the "weapons" forum.

I brought up a similar incongruity with the forum which was called "the Gaelic languages" both because the title is self-contradictory, and because the forum was being consistently misused: discussions of all Celtic languages (not just Gaelic) were routinely placed in that forum by the Mods.

[Panache]

The truth is...


...no one really cares!

It is a personal matter. Of course be mindful of where you choose to wear a knife. A good rule of thumb is; If you are worried if a sgian dubh is appropriate or not at a certain venue...then don't wear one!

Cheers

Jamie

[Madadh]

I wear the Sgian dubh when and where I feel a knife would be ok. At work, they have a low tolerance for weapons so I wear a Sgian Brew instead. Something like this:

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I have fun with our guards when they ask about it. I tell them that you never know when you will come upon a miscreant long neck.


My 2 cents.

[Nathan]

I always wear a sgian dubh with highland kit unless I forget or it starts to get uncomfortable. I've never been bothered as I think most Canadian police are familiar with the custom due to their own pipe bands. That's not to say it couldn't happen, but I wasn't even bothered at my high school prom for wearing it. Not sure people would be as chilled out about it today.

[Jack Daw]

If I wear traditional dress with my kilt, I will wear a sgian dhu or "sgian bru". If I'm not in the mood to wear garter/flashes and scrunch my socks (rare), then I obviously don't.