What does the "dicing" mean?

[Jock Scot]

Absolutely no offence taken.I am delighted to try to get to the bottom of "folklores",its interesting and good fun.

[macwilkin]

Absolutely no offence taken.I am delighted to try to get to the bottom of "folklores",its interesting and good fun.

Aye, good fun...even better over a pint or a dram! int:

T.

[MacWage]

I'll use a sports analogy . . .
One major US sports team was having uniform problems. So they needed a new set, for the WHOLE team in a hurry. Therefore, they went to a local sports store and grabbed the ONLY colors that there were enough of for the whole team.
Fast forward 70-80 years-> NOW, those colors are endued with a plethora of symbolism and meaning. NO ONE would TOUCH them, as THAT is the tradition.
Impact: a quick decision by the equipment manager in a pinch has become THE symbol of the team. The START was something simple, but incredible meaning has been endowed to it over time.
Another: the Pittsburgh Steelers only wear their logo on one side of their helmets. WHY? when the team first got the stickers, someone screwed up and they didn't have NEAR enough for a pair per each player's helmet. A quick thinking person decided to just put one on each helmet, leaving the other side blank. They intended to get more for the other side. It never happened. Now, there are all sorts of feelings and symbolism of the one-sided logos. NO ONE would DARE make the sides match now.

So, I have no problem with the checkering being first added for "artistic" reasons, but gaining symbolism over time. Therefore, there is symbolism today that is DEEPLY felt. That the dicing would be associated with the government, which the units served, only makes sense.

[BonnieT100]

As I looked at this picture I found it interesting the different ways the balmorals are being worn. Some seem to have the crown flat across the head, some are pulled down in the front each seems to be somewhat unique to the wearer. I then think of the beret worn by the US Army. all seem to have been molded over the same frame work. No originality at all.

Quite the contrary actually. There is the regulation way and then there is the reality way. A look at my platoon shows several different ways of wearing it. You can see pics of people who haven't seen a forest since basic training who wear the beret all sorts of screwy. Then there are the Rangers who wear theirs so far down that it covers their right eye and the head band on the left side is closer to their crown than their ear. Being a graduate of the Officer Candidate School, a veteran of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and a current member of the 82nd Airborne Division, mine is, of course, always worn in the correct manner, when the wind isn't interfering with it and when it hasn't spent the weekend crumpled up in my pocket.

[gilmore]

I am wondering if Gilmore's post is in reference to the present Scottish independence movement. However, THAT is politics. So, I'll stay out of that....

That's what I was surmising, from Jock's comments.

This reminds me of the great Teletubby debate of a few years ago.The Rev. Jerry Fallwell decided that one of the Teletubbies was gay because s/he carried a red purse, and that this was part of a scheme to convert the children of America. Before that, most gay people had probably never heard of Teletubbies. Afterward, you saw stuffed Teletubbies everywhere, hanging from rear view mirrors, in shop windows, etc. Tinky Winky was adopted as a gay symbol.

[Coemgen]

My balmoral has dicing. I was unawre of the Hannoverian connotation when I bought it, and I just liked they way it looked. I also figured that it could represent my home state (California), because the state's flag is red and white.

[Panache]

...Before that, most gay people had probably never heard of Teletubbies. Afterward, you saw stuffed Teletubbies everywhere, hanging from rear view mirrors, in shop windows, etc. Tinky Winky was adopted as a gay symbol.

But Tinky Winky is not really in the same league as say the pink triangle symbol for Gay Identity, where something has been adopted from it's original context to become a universal symbol of a particular group. Seeing a Tinky Winky doll is just as likely (if not more so) to mean that one's children are fond of Teletubbies.

If one sports a White Cockade on your hat, that is a widely recognized emblem with very specific meaning.

The hat dicing issue seems very murky in terms of historical meaning and even modern adopted meaning (sort of like school children talking about the deep underlying meaning of the green M & M's).

Cheers

Jamie

[Panache]

My balmoral has dicing. I was unawre of the Hannoverian connotation when I bought it, and I just liked they way it looked...

My glengarry has the same dicing and I bought it for the same reason. I know at least one other Moderator who has similar good taste.

Cheers

Jamie

[Jock Scot]

Hello Gilmore,can I make it very clear that I was not talking about today's politics,far from it,I was surmising about some vague dim and distant event.Although the dicing is still an issue here in the highlands.Why?None of us seem to know!

[beloitpiper]

Exactly! And in many pipe bands the drummers have dicing while the pipers don't ....

Yeah, the only reason I wear un-diced bonnets is because I'm a piper, and (in my pipeband, at least) the pipers wear un-diced balmorals while the bass drummer wears a diced feather bonnet.

Not sure of the meaning, but it looks good to me!