Overhearing People

[george7]

I think people associate wearing a kilt with deafness. I've been out and around an hear people talking about my kilt. Sound travels especially well in bookstores and libraries. One instance was a lady at the bookstore talking about "the well-dressed Scotsman in a kilt over there." She was off further away than would've been considered polite for conversation but I said thank you across the store anyways. Anybody else have a similar experience?

[TheKiltedCoder]

I think people associate wearing a kilt with deafness. I've been out and around an hear people talking about my kilt. Sound travels especially well in bookstores and libraries. One instance was a lady at the bookstore talking about "the well-dressed Scotsman in a kilt over there." She was off further away than would've been considered polite for conversation but I said thank you across the store anyways. Anybody else have a similar experience?

As a matter of fact, I had one in Fry's a couple of nights ago. I was in my black Alphakilt and was in line for a register. There was a guy about my age behind me with what appeared to be his daughters (one early to mid 'teens, one about 7 or so), when one of them started to ask one of The Questions: "Daddy, why is that man wearing..." at which point Daddy interrupted with "Do you want me to beat you?"

I wasn't quite sure what to say at that point. So, I just pretended to be as deaf as they expected me to be.

Personally, I'm particularly happy to educate the younger generation (and have done so on several occasions in the past), but I really wasn't sure quite what to make of the situation.

Brian

[george7]

I believe it was Socrates that beat Plato for not being born great, right?

[NewKilt]

Not quite the same experience, George, but on one of my walks in the park, I met a man approaching me from the other direction and heard him say to himself "perfect color coordination" as we passed each other. I was wearing a Stillwater wool heavyweight in the Weathered Lamont tartan, dark brown shirt, brown belt, brown, sporran, brown shoes, oatmeal hose, and saffron flashes. The saffron flashes actually match up quite well with one of the shades of brown in the kilt.

I've worn that same color combination in various stores and heard the word "kilt" from further down the aisle, and I'm getting hard of hearing .

Darrell

[staticsan]

Once at the local oversized shopping mall, in my black Union Kilt, I overhead a mother tell one or more of her kids "Look at that man's skirt..." I didn't turn around to observe their response(s) but it didn't sound judgemental or anything. In fact, it sounded like she was merely pointing out something interesting to a 5 year old!

Wade.

[Howard Clark]

I really AM hard of hearing. It's not all bad, really...

[emolas]

I especially love it when children blurt out really loudly something to the effect of "MOMMY, WHY IS THAT GUY WEARING A DRESS?" much to the horror of their parents who then try to apologize.

Yesterday afternoon, while leaving the library, a mother walking right behind me said to (a bit loudly) "wow, look at that man in a kilt!" and then she began to explain to her daughter in brief how men in Scotland used to wear them and that they have different ones for each family. She seemed quite excited to see a kilt so I stopped so she could use me as a prop while she taught her daughter about the various parts (sporran, belt, pin, etc.) and their uses. It seems her daughter is home-schooled and this week just happened to be "Scotland Week" where they are learning about Scotland so it was very fortunate that they ran into me. I was more than happy I could provide a better example than a picture in a book. I was also glad I didn't just slap on a SWK thrifty with sandals on my way out the house . What a poor example of a well-dressed Scot I would have been then.

If you like to listen to what strangers say about you wearing a kilt, you should hear what they say that you CAN'T hear. Try this: My daughter likes to walk several meters behind me in the mall so she can hear all the whispers as I pass. She thinks it's hilarious listening to the people's comments and then she catches up and shares them with me. When you walk back the other way and thank the appreciative ladies for their (what they thought were) whispered compliments it really throws them for a loop .

[Southern Breeze]

I tend to ignore the negative comments. I really like the ones that come from kids. Here's an incident I had recently-
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/b...240/index.html

I'm also a member of the 'hard of hearing' club.

[Jack Daw]

I was buying ice at a convenience store in Salado, a small town in central TX, when some adult asked another why the man at the counter was wearing a kilt. I had to bite my acerbic tongue as the well-signed, well-bannered Highland games were just next door.

[Frank McGrath]

I have overheard lots of comments from the most vile to the nicest. I just tend to ignore them. The people that have the nerve to say something to my face get the response.