Tartan Etiquette

[MacLowlife]

This topic is as reliable as any to spur conversation. I would say that it almost never leads to much enlightenment, but I think over time I have reasoned out a position that has been refined by comments on these perennial threads. X Markers tend to be easily divided into two large groups, what we might call the "One Kilters" and the "More than one kilters". I can think of several honorable and generous and knowledgeable members in each faction. With a few exceptions, the One Kilters tend to concentrate a great deal of meaning into their single kilt, whilst the MTOK gang tend to be less so. Having seven kilts in seven tartans might make you less doctrinaire about the strength of your ties to each one. MIGHT, mind you, as one might be named Campbell, hail from Canada, reside in the Carolinas, trace your lineage to Caledonia, vacation in Cape Breton, feel deeply about Culloden, and preach as a member of the Clergy. If all of those things are true, but your mother-in-law spends a lot of money to buy you a "Loud MacLeod" kilt to welcome you into her family, what are you going to do? I'd don the yellow and black and preserve the peace is what I'd do.

I'd like to put a finer point on that first category, though. I worry that "legitimate claim" gets stretched and hedged to allow just about anything. If you want to be strict about legit claims, shouldn't it be "Wear the one that has your name on it"? All of these septs and distaff connections are mighty close to marketing tricks and plain old excuses. They do not wash under any laws of inheritance. And, once we start getting "creative" we may well be closer to group 2 than we'd like to think.

So, here is my refined p.o.v. on this allnighter topic: Be generous in your expectations of others. Be conservative in your demands on others' tolerance. Be prepared to justify your actions, or at least be entertaining.
M'll