Two Telling comments? The Answer Perhaps?

[MacMillans son]

Could it be the dilution of tradition over time Jock? As the younger generations get further from their own heritage, and by many Scot's admission, a heritage that is seen less and less, save for a couple of special gigs a year, the opportunity for the caricature Scot, as defined by others, increases. When tourists wearing the kilt far outnumber the natives in kilts, it is easy to see why the native would make the correlation to the tourist.

I assume this will continue at a somewhat exponential rate, as the result of a self-fulfilling prophesy. The less Scots wear the kilt to avoid looking like tourists, the greater the percentage of kilts seen are on tourists (and we all know how well most pull that look off ). Add to that the natural age related decline of a generation of native kilt wearers and, voila!, Harry meets Sally at your kitchen table.

I fear that pretty soon we'll have to send a contingent of Xmarks members to retrain the native population on their own traditions, based on what some old farmer name "Jock Scot" told us.

Best to you and yours,
Brooke