Why don't more Scottish citizens wear kilts?

[Todd Bradshaw]

Gee, maybe I'm a victim of some sort of arrested development, but I still wear both. However, I'm old enough that I figure one should wear whatever he feels comfortable with, and if somebody doesn't like it, it's their own problem. Plus, so many modern folks dress like total slobs that it isn't hard to be dressed better than they are in almost anything. You only go around once - might as well look decent doing it.

[Micric]

Todd, I had to laugh at your post above, but you are dead right!!

Both outfits look good as well!

[Michael Weatherhead]

In this admittedly jaded opinion, (most) modern Scots want desperately to impersonate (look as if they were) poorly-dressed Americans, not be "mistaken for" Scots.

Ergo, Scots in: blue jeans, tee shirts with writing or pictures, hoodie sweatshirts, trainers (athletic shoes), dork hats (baseball caps).

When I lived in Scotland, in the 1980's, the younger people there tried really hard to look like us. Many of them dressed in blue jeans, and tshirts, ball caps, etc. There was even a store, in Glasgow, called "Flip ofHollywood." This store sold overpriced Levi 501 jeans, Levi denim jackets, old American letterman's jackets, letterman sweaters, tshirts, with American logos, etc. And every time I entered, it was ALWAYS busy. Anyway, I think you've nailed it. In an attempt to rebel against their country's traditions (that's what old men wear!) they try to dress more hip, and modern.

[48th Highlander]

Why? Because this is the REAL national dress of Scotland.....

[Profane James]

Why? Because this is the REAL national dress of Scotland.....

LoLz, that's golden

[Michael Weatherhead]

Yes. haha. Or these kind of shirts: The young guy, in the middle, picked up his Celtic FC shirts in Glasgow. The old guy on the left (me) got his from a store, in the US.

[Jock Scot]

Thank you! I shall commence reading!

Just wondering, how did the reading go? Did it help?

[Jock Scot]

Jock, What is a pocket Scot? I've not had any luck finding a definition.

Thanks in advance, Mark

Alright, but don't shoot the messenger! I was born into WW2 and many conversations then revolved around the term "pocket battleship". What is/was a pocket battleship? The German navy after the treaty of Versailles had various limitations put upon them on the size of warship that they could build, so to keep within the treaty rules they designed smaller well armoured, well armed, fast, and still very large warships, the Hipper, Graf Spee and the Blucher are three examples. They were designed as surface raiders to be used against merchant shipping and their escorts and could take on almost any ship afloat, but by the perfect definition they were not quite battleships. Hence the term "Pocket Battleship".

So, we have the term "pocket Scot", not a term that I hear these days I may add. This describes some visitors to Scotland and various Scottish functions in London. They may wear the kilt perfectly, they may play the pipes brilliantly, they may speak the local language--better than the locals, they may know Scottish history in the finest detail, they may be tartan experts, they may even have Scottish genes, but by the perfect Scots definition they are not quite Scots. Hence the term "Pocket Scot".

[OC Richard]

Why? Because this is the REAL national dress of Scotland.....

or the Neds in their native element (lounging on the street)



Neither photo shows their fingers in their usual position...

[OC Richard]

Those are brilliant photos, Todd! I assume the vest is covering a ginormous oval silver belt buckle? (I have one myself.) Sans the vest and coat, that's the very image of me in my younger days.

Thanks Jock for the Pocket Battleship connexion. It never occurred to me.

They may... play the pipes brilliantly... but by the perfect Scots definition they are not quite Scots.

This might be interpreted as implying that people take up playing the pipes as part of an effort to masquerade as a Scot.

I must say that I've never, in over 40 of piping, encountered such a person.

At least around here there are two main reasons why people get into piping:

1) they come to piping naturally, one could say, for example the young piper I know whose grandfather was a piper in the Cameron Highlanders in WWII, whose father came to the USA as a youth but continued the piping he inherited. The grandson, though born here, grew up in an environment where piping was all around him, and it was natural that he continue the family ways.

2) they are attracted to the music and the instrument for their own sake, not as an adjunct to Scottish culture. These people can be of any ethnic background. We have pipers here of Mexican, Tai, Chinese, Japanese, German, Filipino, Italian, Russian, Swedish, African, and every other background one might think of. They're proud of their ethnicity and have no desire to be Scottish. Such a notion would never occur to anyone in the piping community- it's all about the music, and for the music alone.

It would be like thinking that white people who play the saxophone are doing so in an effort to pretend to be black. It's ridiculous. Musical instruments have no DNA, no language, no costume.

As I've said many times on these boards the requirement that people wear Highland Dress when competing on Highland pipes or in Pipe Bands is widely disliked in the piping community. Nearly every piper would much rather play in ordinary clothes. It's a rule imposed by the various American Pipe Band Associations, probably because the people who operate Highland Games want the pageantry of costumes.