Lowland/Scotch-Irish/American Colonists vs. Highlanders.

[ThistleDown]

Yes, I agree, Peter. Other than my university years at Aberdeen I've never lived in the Lowlands. At school in the Highlands I was kilted and that continued most often during my university years. My fellow students respected my choice just as I respected theirs. Children in the streets I walked to my lodgings called 'kiltie kiltie cauld bum' but that was the extent of it. (My second degree was at Manchester and after a very few strange weeks, I packed my kilt into a box and and sent it home.)

Those young Aberdeen townies were, as you say, of a different socio-economic class than I was, but they have grown up to be the middle-aged users of kilt-hire shops today. Most often they take their instruction from the owners of those shops, without having the advantage of generations of kilted ancestors. Even if their names are Highland.

[Father Bill]

It's sad to me as so many of you explain how the Scottish hire shops are re-defining highland wear to their own benefit without respect to tradition, history or reality.

[ThistleDown]

It's sad to me as so many of you explain how the Scottish hire shops are re-defining highland wear to their own benefit without respect to tradition, history or reality.

It is for us, too, FB, and may explain why some of us on here crack on ad nauseum about THCD and how it is 'properly' worn in the Highlands. We simply want folks to get it right no matter where they live and have very few places where we can do so. At home we don't critique someone for wearing a belt with a waistcoat, or ghillie brogues -- we let them do it because it is impolite to do otherwise. On this forum we are asked 'how' and we respond from our personal knowledge and experience. Often, sadly, that is emphatically rejected in favour of how it is done outwith the Highlands.

Back to David's point in this thread. For those who have not done so, I suggest some heavy reading: Ken McGoogan's 'How the Scots Invented Canada'; Paul Cowan's 'How the Scots Created Canada'; Tom Devine's 'To the Ends of the Earth', Colin Calloway's 'White People, Indians and Highlanders'; Tom Devine's 'The Scottish Nation 1700 to 2000'; and James Hunter's 'A Dance Called America'.

[Father Bill]

Thanks Rex, and I'm long since more than halfway through your excellent reading list.

I too cringe when folks ignorantly call hire dress the "right" way, but sometimes I do compromise lest I be odd man out when others will be over-dressed. I may wear a BBSB jacket when frankly my charcoal tweed would be a better choice. I dress it down through my accessories.

Again, appreciative of the reading list!

[ThistleDown]

...appreciative of the reading list!

You are welcome, FB.

More for your 'Important to Read' bookcase: 'Transatlantic Scots' by Celeste Ray. In her master’s degree in Cultural Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh, Celeste looked at the politics of Scottish national identity. Her Ph.D. dissertation considered what Americans of Scottish descent make of that identity and how they claim particular visions of Scottishness as “heritage.” She published this as 'Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South'. An immensely important work overlooked in the 21C North American race for root identity*.

Edit: *from both sides of the cultural fence.

[Luke MacGillie]

Another good read is We're Indians Sure Enough : The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States: https://www.amazon.com/Were-Indians-.../dp/0971385807

[ThistleDown]

Another good read is We're Indians Sure Enough : The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States: https://www.amazon.com/Were-Indians-.../dp/0971385807

Thanks, Luke. Yes, an important addition to the list.

[Peter Crowe]

Yes, I agree, Peter. Other than my university years at Aberdeen I've never lived in the Lowlands. At school in the Highlands I was kilted and that continued most often during my university years. My fellow students respected my choice just as I respected theirs. Children in the streets I walked to my lodgings called 'kiltie kiltie cauld bum' but that was the extent of it. (My second degree was at Manchester and after a very few strange weeks, I packed my kilt into a box and and sent it home.)

Those young Aberdeen townies were, as you say, of a different socio-economic class than I was, but they have grown up to be the middle-aged users of kilt-hire shops today. Most often they take their instruction from the owners of those shops, without having the advantage of generations of kilted ancestors. Even if their names are Highland.

I learned from my Dad, who learned growing up wearing the kilt in the 40's and 50's (a much more tweedy era than today). He was the kid who wore his kilt daily to Uddingston Grammar School from 1952-56, and has never complained about getting pelters in a village just outside of Glasgow. His first pair of long trousers were his uniform as a Midshipman in the Merchant Navy at age 17. I also agree the kilt-hire business in Scotland has gone in for gimmicky rather than traditional.