Beards and kilts

[Galician]

I have had mine for years, due to having one being a tradition in my order. Living as I do in the inner city, I do feel less likely to be mocked for my kilt, though, due to having a beard (and a white one is so much the effective for this!). As one of the few white residents in the area, I figure that my neighbors think that I'm some kind of crazy Irishman.

Btw, James, where in P.R. is Isabel Segunda?

[irishrob]

In my case the beard came before the kilt in my son's case it is the opposite. Manys the time I have thought about the possible adventures had I started the kilt wearing earlier!!!!

Right now, between the beard and the hair, Riverkilt and I could be taken for brothers. In fact while in Las Vegas, Mr. Kilt thought I was Ron!

Beard on!

Rob

[James MacMillan]

Btw, James, where in P.R. is Isabel Segunda?

If memory serves, Isabela Secunda is the island where the Navy has a target range. Now I'm not sure if it is the island or the town. That was many, many years ago, during the Cuban Missle crisis era. We wore green utility trousers (before the cammies were adopted) Khaki shirts, mixed hats, and were encouraged to grow beards. We looked just like Castro's hoards when we came screaming out of the hills.

I never worried about where it was when I was there, cause I knew where I was, I'll have to do some googling and get back to you.

OK - Isabela Segunda (correct spelling now) was the training base, that is now disbanded on the island of Vieques. Wow, time flies.

[Galician]

Ok, that answered my question. I figured from what you said that it's located on the island of Vieques, which the Navy used as a target range for almost sixty years. I confirmed on the web that Isabel Segunda is the main town on that island.

Just an fyi, after four years of protest by people ranging from the Archbishop of San Juan to congressmen of Puerto Rican origins, the Navy pulled out in 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy-Vieques_protests

[Yaish]

I obviously could not have a beard while in the Marines, then I started working security and couldn't have one there either.
I finally got to grow one when I was doing construction, but then went back to security and it came off. I got myself into a management position and the beard has been back for a couple of years now.

I usually have a Van Dyke (proper name for what is usually called a goatee) but since Thanksgiving I've had a full beard. I havent grown one of those since High School, and that wasn't a real beard at the time.

It's nice and think now, and the red beard carries on right up into me sideburns. Just at the top of the ear the color transitions to the dark brown hair of my head. It's an interesting effect, the color demarcation is very clear and sharp. Almost looks unnatural.

[Galician]

I usually have a Van Dyke (proper name for what is usually called a goatee) but since Thanksgiving I've had a full beard.

Maybe it's a regional/generational thing, but for me, a Van Dyke always implied a specific kind of goatee, the one which came to a sharp point. It was the one villains always had in the movies and cartoons!

[fluter]

Bearded: 32 years. Kilted: 225 days, more or less. They do seem to go together, just observe the photos of gents in belted plaids!

Given the oft-seen ethnic trait of brown hair and red beards, it's just too bad that I did not take up the kilt when my beard was still red. However, the kilt also goes great with grey.

I've had the beard since the last job which prohibited beards --- the job involved a char-broiler and occasional grease flare-ups, and the boss-lady did not like the smell of burnt hair in the restaurant, for some reason. So, you could say that my wife has never seen my face. The only clean-shaven pictures she's seen were from about age 18. Once upon a time, perhaps 20 years ago, she expressed some mild curiosity.

So before Hallowe'en of 2006, I came up with the idea of shaving as my "costume"... just a one-shot, have the beard back before Christmas sort of thing. She vetoed it absolutely, so I guess she's used to me... or was afraid that I'd have fat cheeks.

for me, a Van Dyke always implied a specific kind of goatee, the one which came to a sharp point. It was the one villains always had in the movies and cartoons!

To me, the Van Dyke/van Dyck is the combination of a moustache and goatee which "connect" around the mouth. I believe that's the old 20th-century usage. The point just depends on how you trim it. So yes, that's the cartoon villain type of beard.

In my mind, the goatee is a separate item from the moustache; but without the 'stache, it has several alternate names?