Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
To get back to Smitty's original question, the days when a highland gentleman would strap on every available form of weaponry to attend a social event are long consigned to the distant past and survive nowadays only in the form of a sgian dhubh tucked into the hose as a relic of the past. Whether this is considered to be a weapon seems to depend on ones cultural background but here in Scotland it is considerd an integral part of the dress, nothing more nor less. Pistols, swords, powder horns, dirks and all such paraphernalia now properly belong as ornaments on your wall, not festooned about your person and, while they may occasionally be seen worn by pipers, they are not regarded as appropriate otherwise and most certainly not with day or evening wear.
Precisely. A dirk was and is a weapon. That's all it ever was. If you are wearing one today it can only be described as big jewelry. A sgian dubh actually has uses as a tool. Sure, in a pinch I suppose it could be used for defense (although I'd consider it pathetic at best), but the reason it continues to be worn to this day and the dirk does not is because it is useful as well as traditional.