Wearing a basket hilt.?.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

What I was questioning was the line of logic (as I read it) that stated the dirk and sword were designed for killing people/defense of ones person, but that the sgian was somehow other. I highly doubt that the sgian came about when someone looked at his hose and decided they needed an extra bit of decoration.

Actually, that's pretty much exactly what happened.

The sgian dubh is virtually unknown in Scotland before 1800, with the earliest representation (Raeburn's painting of "The Macnab") dating from about 1806. By 1854 Scotland, and all things "Highland" become wildly popular with the upper classes. Sportsmen, drawn to Scotland to shoot stag, notice that the stalkers often carry a small knife in their stocking top, which they put to a variety of uses in the field. The wearing of a sgian dubh quickly becomes the hallmark of someone who has killed a stag (in much the same way that the "gamsbart" worn in HRH Prince Albert's hat marks him out as a member of the German shooting fraternity). This "badge of a hunter" quickly becomes a fashion necessity, and within a few years it is not only considered an indispensable accessory if one is to be well dressed in the Highland manner, the wearing of a "Full Dress silver mounted Skean Dhu (sic)" is required if wearing Highland attire at the Royal Court.

The sgian dubh has absolutely nothing to do with self defense, and everything to do do with 19th century self-aggrandizement.