Scottish Festival Peeves?

[MacBean]

Having just returned from my first American Highland Games (Ligonier) beyond a small local Celtic Festival or two, I am ready to comment.

I didn't see anyone dressed in a way that bothered me. The only person who stood out was the Lord Lyon. The pipers tended to be quite formal, and the Clans tended to be informal American, if kilted at all. Worked for me.

That said, I found the games a bit impersonal. The time is so full in a one-day games, that chances to get together and bond are few. We should change that, for the livelihood of the games may depend on it.

[troxel87]

I am one of the goofy looking guys you may be laughing at. I'm 5' 5" tall, and a solid 207 lbs. I wear my kilts, UK's and home made, at the hips. If I wear a kilt in the traditional style, I look even shorter then I already do. If I wear the tall socks, again, I might just as well wear my jeans. So if you spot me rooting about in my low riders and sandals, be kind. We are all goofy in somebodies eyes.

Papa Slob
Royce

Papa Slob:

I totally hear you on this one. I'm 5'5", 130lbs soaking wet. I'm rail thin and can't keep a kilt above my knees for the life of me, let alone find one that fits snugly without scalloping the front apron at the top. If I cover myself correctly, sometimes you can't tell that nothing fits.

As for me, I've only been to one instance of the Highland Games, and I thought I had a pretty good notion of what it was supposed to be like. I was DEAD wrong. You had vampires. Fairies. Elves. PIRATES.

But, I can only laugh at them, because being at the games I got interested in getting a kilt. Pulled one off the rack, wrapped it over me, and had an elderly gent say "Looks good on ya, laddy! Howe'er, yeh'd like to know tha's fer a lassy!"

I promptly removed it, hung it back up, and that's the reason I just recently decided to try again.

We're all dumb sometimes!

[Lallans]

Papa Slob:

I totally hear you on this one. I'm 5'5", 130lbs soaking wet. I'm rail thin and can't keep a kilt above my knees for the life of me, let alone find one that fits snugly without scalloping the front apron at the top. If I cover myself correctly, sometimes you can't tell that nothing fits.

As for me, I've only been to one instance of the Highland Games, and I thought I had a pretty good notion of what it was supposed to be like. I was DEAD wrong. You had vampires. Fairies. Elves. PIRATES.

But, I can only laugh at them, because being at the games I got interested in getting a kilt. Pulled one off the rack, wrapped it over me, and had an elderly gent say "Looks good on ya, laddy! Howe'er, yeh'd like to know tha's fer a lassy!"

I promptly removed it, hung it back up, and that's the reason I just recently decided to try again.

We're all dumb sometimes!

You should consider wearing braces with your kilt (US=suspenders). I've seen them on members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are obviously too slender to wear the military kilt otherwise.

I hadn't had too many nightmare memories of Games "visitors" until this year at Glengarry, when an authentically bearded Santa Claus turned up in a filthy, or at least wrinkled, crushed velvet Santa outfit from the Victorian era (to be fair, the dirtyness may have been suggested by the wrinkling). But Santa clearly wasn't feeling well when I saw him: he was sort of speechless; swaying and staggering he was- or was that me?

[Bugbear]

...We're all dumb sometimes!

I'm stupid a simple majority of the time, rather than dumb some of the time. Just saying...

What other people are wearing and how it is being worne doesn't concern me much. I just don't want to be attacked...

[JelicoCat]

Wearing my kilt out to dinner etc and being asked about highland games.

[Nighthawk]

Wearing my kilt out to dinner etc and being asked about highland games.

That one just makes me chuckle. I have been asked at 9:00 at night if I'm heading to the games! Huh?!?! Really?!?!I pull out my pocket watch, flip it open and say "My friend, it is 9:00 at night- in the middle of the week." And I leave it at that.

lol!

I love the Renaissance Festival! It's the only festival I attend where I'm not an official participant. I am a playtron, which means I can participate as much or as little as I want.

[graham_s]

Guys who think the Kilt is made especially for flashing lead to my biggest Kilt pet peeve, although it is (sadly) not limited to Scottish Festivals. That is the women who seem to think that my wearing a kilt is an invitation for them to do all manner of unwelcome things. Now there are certain women who would be welcome to do those things, but they never seem to be the ones who do.

I mean really, if one were wearing a garment with legs, would it be considered polite if someone walks up and unzipped the fly then said to you "Oh, I was just checking"? Then why is it seemingly OK to lift up my kilt, while I am wearing it?

Sadly these two groups seem to have got it in their heads that the reason to wear a Kilt is easy access for the general public.

This is what annoys me the most.
If I wandered up to some random woman, and then lifted her skirt to see what (if any) underwear she was wearing, I'd rather quickly end up in jail on a sexual assault charge, and subsequently end up on the sex offenders register.
A random woman comes up to me and performs the same act, it's just "a bit of fun"
The double standard annoys me.

[Alan H]

I have no pet peeves at the Games.

I go there to throw, drop by the clan tent, have a good time with my Nor Cal friends, eat bangers and beer for lunch, dance to whatever Celtic Rock band is playing, flirt with the F-H.C.A.G. , plan the next Nor Cal get-together, and hear a bucketload of pipers. I have yet, in four years of attending several Highland Games each year, to discover one single thing that bothers me enough to have even the slightest effect on my enjoyment of the day.

Well, there WAS that blowhard at Tartan Day a few years ago who was wandering around telling everybody that their kilts were trash, and that they had to have a kilt like HIS, and HIS cost a thousand dollars. However, he was gone after about three minutes when I told him to f**** off and go be a sh**head to someone else, and that was that and the rest of the day was great.

[McConnell Mor]

I have no pet peeves at the Games.

I go there to throw, drop by the clan tent, have a good time with my Nor Cal friends, eat bangers and beer for lunch, dance to whatever Celtic Rock band is playing, flirt with the F-H.C.A.G. , plan the next Nor Cal get-together, and hear a bucketload of pipers. I have yet, in four years of attending several Highland Games each year, to discover one single thing that bothers me enough to have even the slightest effect on my enjoyment of the day.

Well, there WAS that blowhard at Tartan Day a few years ago who was wandering around telling everybody that their kilts were trash, and that they had to have a kilt like HIS, and HIS cost a thousand dollars. However, he was gone after about three minutes when I told him to f**** off and go be a sh**head to someone else, and that was that and the rest of the day was great.

Nice!

[Sciuropterus]

I wince at fake Scottish/Irish/medieval accents, I have a friend from Northern Ireland, in the past she worked as a server in a few local Irish pubs here in MN, whenever a customer tried to talk to her in a fake Irish accent, she'd give a withering stare and ask them if they would think it's OK to use a fake Chinese accent when they are in a Chinese restaurant. She's awesome.

As far as backwards kilts go, I see one at nearly every event I attend, I used to discreetly inform them that their kilt was on backwards, I don't bother anymore, they never believe me; one guy told me his "brother said it could be worn either way", another guy thanked me and spun his kilt around the right way, then as he walked away I watched him spin it back to being backwards, he was obviously just humoring me until he could leave, what can you do...