A call to regulate the term "kilt"

[gilmore]

I don't think you understood me, Gilmore. I don't have a problem with people saying that only onions from Vidalia can be called "Vidalia Onions."

I would, however, have a problem with someone attempting to claim that only onions from Vidalia are, in fact, true onions.

Same thing with kilts. A machine-sewn acrylic Pakistani made kilt sold for $40 is still a kilt. It's just a much lower quality kilt.

We don't need to come up with a restrictive definition of "kilt." We just need to have some truth in advertising so that people are not being misled.

I understand you perfectly.

Admittedly, the Vidalia onion example wasn't as on point as others.

But I don't think you understand me. Words have legal meanings. It's not a matter of "When I say 'kilt,' I mean this, therefore this is what 'kilt' means," or "There are so many different kinds of kilts that the term can't possibly be defined."

There is a multivolume work called "Words and Phrases" put out by West Publishing company that takes up about 40 feet of shelves in most law libraries. It contains the legal definitions of hundreds of thousands of words dating back hundreds of years. Some of these words were defined by the courts. Some were defined by legislatures. Some were defined by administrative agencies. Regardless of how they came to be defined, that definition is controlling as a matter of law in the applicable jurisdictions. Some of these definitions are excrutiatingly precise and have been the subject of much litigation.

So, the parliament of Scotland or the United Kingdom or the EU could easily decide that only garments with X number of yards of wool, with knife pleats across the back and made in Scotland can be sold as "kilts" within Scotland, within the United Kingdom, or within the EU. It could also decide that similar garments with box pleats are legally defined as "less than virile man skirts" and cannot be sold as anything else. I don't know that that is the perfect solution, but there is no doubt that it could be accomplished simply.

As to what "we" need to do, those of us on the western side of the Atlantic may have opinions, but are not really part of the discussion. Of course overseas sales may be an issue, but how Scots resolve these problems will be done by Scots, other British, their trade associations, their parliaments, etc.