Ever been at a loss for words after a kilt comment?

[mbhandy]

I was dumbfounded by this:
Woman: "Are you Swedish?"
Me: "No, I am scottish."
Woman: "Are you in the olympics?"

Caber Tossing is not in the Olympics????


MrBill

[Nighthawk]

Ya know... I had the most bizarre experience at a Starbucks today that fits this thread rather well. This enormous black guy came over to the table my wife and I were sitting at, felt free to pull up a chair, and say to me "Dude, any man with the (insert male genitalia vulgarity here) to wear a dress in front of me has got to have something interesting going on. Where are your bag pipes?" (I note that the guy was black because he was covered head to waist in African jewelry.) To which I responded "Well, if drinking coffee and converting oxygen into carbon dioxide is interesting, then yes. Where's your corn bread and fried chicken?" I thought I was about to brawl with this guy. He just busted up laughing and said "And a redhead! I hit the jackpot today!" He then shook hands with my wife and I (nearly crushing her hand if his shake with her was as firm as with me) and went on his way. He never did use the work kilt, but in the course of the conversation stated that he recognized it as a Scottish or Irish mans garment. All in all... a strange but good experience.

[fluter]

Sounds to me like she was trying to pay you a compliment without being able to come up with the actual name of the garment you were wearing.

this happens to me, too, especially from the ladies. Sometimes you really can't tell what they mean by it, but in general it's complimentary.

Educated professional people are not immune, by any means. I know a full professor, brilliant lady, who has yet to internalize the word "kilt." I accept "skirt" because she genuinely likes it. BTW about 50 percent of the time now, she's gotten as far as "quilt."

[Galb]

I've gotten that before. The women who said it meant it in a good way. My reply in that situation is always "Thanks! And it's a kilt." Usually they are quick to appologize, to which I assure them it is ok. They usually then say something like ":I knew that too. I have no idea why I said skirt."

[hospitaller]

tell youthe truth, she probably meant kilt but the words came out skirt.

this happens to my wife, sometimes we're getting up from watching a movie and she'll tell me that 'the pleats in your skirt are caught', or something in passing about 'your skirt is too low' or something like that.

she usually catches herself and corrects herself 'your kilt, damn*t'

so, i dont think she meant anything, and you shouldnt read too much into it either.

cheerio

[PiobBear]

On the way home from piping a ceremony with a Legion colour guard, I stopped by a pharmacy on the way home to pick up a few things, dressed thusly:

...and a woman walks up to me and asks, "Do you work here?"

[Mipi]

She thought you wore an uniform. Or she was really in need for some sort of "medicine".

[Tommie]

Ok,so most everyone thinks the woman ment it as a complement and so do I.

Now picture this.A guy saying the same thing.

[Mr. bone]

On the way home from piping a ceremony with a Legion colour guard, I stopped by a pharmacy on the way home to pick up a few things, dressed thusly:

...and a woman walks up to me and asks, "Do you work here?"

?!?! No one at my Walgreens looks anything like that!

[davedove]

Ok,so most everyone thinks the woman ment it as a complement and so do I.

Now picture this.A guy saying the same thing.

A lot would depend on how he said it.

We have to be careful about how we react to things that are said. Beyond some really obvious stuff, much of what people say can be interpreted in different ways.

I think a lot of people here get so keyed up on how they are going to respond to the "insults" that they sometimes assume an insult where it wasn't intended.

Give people the benefit of the doubt.