So You're Going To Speak To Someone Who's Wearing A Kilt

[BEEDEE]

I saw a T-shirt once and wish now I had bought it that said:

Yes I'm Scottish
No I don't play the bagpipes
Yes I've eaten Haggis
Yes the kilt is comfortable
None of your business

It made me laugh because it seems to hit the top 5 questions.
BTW...if you know where I can get this T-shirt.... please let me know. I cannae find it again.

I'd go for that as well, but change the first line to: No, I'm not Scottish

Brian

[Tony Miles]

We need to pool our brains and write a book titled
"So You're Going To Speak To Someone Who's Wearing a Kilt."

What suggestions would you have for the book to help educate the general public on polite ways to initiate and engage a kilted gent in conversation?

Ron

Hmmm you might get 4 or 5 people to read it.

[McFarkus]

This thread is important, because people seem irresistibly drawn to speak to men wearing kilts. The problem is, once we've settled on rules, how to get the information out to non-kilt wearers?

[Fit2BKilted]

We need to pool our brains and write a book titled
"So You're Going To Speak To Someone Who's Wearing a Kilt."

What suggestions would you have for the book to help educate the general public on polite ways to initiate and engage a kilted gent in conversation?

Ron

It should be prefaced (for a chapter?) that "If you have no other cause to speak with a kilted man than an ephemeral interest in his fashion..." a modest compliment would go a long way toward starting a polite, if idle, conversation "... otherwise, mind your own business."

Personally, I'm a bit wary of strangers that approach me seemingly without cause (it prompts me to speculate whether their motives are solicitation, misdirection, seduction, or other manipulation)... Perhaps I've chosen to wear the kilt, in part, to moderate my paranoia? ;-)

[Riverkilt]

Hey Merlin,

Somewhere have an old pic of a vendor at the Phoenix games in the '70s with a similar sign on his tent post.

Sort of the thought behind, what if we could write a guide...

Ron

[Riverkilt]

How about, mention the kilt first. Its really disconcerting to me to have someone come up to me with "that look" and gear myself up for whatever they're gonna say, then have them comment on my Z Coil shoes or the t-shirt I'm wearing and never mention the kilt...

Ron

[Merlin]

I saw a gent wearing a kilt at the baseball game last night....I couldn't get over to him but I wanted to ask about the tartan.

[Zardoz]

I was talking about some of this this kind of stuff with my wife the other day. We were looking at some photos from a motorcycle trip where some citizens at a rest stop wanted a picture with her because she was in her leather biker gear. I've had that happen too, been somewhere out of context, like in the mall, in my biker togs and had somebody want a picture, I always thought "yeah if a bunch of my friends were here, you'd just be scared of us".

So we thought, on what other occasions have folks ever wanted to take a picture of/with us? And they have always been when we are out in puplic, but might be dressed "differently" than everyone else, like in Highlandwear, Old West, Renfaire, SciFi Costume, Biker Gear etc..

I have come to the conclusion that if you can be singled out as being dressed 'differently' from the norm, no matter how mundane you think it is, I believe the general public sees your kilt in the same light as if you were sporting a Starfleet uniform! They are dressed "normal" you are dressed "weird"! They seem to then make the mental leap that you must be there for their entertainment in some way, and therefore feel entitled to ask you the most bizzare questions.

Or maybe I think too much,

[Chas]

Of course everyone of us is different and will have had different experiences, but in general most of the approaches to me have been 'Excuse me, Sir' rather than 'Oi You'.

While I was in Scotland, I had the question: "Are you a true Scotsman today?" put to me on various occasions. That left me free to answer quite truthfully that I was in fact an Englishman.

Regards

Chas

[Cynthia]

I have come to the conclusion that if you can be singled out as being dressed 'differently' from the norm, no matter how mundane you think it is, I believe the general public sees your kilt in the same light as if you were sporting a Starfleet uniform! They are dressed "normal" you are dressed "weird"! They seem to then make the mental leap that you must be there for their entertainment in some way, and therefore feel entitled to ask you the most bizzare questions.

Actually, I've noticed that sort of reaction as well. Just about anything out of the ordinary from how you are dressed, to what you are doing. And yes, they seem to think you're the hired entertainment for that moment.