Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
You are of course quite correct, Matt. However, I suspect that NJ may well have had his tongue placed firmly in his cheek when he made that statement. Also I suspect if you asked a Scot what a real kilt was, he would reply that it would have to be tartan and would have to contain 8 yards of wool cloth.Not an inch less. On a historical note, I doubt that many Scots have ever heard of box pleats and would regard anything other than knife pleats as some modern, new fangled idea that some one from Timbuktu has just thought up!Ho hum!
Jock,

I have no doubt that what you say is true about what the average modern Scot considers a "real kilt." However, just because someone is born and raised in Scotland does not make them an expert on their own country's history. I'm afraid that all too often I have seen evidence that teh average Scot is just as ignorant of Scotland's history as the average American is ignorant of our history! So it's not just a Scottish problem. :-)

The only way to get people to be more aware of the history of the kilt is simply to point out errors where one sees them and make accurate information available.

So I would say that an tartan kilt, made from an average of eight yards of cloth and knife pleated is the most common and recognized form of kilt today, but we still must recognize that, historically, the kilt has been made from as little as three yards of cloth, can be either solid or tartan, and has been made with a variety of styles of pleating.

If more Scots would simply go to their own museums and take a close look at some of the kilts on display there, they might be more open to this fact!