How to explain why you wear a kilt.

[MacTavishOfJapan]

Does anyone know if it's common to be asked why you are wearing a kilt in Scotland? Just curious, I intend to be kilted a lot back home and wonder if questions are common there too. You'd think not, huh?

[McClef]

I have never been asked why when I have been kilted in Scotland.

The usual question is from tourists saying "can I have a photograph?"

[MacTavishOfJapan]

That's fine by me.

[Nanook]

Does anyone know if it's common to be asked why you are wearing a kilt in Scotland?

Yes (depends upon where and in which context). Most people dash about, after all, in Scotland as well as Ireland in an assortment of "leisure" or "casual ware", overwhelmingly made in PR China and ranging from jeans to jogging suits with trainers. The sight of jeans, Bolo ties and "cowboy boots" is oddly more common and less something to stare at then kilts or even knee breeches. Traditional Irish garb is more to be found on the streets of London, Oxford or Cambridge than in Belfast or Dublin. In parts of the Highlands and in some schools kilts are de rigueur but its only in the past few years that its become less a "special sight" in Edinburgh or Glasgow. A lot of football fans wear kilts to watch games. Still. if your "dressed to kilt" you will none-the-less probably draw some looks and maybe even a question or two.

[GallowHill]

Short answers:

"The voices in my head tell me to."

This one just moved to the top of my list!

Scott

[Ugly Bear]

"Because no one can stop me."

If that doesn't shut them up and they ask, "No, really, WHY are you wearing a kilt?" this response always embarrasses them:

"Because the boys need a break."

[Riverkilt]

Really depends on who is doing the asking and what their demeanor is.

My short answer when being polite is, "Comfort and Freedom." That usually does it.

If its a serious intellectual type question, "Because I'm 62 years old and can dress as I please."

If its a smart alec approach, "If I wanted to dress like a woman I'd wear pants."

If I wanna have some fun myself, "Because my balls made parole."

I like, "I need more room than most men" and "Because the voices tell me to." May try them both as opportunity presents.

Thanks to this board we can be well prepared for this question. I don't think the general public realizes we communicate with each other and hone our responses in preparation for their inquiries. I don't think they realize there are more than the one of us they encounter.

Kilts are coming though, its hard to deny common sense when it comes to fashion.

Ron

[PiobBear]

The sight of jeans, Bolo ties and "cowboy boots" (in Scotland) is oddly more common and less something to stare at than kilts...

Several years ago I piped a wake for a friend of mine from Falkirk, held at our pub. His family had come over, and they had me, an American in a kilt on the Great Highland pipes playing traditional Scottish tunes, and his brother, a Scotsman, in jeans & cowboy boots playing Country & Western on a guitar.


The week before, I'd attended the funeral of another friend of mine, also a piper and regular at our pub. Afterwards, not caring for the dry, brittle biscuits and florescent red punch the church ladies had set out, I stopped by the pub where Stuart and I had spent many an evening.
I met Martin there; he had been on his way to Stuart's funeral, but had been rear-ended on the way, totaling his car. We commiserated for our friend Stuart, Martin's wrecked car, and dry wakes; we postulated that when our day came, we'd prefer that our friends and family be somewhere more comfortable; where we'd known each other in life, where they can reminisce, lie, and sing or pipe a tune or two, and have good beer and food at hand...someplace like right here.
The next day, Martin had a splitting headache, the day after he was admitted to hospital, and the next day he died of a cerebral aneurism secondary to his car crash Saturday. Seven days after Martin and I had that conversation over a pint, I piped his wake at the self same pub, just as we'd discussed a week before.

[MacTavishOfJapan]

Wow PiobBear, that story is heart-wrenching. Yet, how fortunate you had a chance to have that conversation so his wishes could be honoured.

[Schultz]

As I posted in another form elsewhere, I sometimes just say I'm an American, a citizen of the land of the free and the home of the brave. I am merely brave enough to exercise my freedom.

Most of the time I just say because I want to and it's comfortable.