Wannabe Scot

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

No reason you should. And, if you read back through what I have said in this thread, you'll see that I admitted that up front...

Mike, my question was actually more rhetorical and not directed at anyone. It just happened to be your post that I quoted.

...Or, we can sit around here and talk about nothing more than creases in our pleats. Once we all learn how to steam out the creases, then we can go back to matching our ties to our flashes...

No PLEASE, some of those posting pictures have no fashion sense or color coordination (an I include myself in that list) and I sometimes get retina burn from some of the combinations!

And I actually do enjoy reading the posts that reveal some history. I just do not see knowing that history as necessary to wear the kilt. Similar to not needing to know Scottish cuisine to wear the kilt, as mentioned on another thread.

This is a good thread!

[Iolaus]

Just my two cents. I think if you are trying to recreate a "traditional" look, then you will probably be expected, by others, to know a little something about the tradition you are portraying; that's just the way people are. If you're creating a more modern look, people are less likely to expect you to know about history, because you're not portraying history.

I am fairly well read, and some of the trivia that clutters up the back recesses of my mind does have to do with Scots and kilts, but I don't see a need to immerse myself in the culture; the knowledge I pick up casually along the way is good enough.

[Graham]

I'll wade in again and say that as far as "scottish-ness" is concerned, and my relationship to it, I'm most comfortable with the basic principles proposed by New World Celts . To me they encapsulate the issue well.

One of their aims is:
To perpetuate Celtic Culture and history in the New World.

So I see myself as a person with distant celtic origins, now in the new world (Australia in my case), happy here but with a desire to promote and perpetuate celticism through music, celebration, and wearing the kilt.

If folk in Scotland, or anywhere else, don't want to celebrate their heritage, or want to get all exclusive about it, that's their problem.
I won't let it affect my life experience.

Graham -kilt wearing isnt frowned upon in Scotland, honestly.

I did say "often frowned upon", that doesn't mean always and everywhere.
Reactions can be greatly varied, from just being seen as a tourist as Ranald says, to looks of disdain and just being ignored.

Wearing a kilt in a pipe band is of course very accepted, but casual wear, I think much less so.
Really, it's no different here in Australia, and I would guess anywhere else. Attitudes are the same.

and yes, I do know that most famous scots have never probably worn a kilt and wearing a kilt doesn't make you a scot. I would have thought that level of maturity is accepted of those who post on this forum.

The "dissappointment" I expressed is that one would hope that Scotland would be the place where the kilt is more widely accepted in every circumstance than anywhere else.
Sure there are places where that is the case (perhaps Edinburgh for example), but overall...maybe not.

I had no illusions shattered in Scotland, I did my research here and elsewhere and pretty much knew what to expect.

An illustration: you travel to Skye, you know it rains a lot there in summer, you expect it, but it doesn't stop you being dissappointed when it rains the whole time you are there!!
So it is with kiltwearing there.
Beyond all this unnecessarily wordy discussion... I love Scotland, especially the landscape and historical buildings, the churches and cathedrals, and Iona above all.
I can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

[Mike1]

I can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

Well, c'mon then. I leave two weeks from tomorrow, you can go with me. ;)

[GlassMan]

Wearing a kilt in Aberdeen screams 'tourist' it's been said

The important thing about the attitude is that it's a response to the perceived touristy nature of kilt-wearing.

Living in another place known for being a magnet for tourists (Washington DC Metro Area) I can tell you that clothing and behavior that is defined as "tourist-like" is frowned upon as well.

For example, most DC natives avoid the Smithsonian museums like the plague. Why? When I've asked people to go with me the response is usually, "But that's what tourists do."

Another example was once I was visiting a friend in Philadelphia. We went to the art museum and there was a guy posing for a picture on the steps ala "Rocky." My friend commented that it was rare for a native to even go to the museum and that they'd never take such a picture. "Only tourists do that." Of course I then forced her to pose for just such a picture!

It's human nature to want to identify with your subgroup (locals) and not be seen as behaving in a way that characterizes the other (tourists). We're social animals and innocent little instances of group differentiation like that are a part of our every day lives.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the desire to not look like a tourist is probably the most understandable explanation for the low incidence of kilt-wearing in Scotland that I've ever heard.

[auld argonian]

Tourist behaviour....as a Native Chicagoan, I am proud to say that I have never been to the top of the Sears Tower. I have not a few friends who are Native New Yorkers who have, similarly, not been to the top of the Empire State Building or to the Statue of Liberty...I guess that nobody wants to look or act like a tourist.

One of my favorite "tourist" moments was in Amsterdam where I was walking along and a car pulled up to the curb next to me and a guy jumped out and started walking toward me...of course I freaked out a little: even in Chicago this is a situation that could have, shall we say, negative implications. Turns out that this guy was a German tourist who started aksing me directions in what I recognized as very broken Dutch while his wife and kids looked on from the car. I had to explain (well, try to explain) that I was, in fact, not a native of Amsterdam but only a poor, ignorant American who was, himself, a tourist and, being a citizen of the United States, spoke no other language than my own (because EVERYONE speaks English, don't they?) and I couldn't help him. Tourist.

Best

AA

[Ranald]

The important thing about the attitude is that it's a response to the perceived touristy nature of kilt-wearing.

Living in another place known for being a magnet for tourists (Washington DC Metro Area) I can tell you that clothing and behavior that is defined as "tourist-like" is frowned upon as well.

For example, most DC natives avoid the Smithsonian museums like the plague. Why? When I've asked people to go with me the response is usually, "But that's what tourists do."

Another example was once I was visiting a friend in Philadelphia. We went to the art museum and there was a guy posing for a picture on the steps ala "Rocky." My friend commented that it was rare for a native to even go to the museum and that they'd never take such a picture. "Only tourists do that." Of course I then forced her to pose for just such a picture!

It's human nature to want to identify with your subgroup (locals) and not be seen as behaving in a way that characterizes the other (tourists). We're social animals and innocent little instances of group differentiation like that are a part of our every day lives.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the desire to not look like a tourist is probably the most understandable explanation for the low incidence of kilt-wearing in Scotland that I've ever heard.

so what your trying to say that two weeks ago I was the only tourist in Aberdeen, I think not !
Second maybe I've missed the point but I'm no tourist, I was shopping.