Sgian Dhub question

[bear]

If you're going to wear your sgian dhub for everyday use, keep it concealed.
The traditional way is the common sense approach in this instance. Put it in your sock for formal occasions but keep it in easy reach otherwise. Anyone who doesn't like this approach should leave it at home.
Unless frisked, there's no way anyone should know you have it.

[Alaskan]

-Robbie and Casey, Alaskan Celt's name is not Charles. That is a quote from the book "So You're Going to Wear the Kilt" by J. Charles Thompson.

-Bear, why should someone who wants to wear their sgian dubh in their hose leave it at home? You always talk about how you don't like people trying to impose any kind of guidelines about how to dress with a kilt, yet here you are telling people they shouldn't wear a sgian dubh in their hose unless it is a formal occasion.

[bear]

-Robbie and Casey, Alaskan Celt's name is not Charles. That is a quote from the book "So You're Going to Wear the Kilt" by J. Charles Thompson.

-Bear, why should someone who wants to wear their sgian dubh in their hose leave it at home? You always talk about how you don't like people trying to impose any kind of guidelines about how to dress with a kilt, yet here you are telling people they shouldn't wear a sgian dubh in their hose unless it is a formal occasion.

Firstly, I'm not telling anyone what to wear. A sgian dubh is a weapon, not a garment. A weapon has different rules than a garment.
Here's what my post said, more simply put.
Anyone who openly carries a sgian dubh, formal occasions aside, should be willing to use it. If you don't like that possibility, you should leave it at home.
If you don't like the possibility that your sgian dubh might get taken away by the police, you should leave it at home.
Like I said, it's common sense. Simple enough for you?

[Alaskan]

Bear- you say that the sgian dubh is a weapon, not a garmanet and thus the rules are different. Knives are not weapons. Knives are tools. They can be used as a weapon just as a hammer can be used as a weapon, but that is not their exclusive purpose. Furthermore, the sgian dubh is an accessory that goes with kilts just like the kilt pin is. In this sense, when you say "If you're going to wear your sgian dubh for everyday use keep it concealed. Anyone who doesn't like this approach should leave it at home." You are telling people how to dress.

Anyone who openly carries a sgian dubh should be prepared to use it? For opening boxes? Cutting apples?
I know that you mean as a weapon, and I think that people should be prepared to use any means at their disposal to defend themselves from attackers. (I would think that was pretty obvious from my quote.) However, there are a multitude of uses for a knife every day.


As for the possibility of a sgian dubh being confiscated by the police, I have already said several times that the laws vary depending on where you live. Don't be so ethno-centric that you think that just because a sgian dubh is not accepted by the authorities in your area, that that is the way it is everywhere else as well.

[Alaskan Celt]

"Firstly, I'm not telling anyone what to wear. A sgian dubh is a weapon, not a garment. A weapon has different rules than a garment".

Knives (and guns)are like fire or water they have no personality of their own, they acquire the character of those who use them...they can be used for good or evil. A knife is not a weapon when stuck in a sock or sheathed on your belt or slicing bread...it becomes a weapon when it is used to slice a throat. It is defined by its application. Those of you who live in countries, provinces or states (including state of mind)that believe a utensil becomes a weapon when the blade goes from 21/2 inches to 3 inches have my sincere sympathy.

[bubba]

It's a question of what's legal. Where I live it must be no longer than 3 inches, period, no exceptions. The law here views a blade over 3 inches being carried on your person as a weapon. Some years ago I had a switchblade comb that was confiscated on the premise that it could decieve others into believing it was a knife. You gotta stay within what laws are where you live.

[Alaskan]

Bubba, it seems that the people on this forum are from all around the world. Any opinions we have about what we should and shouldn't wear that are based on local laws don't have any meaning here.

If a statement is qualified with something like "where I live" as you did in your last post, then that is fine. However, previously you stated that "In the United States..." Which was not true because the laws are not the same in all 50 states. And Bear's statement about "If you don't like the possibility that it will be confiscated by the police" does not make sense for people who do not live somewhere with (what I think are redicuous) laws about the kinds of knives you can and can not carry. Where I am from there is no possibility whatsoever that a sgian dubh would be confiscated by the police just because an individual is wearing it in their kilt hose.

You say that where you live a blade over 3 inches long is a weapon. That is an arbitrary decision made by the politicians in your area. The same does not apply everywhere else. You can't carry golf clubs on the airline now, but I wouldn't suggest that nobody should carry golf clubs because they might be confiscated by authorities.

[bear]

Bear- you say that the sgian dubh is a weapon, not a garmanet and thus the rules are different. Knives are not weapons. Knives are tools. They can be used as a weapon just as a hammer can be used as a weapon, but that is not their exclusive purpose. Furthermore, the sgian dubh is an accessory that goes with kilts just like the kilt pin is. In this sense, when you say "If you're going to wear your sgian dubh for everyday use keep it concealed. Anyone who doesn't like this approach should leave it at home." You are telling people how to dress.

By this argument, you are saying that a sword worn with a kilt is not a weapon, it is an accessory or a tool. Your argument is flawed. A Leatherman is a tool. A Swiss Army Knife is a tool. A sgian dubh is a weapon.
To call a sgian dubh a tool is to say it has no historical value or heritage and unnecessary as an accessory. Is a katana just a tool?

Anyone who openly carries a sgian dubh should be prepared to use it? For opening boxes? Cutting apples?
I know that you mean as a weapon, and I think that people should be prepared to use any means at their disposal to defend themselves from attackers. (I would think that was pretty obvious from my quote.) However, there are a multitude of uses for a knife every day.

Again, tools vs weapons.

As for the possibility of a sgian dubh being confiscated by the police, I have already said several times that the laws vary depending on where you live. Don't be so ethno-centric that you think that just because a sgian dubh is not accepted by the authorities in your area, that that is the way it is everywhere else as well.

I was referring to Bubba's area not allowing knives, not my own.

The thread was about some places that were allowed to carry knives and some that were not.

Do you know what ethnocentric means?

ethno-
Function: combining form
Etymology: French, from Greek ethno-, ethn-, from ethnos
: race : people : cultural group <ethnocentric>

I think you must have meant something else.

[Alaskan Celt]

"Do you know what ethnocentric means? ...I think you must have meant something else."

Check with your local semanticist, Alaskan did use the word correctly, perhaps he was misunderstood; or it is a regional difference not unlike some people misspelling color as colour or center as centre

The point that I was trying to make(that also seems to have been missed):The fact remains, that the object is not the weapon; the weapon is between ones ears. If society wants to protect itself from "weapons" we need to make a clean sweep. Many have been trained to take people out with a #2 pencil...where does it end!

[Alaskan]

Being ethnocentric means you do not understand that some cultures have fundamental differences from your own and you think that only the customs/traditions/values of your culture are correct. If you can't understand that sometimes t isn't right and wrong, it is just different, then you are ethnocentric. If you don't even realize that other places have different laws, then that is extremetly ethnocentric.

What makes a sgian dubh a weapon? Yes, sometimes sgian dubhs were used as a last resort weapon, but the sgian dubh was originally made for and more commonly used as an eating utensil. Why does calling it a tool take away it's historical significance and herritage? As for making it unnecessary as an accessory, I would argue that it's being a tool is what makes it necessary as an accessory.

This thread wasn't about some places being allowed to carry knives and some not. This thread was asking if anyone carries a sgian dubh in any but formal occasions. Some people started saying that there is no reason for one (there are a million reasons to carry a knife at all times), or that it is illegal to carry one (maybe in some of your areas, but not everywhere) or that people who don't agree with a certain way of thinking shouldn't wear them (the most rediculous thing I have heard).