Our Tartan Expert routes a weasel!!!!

[MacWage]

I'd just like to point out Matt Newsome's newest blog on the International Tartans North Carolina (and South Carolina Tartans) rip-off artistics.
http://blog.albanach.org/2007/03/int...-it-again.html

I STRONGLY agree with Matt here!!!!
Their table last year at the Greenville Games was an exercise in deception and I think BOTH Matt and I REALLY POed the guy (independantly)!!

International Tartans is THE REASON I know am finishing up a 16 oz Carolina tartan box pleat!!

An example of what Matt talks of on the new version of the site is:
http://www.internationaltartans.co.u...outh-carolina/

"The South Carolina tartan was created to strengthen the bonds of kinship between the peoples of Scotland and the State of South Carolina, and for the benefit and well-being of the people of the State of South Carolina.
The colours are taken from the colours of the Scottish Saltire and the State Flag of South Carolina. The tartan for all true South Carolinians.
Dissatisfied with the fact that the patronisingly named Carolina tartan had been adopted by the legislatures of both North and South Carolina as their State symbol, Mary Katherine Hurt of Sumpter, SC contacted International Tartans to confirm the existence of the North Carolina tartan, and instantly commissioned one for her own State.
Although attempts have been made to discredit it by some with a vested interest in the Carolina tartan, the South Carolina has proved to be popular in ‘the Palmetto State’. In the words of Matt Newsome, custodian of the Scottish Tartans Museum in Charlotte.
…in some instances, a tartan may be “unofficially” approved for a district by wont and usage. In other words, if a particular tartan is being manufactured and sold for a particular district, and people are buying and wearing that tartan to represent that district, then over time the tartan becomes generally accepted as a district tartan through no one’s authority other than the weavers and wearers.
District Tartans: An Introduction
Adapted from ‘The Compendium of District Tartans’ by Newsome & Bullman"

THAT is MUCH better than it was, but STILL has deceit behind the phrasing, as if Carolina was "forced" upon the state by outside interest, rather than being created/developed/adapted (in this case a bit of all 3) FOR the state by those IN the Carolinas. YET, as Matt says in his blog . . . I could GET Carolina made for me in a custom run, BUT NOT IT's "South Carolina." THAT makes Carolina the State Tartan, while IT's "South Carolina" is a copyrighted "fashion tartan."
By the way: Sumter is spelled Sumter, though (like Clemson), it is pronounced "Sumpter."
Southern (like Scots) has an "imvisible P" in some words (esp. names), much like Thompson and so forth.