Ever been at a loss for words after a kilt comment?

[Phogfan86]

Maybe this needs to go in the "overheard" thread, but I'll go ahead and bring this up.

With the weather here in Kansas finally cooling off, I decided to wear my "everyday" kilt -- a Sportkilt, Hunting tartan -- to a high school football game Friday night. My son is in the band and drumline.

I got a couple of comments or questions from some high school kids before the game -- the usual stuff -- and I was usually able to come back with something funny ("It's a kilt; if I was wearing anything underneath it, then it would be a skirt," etc.) while also saying, "It's a traditional Scottish garment and one of the most comfortable things you'll ever wear." Jokes and education -- what a deal!

Anyway, what threw me was, during the game, a woman I am acquainted with needed to get by me to go to the concession stand. As I let her by, she smiled and said, "What a nice skirt! I love it! That's great."

I kept waiting for the indication that she was kidding and just giving me a hard time, and it never came. She's got a Masters in nursing and is also a practicing attorney. I thought I should've said something, but what? I was at a total loss for words. She went to the concession stand and I sat back down. I turned to my wife and asked, "Did you hear that?" She didn't, but a woman behind me who I am also acquainted with giggled and said, "I did." I asked her if she thought the woman was teasing and just didn't pull the joke off well, and she said, "I don't think so." She giggled again.

There was a long pause. I had no idea what to say. Coming from an educated 50-year-old woman, that threw me for a loop. Then the woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Even though Englishmen have died for less, try not to kill her, lad."

Has anyone else gotten a comment like that that caught you so off-guard, you were at a loss?

[Freedomlover]

Well, it is a skirt. (see several threads on the topic). It sounds like she meant it in a nice way, so letting it ride was/is probably a good idea. But I got a similar comment a few years ago in Gettysburg, PA. The lady says essentially the same thing, and I replied, "Thank you. For what it cost it should be".

[Brewboy]

I get the "nice skirt" comment all the time from people who are honestly trying to pay me a compliment. I think for most people, seeing someone in a kilt is such a rare thing and so deeply associated with Scotland, that if they see one out of context, they don't immediately identify it as a kilt.

After the comment, "It's a kilt." is made, many of them look like a switch has been flipped in their head. They say something like, "Of course...kilt...I'm sorry." looking embarrassed that the didn't recognize the kilt, because they DO know what a kilt is, it just took them by surprise.

Then again she just might not know what a kilt is. Knowledge in area A does not automatically lead to knowledge in area B, even if knowledge in area A is extensive.

Wow, that was ineloquent. Good thing I'm not drafting any contracts tonight.

[Sionnach]

Likely she was just searching for the right word, which wasn't forthcoming. I have a sis-in-law who is a well educated attorney and is often at a loss for the right word. All in all sounds positive. And yeah, I am kind of like Winnie the Pooh (a bear of very little brain, who lives under the names of Sanders...) when it comes to snappy replies. I usually think of them later- mostly while I am wishing sleep would come upon me.

[Riverkilt]

I notice that a lot of folks have trouble coming up with the word kilt, maybe because they use it so seldom.

My standard response to a skirt comment is, "Thank you, a kilt is a type of skirt." And I leave it at that.

Made a supply run to WalMarche' today and got two unusual comments. One in the aisles from a lady even older than I, "The Campbells are coming?" Politely answered, "No, the MacLeans." Had on my MacLean Hunting semi-trad.

Out in the parking lot a man driving a tour van said with a heavy Scottish accent, "You're not Scottish are you??" Told him, "No, but my blood is."

He seemed satisfied and drove off with his vanload of tourists.

The comments come so often and from so many varied places I don't think its possible to be ready for every one every time.

Ron

[Standard]

Sounds to me like she was trying to pay you a compliment without being able to come up with the actual name of the garment you were wearing. As some others have stated it is so rare for most people to actually see a kilt being worn outside of a Saint Patrick's Day parade that they simply can't think of the correct word to use. It certainly doesn't sound like she made the comment with any ill intent.

The comment from the lady behind (Then the woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Even though Englishmen have died for less, try not to kill her, lad.") you was priceless.

[FreeDon!]

Yep, I've gotten the "That's a nice/beautiful skirt" comment before. A simple "thanks!" works fine. It's usually pretty easy to tell if it's a compliment or not, I think.

[ChattanCat]

I was dumbfounded by this:
Woman: "Are you Swedish?"
Me: "No, I am scottish."
Woman: "Are you in the olympics?"

[SteveB]

I have learned that the "Nice Skirt" is generally a compliment, especially from the ladies. This is true of a neighbor whose husband wears the kilt in a pipe band. Usually right after the "Nice Skirt,I like the tarta...Oops, I meant kilt!". For many people the kilt is worn on a gent in a parade or on the field at a reenactment. The general public is not even aware of Highland Games. The skirt comment is the only thing that comes to mind when meeting a kilted man in person. Today, no less than twenty people asked me about the Roslindale Parade, and if I was in it. ( I was not) All this in one grocery store.
Slainte

[Carolina Kiltman]

Then the woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Even though Englishmen have died for less, try not to kill her, lad."

I have a T-shirt one of my grandkids gave me a while back which states:

"Why do they call it a kilt? Because a lot of people have been kilt for calling it a skirt."

It always geta a smile.