Probably he's a tourist ?

[Freelander Sporrano]

Here's one for you who live in Scotland. When I was in Scotland last year I heard the comment "If you see a man in the kilt He's probably a tourist or working in the tourist industy."
It seem rather a negative way of describing what the kilt means for Scotland.Especially comming from a Scotsman.
Do ordinary Scotsman use the kilt daily?
I must admit I saw only one gent wearing it (In Inverness high street.)Besides the usual tourist encounters.
Coments Please.

[al' Sporrano]

Here's one for you who live in Scotland. When I was in Scotland last year I heard the comment "If you see a man in the kilt He's probably a tourist or working in the tourist industy."
It seem rather a negative way of describing what the kilt means for Scotland.Especially comming from a Scotsman.
Do ordinary Scotsman use the kilt daily?
I must admit I saw only one gent wearing it (In Inverness high street.)Besides the usual tourist encounters.
Coments Please.

Hi Freelander


Our good friends Robbie and Jack (not heard from him for a while) are Scots through and through and wear their kilts all the time.

Having said that, guys in kilts have been a rare sight on my trips up north. I live close to the border so get up there quite a bit.

I've worn mine, but I'm a 'tourist'. The others I've seen have tended to be 'buskers' and 'tour guides', 'Hotel proprietors' wearing their kilts when entertaining guests and 'supporters' at football and rugby internationals.

Formal functions of course. Weddings, ceilidhs
and the like. Highland games. I've seen maybe three or four out and about in the countryside or by the beach. The odd one probably out for a meal at night.

Otherwise sightings appear to be very rare indeed.

Al

[Blu (Ontario)]

I know I've said this before but it stands repeating... I think it's a terrible waste of a beautiful functional garment to hang in a closet collecting dust and moth-holes. But that's exactly where most of the kilts on the planet go. For Shame!

blu

[Susan]

jeeeez I posted on the wrong topic regarding this subject...lol...you'll have to look for it...

[Alaskan Celt]

[Rob]

While I obviously can not speak for those people living in Scotland...don't forget that living in Scotland does not make one a Celt. There is a significant number of people who would, for lack of a better word, be described as Saxon, who reside through out the UK..and have imposed their Saxon "attitudes" on the Celts of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland for many generations.

Alaskan Celt,

It may surprise you to learn that from DNA surveys, it has been discovered that about 60% of the current population of England are of Celtic ancestry. The descendents of the Anglo-Saxons are the ones who are in the minority throughout the UK.

I don't think you can blame the Saxons for the dearth of kilt wearing by Scottish men.

Rob (South Western Celt)

[Alaskan Celt]

[Rob]

Is it 60% of the current population has "some" Celtic DNA...60% of the current populations majority DNA comes from Celtic origins...60% of the current populations DNA is 100% Celtic etc. Did they put it in context...as opposed to what?

I guess I should have been more specific in my original post...I was trying to suggest "attitudes", not suggesting we do a DNA analysis of the population of Scotland, England or anywhere else for that matter. A person could be 100% English and proudly wear kilts with no disrespect to Celts (and I gladly welcome them), just as easily as a 100% Celt could have the attitude of the "English" and disrespect his own heritage(and I just as gladly reject them). We don't have to look far into Scotish history to find examples of "Scots" who were more "English" than Celtic.

As far as I am concerned, people of any blood are welcome to wear kilts...it's a matter of attitude. In my estimation, those who do not have a respectfull attitude towards the attire are just wearing skirts. But those are just my feelings... to each his own.

Alaskan Celt,

I introduced the DNA survey because you mentioned ‘Saxon’ attitudes opposed to those of Ireland Scotland and Wales. This seemed to be endorsing the age-old fallacy that the Irish, Welsh and Scots are all Celts, whereas the English are all Saxons. This misconception has been proved to be incorrect by DNA surveys such as “A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles” conducted by University College, London (UCL). The conclusion was that the Y-Chromosome gene pool found in English males is 60% Celtic and 40% Germanic overall (ranging from 30/70 to 75/25 depending on the region). There is no reason to suspect that the proportions in the female gene pool are significantly different.

I merely mentioned this, as many people tend to blame the Saxons for what they perceive as typically English intolerant attitudes. As you rightly say, intolerance is found to a limited extent throughout the UK, as well as in all other countries. I have personally not found the people from any region of the UK to be generally intolerant to kilt wearing, but there will always be the odd ‘redneck’ ignorant type wherever you happen to live.

Rob

[Casey]

Ah!!!! The world of statistics.

When it comes to Celtic culture, given my limited historical knowledge, what goes around comes around.

We Celts dominated other cultures, and then are dominated us.

Where are those Etruscans when you need them.

Alaskan,

How's my history?

Casey

[Alaskan]

Casey, if you are asking me because I said I was a history minor in another post, I am sorry I don't have a great knowledge of European history. My focus was on Japanese history.

From what I have read, though your assessment seems pretty accurate. The early history of Scotland was hard for me to follow with so many different peoples moving back and forth between Scotland, Ireland, the islands and Norway.