This is the other one that I asked of Cecil a while back that has not yet been answered: Why is it considered improper to leave one’s hat on when indoors? Is it simply a matter of practicality or is there something about the message that doing so sends to others that I’m missing (for the record I try to observe that particular custom)?
(Bolding mine.) http://www.levinehat.com/etiquette/
(Color from source) http://www.advancedetiquette.com/2010/04/hat-etiquette/
Other cites repeat, ad infinitum, with the basic premise is that it’s a sign of respect.
If I remember correctly, removing one’s head covering is a sign of deference; not removing one’s head covering indicates one does not defer, one is deferred to. This, obviously, is a tab inappropriate in a church, or in an egalitarian society. This applies only to men, as we still maintain the charmingly offensive fiction that ladies are always deferred to.
A lady does not wear a hat in her own home. She may wear a less structured covering, such as a mantilla; she may wear a hat inside anyone else’s home; she may wear one out of doors, lounging by the pool, or strolling through the rose gardens.
I suspect there may be more strict rules about ladies’ hats in England, where they have royalty and some amazing hats.
It should be noted that there have always been certain exceptions to the quoted etiquette rules. William Penn, for example, refused to take off his hat in the presence of the king. And cowboys in the Old West always wore their hats.
As a matter of fact, any time you see somebody take off his cowboy hat in a restaurant, you can bet your last dollar that (A) he is not a cowboy, and (B) he has no clue about the Western hat-wearing tradition, which is very different from the Eastern hat-wearing tradition.
Emily Post and the like come from the Eastern tradition, which is, in my opinion, “over-civilized” to the point of lunacy.
I take my hat off when sitting down at a table. I am not comfortable with it on. At the same time I am not comfortable with my jacket on while eating. The restraint has to be really cold for me to keep my jacket. And the third thing I take off when eating is my eye glasses. While eating they bug me don’t know why but they do.
Nope - AFAIK the above advice applies here as well. Although I am not sure why deferring to ladies is a “charmingly offensive fiction”. Charming - yes. Offensive - surely not?
Those cold restraints are a bugger.
I have worn a hat for many years when outside and always remove it indoors. My wife hates wearing hats so very rarely does. I have noticed that I see more men in the street these days.
In English churches it used to be expected that ladies would wear hats, but that is not the case now. That said, my daughter is getting married in church and felt it helpful to let the ladies know that hats were not expected. I think that weddings are the last bastion of many outdated dress codes, like top hats and tailcoats for example.
There are other occasions like Royal Ascot where the dress code includes hats for the ladies. Some of these are pretty amazing.
On the other side of the channel though, some Catholic churches insist that vising ladies cover their heads. Other faiths have their own rules everywhere.
Do you have any citations to back this up? I’m not in a position to dispute this, but also have never heard of it.
Old West cowboys wearing their hats 100% of the time while outdoors, which they were about 98% of their working lifetimes? Sure. Leaving their hat on when indoors? Color me skeptical.
To be sure, in movies depicting the Old West it was always good to have the characters wear their hats in the saloon. That way when the fight broke out it was easy to tell the good guys in white hats from the bad guys in black. And who were the leaders by their larger, nicer hats. Reality was IMO probably a bit different.
Whether a modern ranchette-owning Stetson wearer ought to take off his hat indoors in modern suburbia is a bit of a separate question. Especially if we think his neighbor sporting the John Deere trucker cap ought to take his off.
But cowboys never went into restaurants; they only went into saloons! 
But the more significant point about the William Penn story is its punchline - the king, Charles II, then took off his hat. In other words, Charles II would normally have kept his hat on. Much like Louis XIV can be seen doing in this painting. What’s more, when the most important people present were social equals, they all kept their hats on (the exception being the servant at the back).
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are there are ample and well spaced hat pegs on the wall?
I call bullshit. I expect that if this tradition existed at all, it was in the pages of the penny dreadfuls and, later, on moom pitcher screens. I lived in TX for a number of years and the real, working cowboys that I saw there mostly wore gimme caps and work boots for their actual cowboying. Stetsons and cockroach-killers were for going to bars or barbecues.
There may be some evidence of hats being worn indoors in the old West, but I’m not sure I’d class the wearers as “polite society.”
There’s nothing wrong with wearing a hat indoors with two possible exceptions, blocking someone’s view at an event, or wearing a Yankees cap, which shouldn’t be allowed outdoors either. People who express offense at an indoor hat-wearer are being impolite. People who express offense at anyone wearing Yankees gear are just being good citizens.
I think being a gentleman when out of style a awhile ago. Men no longer open the car door for women or hold a door open for them or give up their seat in subways or buses . There certainly are not many gentlemen on the road while driving or ladies either. And there are not many gentlemen or ladies on the internets .
And they are in a gambling establishment. I have my suspicions that those guys would have removed their hats if they found themselves in a more refined setting. Even today, it’s acceptable to keep your hat on in a bar, including baseball caps. For one thing, if you are seated on a barstool or standing, there’s nowhere to put it. Note that the quotes above concerning where gentleman wear their hats don’t mention bars, probably assuming “gentleman” don’t enter them.
Of course, I can imagine what the etiquette guides have to say about Panama hats worn with Hawaiian shirts, something I’ll affect sometimes during the summer.
Hmmm. I wonder if he has apoplexy if it’s cold out and I’m still wearing the stocking cap I wandered in with.
However true, the mythology is at least fun to play with.
Kinky Friedman isn’t quite right there - there are other groups which keep the head covered as a religious injunction, but I always liked the quote.
So basically a bunch of people made up some rules a long time ago in a place far away that many people (for some unknown reason) still feel bound by. I don’t think you are going to find much more reason to it.
I open the car door for my gf and open doors for her when we enter a building. She appreciates the gesture. I don’t use subways or buses. Opening a door for a random female can lead to a glare from said random female, IME, hence I’ve discontinued the practice.
Considering the heated debates I’ve read, here and elsewhere, about shoes on vs. off indoors, I’m not surprised that there are similar cultural rules about headwear.
I wear hat on the outside because hat is what I feel like on the inside
My west Texas great-grandmother would have excused you from the table forthwith and no fooling if you showed up with a hat on. My great-granddad would have just knocked it off your head and asked if you were born in a barn. For one thing, after being out in the fields with all the sand, the thing was filthy. Take it off outside and shake the sand out, then hang it up at the door.
Cowboy hat on in the house, indeed! Not by anyone who expect to actually remain in the house for any amount of time.