# Modern hat etiquitte **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400 "2008-06-10T02:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/1 "2008-06-10T02:57:30Z")
So, all you hiply-lidded folks: what are the currently accepted rules for hat-wearing manners? I’m familiar with [traditional hat etiquitte](http://www.bcvc.net/hats/) but have a few particular questions. I’m female, but wear a [man’s hat](http://www.cowboy-outfitter.com/0431_Royal_Flush.jpg). Not being hampered by the pins and complicated attachments of ladies’ headgear that caused the exception about ladies’ removal of hats indoors, I feel compelled to follow general hat rules. I reflexively take it off any time I’m indoors, but I see on websites such as the above link that there are accepted places to keep your lid on–such as train stations and bars. Also, I notice that I’m more or less always the only one who removes my hat, and will see people around me wearing ballcaps and such with rampant impunity. What say you, hatted-ones? What are the modern rules of mannerly hatting? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/2 "2008-06-10T03:16:46Z")
When you take it off, where do you put it? Of course, if you’re at a restaurant and there’s an extra chair, you can put it there, but in many other situations there’s no place for it. I like hats and own a fedora, but it’s almost never cold enough to wear it here. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/3 "2008-06-10T03:20:49Z")
I hang it on a hat rack or hold it in my off hand. If I’m sitting, I set it on the crown on the seat next to me, or on my knee under the table if there’s no other place for it. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/4 "2008-06-10T03:39:46Z")
Hat rules for women: If it’s not a sports-type cap, you can keep your hat on indoors in most situations. You should not wear a hat at home or to a job interview. If you wear a hat to your office you should probably remove it once you get there (this would probably fall under the rule of the home, since your office is your home away from home). You should probably not wear a hat when going to get your driver’s license picture. Another reason ladies are exempt from the rules is the possibility that the hat might wreck their hair style, and they would not want to expose the deficiencies of their coif. (At home and at work the woman can theoretically go to the powder roome and do some reparative work.) If it’s a baseball cap (golf cap, whatever) or a man’s hat (including a cowboy hat) I would suggest applying the men’s rules, but if it’s a feminine hat, apply the feminine rules. (I used to barrel race; in at least one venue, and possibly more, you got 5 seconds added to your time if your hat came off. I don’t believe they ever did that do the male bronc riders.) PS: ETIQUETTE. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/5 "2008-06-10T03:42:49Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] If it’s a baseball cap (golf cap, whatever) or a man’s hat (including a cowboy hat) I would suggest applying the men’s rules, but if it’s a feminine hat, apply the feminine rules. [/quote] Mine is in the photo in the second link. > [@](#): > > PS: ETIQUETTE. Damn, I even spell-checked, too! ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/6 "2008-06-10T06:49:11Z")
Baseball caps don’t register on my “hat radar” for some reason, unless the National Anthem is being sung, but if I see a guy in a cowboy hat, I find it annoying if he wears it indoors. But since I find guys in cowboy hats annoying and pretentious anyway, this is totally a personal reaction, not necessarily a rule of etiquette. Along the same lines, I think women can keep their hats on at all times; traditionally they were not required to remove them (and even encouraged to wear them to church and formal occasions) so I think the rule still sticks. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/7 "2008-06-10T08:10:02Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] Mine is in the photo in the second link. Damn, I even spell-checked, too! [/QUOTE] Yeah, well, I had a typo in mine, too. Not the kind that spell-check catches, though. Also: Forgot to add: I like your hat. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/8 "2008-06-10T08:19:00Z")
I wear one of my hats nearly everywhere; taking it off is the exception. Pretty much just formal events, job (maybe), National Anthem, my stepmom’s place. Not having anywhere to put it is one problem; another is that I have really long bangs (I’m one of those guys who digs having long hair) and the hat keeps them out of my eyes & mouth. Any social upbraiding would be strange, almost unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/9 "2008-06-10T08:42:29Z")
I take my Akubra off to drive and when I’m inside people’s houses, having a meal, or doing something like asking the bank to lend me money. I don’t usually bother taking it off if I’m wandering around a shopping centre or something like that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/10 "2008-06-10T13:58:31Z")
Personally, I’d say that if you’re wearing a man’s hat style (baseball, cowboy, etc) you should follow a man’s hat rules. There are specific reason for ladies’ hat rules, namely that they’re part of your hairstyle; a baseball or cowboy hat is not. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/11 "2008-06-10T14:33:47Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] Also: Forgot to add: I like your hat. [/QUOTE] Thanks, me too! [QUOTE=Zsofia] Personally, I’d say that if you’re wearing a man’s hat style (baseball, cowboy, etc) you should follow a man’s hat rules. There are specific reason for ladies’ hat rules, namely that they’re part of your hairstyle; a baseball or cowboy hat is not. [/QUOTE] Sure, and being pinned in place and difficult to remove adds to the exemption. This is why I tend to remove it indoors, though I’m female–because I can. Are men’s hat rules still in place? **The Them** doesn’t remove his at all. Is this now standard, or still considered sloppy manners? [QUOTE=Martini Enfield] I take my Akubra off to drive and when I’m inside people’s houses, having a meal, or doing something like asking the bank to lend me money. I don’t usually bother taking it off if I’m wandering around a shopping centre or something like that, though. [/QUOTE] Sounds about right: > [@](#): > > Indoors, a man should always remove his hat, (particularly in a home, church, courtroom or restaurant) except: > (1) in some public buildings or public places such as railroad stations or post offices; > (2) in the main parlor area of a saloon or general store; > (3) or while seated at the “lunch counter” of a diner or cafe; > (4) in entrance halls and corridors of office buildings, or hotels; > (5) in elevators of public or office buildings, unless a woman is present; > (6) if carrying packages, parcels or bags and both hands are occupied upon entry. > (7) If the man is an actor or performer and the hat is being worn as a part of a costume or performance. [QUOTE=The Them] Any social upbraiding would be strange, almost unknown. [/QUOTE] Do you mean that people \*telling \*you to take off your hat would be strange and unknown? I wouldn’t ever presume to correct anyone’s manners in any situation. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/12 "2008-06-10T16:23:00Z")
I was surprised to see that rule about taking off a hat in an elevator “unless a lady is present.” I thought the rule was universal, and it was in case a lady came in! I know a few cowboys and horsemen. I’m told that cowboys keep their hats on, even when eating, for a couple of reasons. One is that hardly anyplace has proper hat hooks or shelves for big hats. The other is that a good cowboy hat costs a couple hundred dollars or more. A cowboy doesn’t want to let it out of his sight, especially in a saloon full of lowlife hornswogglers and shifty varmints. When I was just out of high school, I asked my dad how to get a loan. He told me to go to a my bank’s loan officer, **“hat in hand,”** which means humbly. Believe it or not, some women go all aflutter when a man tips his hat to them. It’s rarely seen these days, and they’ll jump to the conclusion that an old galoot such as me is a gentleman. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/13 "2008-06-10T16:32:47Z")
I always wear a hat outdoors and generally take it off indoors. I don’t usually have a problem finding a place to put it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/14 "2008-06-10T16:35:48Z")
You can leave your hat on ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/15 "2008-06-10T17:04:49Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] Is this now standard, or still considered sloppy manners? [/QUOTE] What makes you think the two are mutually exclusive? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/16 "2008-06-10T17:06:25Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] Sure, and being pinned in place and difficult to remove adds to the exemption. This is why I tend to remove it indoors, though I’m female–because I can. Are men’s hat rules still in place? **The Them** doesn’t remove his at all. Is this now standard, or still considered sloppy manners? [/QUOTE] They sure are in my mama’s house. If you try to wear a hat to her dinner table she’ll ask you, “Are you Jewish?” You say no, and she says “Oh - is your birthday? I didn’t know!” because those are the only two times she wants to see you in a hat at the dinner table. Of course this only goes for family and kids and such - she’d never say anything to an adult guest. But she’d want to. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/17 "2008-06-10T18:00:11Z")
> [@](#): > > by **AskNott** > I know a few cowboys and horsemen. I’m told that cowboys keep their hats on, My dad grew up in farm and ranch country, in an era when our state still had more horses than automobiles. The rule he taught me was “A gentleman always removes his hat indoors, or in the presence of a lady.” That nonsense about keeping your hat on is a Baby Boomer’s act of rebellion, and is emphatically NOT part of the traditional etiquette. ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/18 "2008-06-10T19:03:10Z")
I wouldn’t call myself _hiply lidded_ as you put it, but I frequently wear hats: knit hat, ball cap or my old fedora (dang, I just realized I’ve had that thing for 35 years now). As you mentioned, when you go to the store you might be the only person who’s taken off their hat, but I don’t worry about that. As Mom used to say, I wasn’t raised in a barn: take off your hat inside or in the company of a lady. If you’re outside and it’s cold, you can put it back on after you greet her. As for where to put your hat when you’ve removed it, sometimes you just have to hold it. ---
**Author:** ![Myself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@Myself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myself)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/19 "2008-06-10T20:21:19Z")
I love my fedora. When I wear it I’ve noticed that strangers I meet on the street are more likely to speak to me. (Tell me they like it, ask directions, etc.) Having been raised in the 50s, I know I don’t necessarily have to remove my ‘brim’ when I meet a lady; rather one can just put ones fingers to the brim and grin like [Gene Autry](http://www.geneautry.com/home.php) I never take my hat off because if I do, my pet monkey will escape. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400/20 "2008-06-10T20:52:35Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] I was surprised to see that rule about taking off a hat in an elevator “unless a lady is present.” I thought the rule was universal, and it was in case a lady came in! [/QUOTE] I think that’s a typo. From a different page: > [@](#): > > Hats are removed when inside, except for places that are akin to public streets, like lobbies, corridors, and crowded elevators (non-residential). In a public building (where there are no apartments) the elevator is considered a public area. You may choose to remove your hat in a public elevator, but in the presence of a lady your hat must be removed. > > A gentleman takes off his hat and holds it in his hand when a lady enters the elevator in any building that can be classified as a dwelling such as an apartment house or hotel. He puts it on again in the corridor. A public corridor is like the street, but an elevator in a hotel or apartment house has the character of a room in a house and there a gentleman does not keep his hat on in the presence of ladies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-hat-etiquitte/452400.md?page=2)