# Tart in a Tartan: Taste and Tact - What's socially acceptable in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679 "2007-12-11T23:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/1 "2007-12-11T23:53:27Z")
Next month, I might attend a local fancy shindig celebrating Robert Burns’ birthday. I am considering wearing a silk sari in a tartan pattern. (I wear [saris](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3850417#post3850417) to most events that call for dressing up.) [ul] [li]IYHO, would it be tacky to wear a sari in tartan? More or less so than wearing a tartan skirt?[/li]. [li]Would it make any difference if I made sure it was the tartan assigned to mr emilyforce’s ancestors’ clan? (His tartan is aesthetically pleasing but not available in inexpensive yardage, whereas e.g. Black Watch is.)[/li][/ul]I’d especially love to hear from anyone who tartans matter to, socially. I expect many of the Burns’ Night attendees will be hardcore self-identified Scottish Americans. Yes, I am aware that tartans are a late invention romantically retro-assigned to the ancient clans that were dissolved by that time already yada yada and that no one really should get their knickers in a twist\* about who wears what. I’m asking whether anyone is \*likely \*to twist their knickers about it. \*Not that they’d necessarily have any to twist, if they’re wearing kilts. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/2 "2007-12-12T00:10:11Z")
Can’t say for America, but if you got the right tartan and everything, you’d steal the show at most Scottish weddings. And whatever the tartan, you’d still go down a storm. (Bloody kilts, they’re for the tourists, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/3 "2007-12-12T00:14:28Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] …you’d still go down a storm… [/QUOTE] Erm. Would that be good, or bad? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/4 "2007-12-12T00:18:12Z")
Good! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/5 "2007-12-12T00:18:47Z")
I’d stump up for Mr. Emily’s tartan. It’s like good grammar, the people who know _really_ care. It would also be the perfect alternative to the little black dress, and rather like a man’s formal wear. (That I don’t particularly like the Black Watch has nothing to do with my opinion.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/6 "2007-12-12T00:24:31Z")
I can’t imagine even the most hardcore Scots I know getting offended. If anything, they’d love your innovation. Also, it sounds like it’ll look hot, very Comme des Garçons. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/7 "2007-12-12T00:47:23Z")
[QUOTE=Cat Fight] I can’t imagine even the most hardcore Scots I know getting offended. [/QUOTE] So, ‘No True Scotsman’ would have a problem with it? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/8 "2007-12-12T01:52:38Z")
Go for it. I’ve been the emcee of our local Rabbie Burns night for about six years now, drawing about 70-100 people, and I can’t think of a single person that would be bothered by it. I think it would look good. Post a picture after you do it. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/9 "2007-12-12T02:25:41Z")
Bravo for wearing a sari. They are beautiful and it’s sad that most American women are terrified of color. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tart-in-a-tartan-taste-and-tact-whats-socially-acceptable-in-the-us/429679/10 "2007-12-12T03:27:28Z")
[QUOTE=emilyforce] Next month, I might attend a local fancy shindig celebrating Robert Burns’ birthday. I am considering wearing a silk sari in a tartan pattern. (I wear [saris](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3850417#post3850417) to most events that call for dressing up.) [ul] [li]IYHO, would it be tacky to wear a sari in tartan? More or less so than wearing a tartan skirt?[/li]. [li]Would it make any difference if I made sure it was the tartan assigned to mr emilyforce’s ancestors’ clan? (His tartan is aesthetically pleasing but not available in inexpensive yardage, whereas e.g. Black Watch is.)[/li][/ul]I’d especially love to hear from anyone who tartans matter to, socially. I expect many of the Burns’ Night attendees will be hardcore self-identified Scottish Americans. Yes, I am aware that tartans are a late invention romantically retro-assigned to the ancient clans that were dissolved by that time already yada yada and that no one really should get their knickers in a twist\* about who wears what. I’m asking whether anyone is \*likely \*to twist their knickers about it. \*Not that they’d necessarily have any to twist, if they’re wearing kilts. [/QUOTE] My friends and I go to our Scottish society’s Burns night every year, and we’re always looking for creative ways to wear our tartans. I think a sari in a tartan pattern would be lovely. I hear you on the expensive fabric. Down both my parents’ family trees, I have 11 tartans (2 Highland clans, 1 lowland family) that I could wear. Naturally, the one I like the best seems to be available only in silk, and only from the UK. The most knicker-twisting I’ve seen is over the posers who show up for the Highland Games in flannel pajama bottoms and tinfoil “torqs.” No, that doesn’t make you a “Celt!” And “women don’t wear kilts!” Well, true, we wear “kilted skirts” that are made differently than a man’s kilt, but jeez, if I say something about my kilt, you know jolly well what I mean!