Hola,
Why is it rude to wear a hat inside? Why would anyone care?
SENOR
As with so many other things, the definitive answer to this question is… (wait for it)… it depends.
Covering your head, indoors or outdoors, is sometimes seen as an act of respect and therefore encouraged, if not required. Sikhs and Jews are just two of the many groups that mandate a head covering as a sign of respect for their religion.
The Googling that I’ve done, when a reason was given at all, seems to indicate that (in America at least) hats were worn outdoors regularly to protect one’s hair and face from dirt outside (especially soot and other industrial waste of the sort). I suppose then that continuing to wear one’s hat indoors would have been an insult to your host, insinuating that their place is dirty, or indicating that one wishes to leave right away and thus isn’t going to bother the courtesy of removing a hat. I’m assuming that the latter reason (it’s like not removing a jacket or putting it on too early) plus tradition is why it is still considered unmannerly today. Hats are still considered “outdoors wear” and not removing it is considered an insult to the host and a sign that one does not wish to remain indoors.
Women got a pass on this tradition in many (but not all) instances, since often their hairstyles would have been mussed if they’d had to remove their hats.
Women must cover their heads (with a scarf, I presume) to enter the Vatican. Modesty and all that.
There’s also an element of disguise and protection to hat wearing.
By wearing a hat in someone else’s home you are saying I am willing to take your hospitality, but I don’t trust you enough to fully reveal my face or expose my head to you.
I was in St. Peter’s in the early '90s and was not required to do so. Shorts and sleeveless tops were prohibited. Perhaps there’s a difference between when a service is in session (one wasn’t) and the restrictions on tourists, however.
Just as a follow-up question, why do/can public schools request that students remove their hats or caps?
And public schools are dirty and I don’t respect my host (whoever that may be in public schools).
(Even though I don’t wear hats very often.)
Sleeping, I’m with you, to a point. The wearing of hats was always an issue for me. Schools had a general rule about this, but if I had just come in from outside, and I am going to my locker to put it away, then my host (the school) could give me the courtesy of a moment or to required to get to my locker and do so. But no, they couldn’t even do that much! (Geez, give me a chance, will ya?)
As for wearing baseball caps in classes, it was seen as a sign of disrepect, epsecially if worn backwards coming across with a tough-guy image. Caps worn forward during exams were suspect to search for crib sheets taped to the inside of the visor.
- Jinx
A large part of the reason is that wearinga broad brimmed hat inside is likely to result in people being poked in the eye and pictures knowcked off the wall by the brim. Not so much an issue with caps, but certaily a problem with traditional hats.
Here’s a few cites for the “men wearing hats indoors is rude” argument:
http://www.hatmonger.com/articles/hatfaq.html#indoors
http://weblog.delacour.net/archives/000710.html
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Clothes%20Articles/etiquette_for_hats_and_caps.htm
http://www.etiquettegrrls.com/archive_07-31-00.html
FWIW everybody in my family has always considered it rude for a man to wear a hat inside. Besides being a bit pointless, we always take it as an indication that you don’t want to stay and want to get away. Any man wearing a hat in the Motog house would be ironically asked “why don’t you take your hat off and stay a while?” Ladies are not subject to the same strictures.
Its a convention like any other. The convention of men uncovering their heads as a sign of respect goes back to the middle ages, at lest. Uncovering your head was a sign of repsect to the person or place.
That would have to be one extremely wide brim. I’m not familiar with any particular styles of men’s hats that would have a brim wide enough for those things to be a problem, and indeed very few feminine styles, either…
I remember reading in junior high school (ca. 1973) that:
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A man removing his hat when he entered a household was an ancient vestige of a man removing his helmet as a gesture that he trusted the host not to swing a sword at his head;
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A woman was exempted from this custom because, in the days before thong bathing suits, a woman’s hair was considered her greatest beauty visible in public. It was thus a sign of modesty (and thus, respect) to not temp the menfolk by baring it.
Kids can look at other tests and not get caught when wearing a cap. A teacher can’t really see where the eyes are wandering.
Boy oh boy. Hat ettiquette. Is there a Texan in the house? 
Not many years ago it was just a little rude not to wear a hat outdoors. If you’re not wearing one, you can’t take it off when you go into someone’s house (a minor ceremony in itself), or tip your hat to a lady. I’ve seen grown, otherwise sophisticated men go all “aw shucks” and blush beet red because they left their hat in that dang little rental car and couldn’t tip it upon meeting a lady.
Of course, in a bar or dance hall, you leave the several-hundred-dollar hat on.
Texans. Can’t live with 'em, and can’t shoot 'em. Cause they got all the guns.
There’s also hat language.
Peace,
mangeorge
It all seems a bit silly to me.
None of the ‘reasons’ I’ve read so far seem very reasonable. Because it was respectable in olden days? Not applicable anymore. Because it would knock pictures off the walls, etc? I’ve never seen any hats that big! Because it’s somehow saying “Your house is dirty, like the outdoors”… eh shrug nope.
Maybe people kind of cling to it cause they’ve been brought up that way and it’s ingrained in them or something. I would consider it rude if someone made me remove my coat or hat. Usually I keep my coat on in restaurants unless it’s too warm just so I don’t have to fuss with it, plus they have a tendency to get knocked off chairs, or caught under people’s feet. And what if you’re a blading man who’s particularly self conscious about it? I say, let them keep their hats on. It’s just a hat.
I wouldn’t take a scarf off. Or a belt. Or my shoes.
As for so many other things, to each his own. Just depends on you and your hosts. Do what’s comfy.
All social conventions are “silly”. They are just conventions. You show respect by wearing a tie to work. You can claim it is silly and does not make your work any better but good luck getting employed. people who know how to please others get along much better in life. In the far east they bow their heads as a show of respect. You can go there and refuse to do it but you will be considered rude.
Taking your hat off indoors shows respect just like extending your middle finger shows disrespect. It is just a convention we have agreed upon. You can choose to go against the flow and go around keeping your hat on and giving people the finger ut it’s not going to help your social or professional lives.
As we have seen, Kinky Friedman isn’t strictly accurate in that observation, but I always liked the quote.
I read in Emily Post’s etiquette (1922)(I think this is actually in the intro at www.bartleby.com) that tipping one’s hat is derived from ye olde days of chivalry when passing knights would raise their visors to aid in identification of friends and foes. It’s not very clear in the section on removing one’s hat WHY they do it, but it’s somewhat amusing to read the rules http://www.bartleby.com/95/4.html
I’ll search more for the exact cite.
But there is no “reason.” It’s custom as a sign of respect for men to remove their hats when they come indoors.
It’s one of the thats-just-the-way-it-is things.