# Would you wear a kilt, just 'cuz? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828 "2006-03-25T03:43:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/21 "2006-03-25T15:57:58Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I did fencing re-enactments in my youth (for festivals and such) and I always appeared in a full Scotish kit, including kilt. It looked way cool…if you can picture a hispanic man wearing it complete with waxed black goatee and rapier with short sword… > > 😛 > > Well, my wife liked it so thats all that counts! > > -XT For some reason now, I have a mental image of Ramirez, from the Highlander movies ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/22 "2006-03-25T16:04:29Z")
QuickSilver- You should definitely get the khaki Utilikilt. And as a woman, I’d like to pipe up and say that I wish more men would wear them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/23 "2006-03-25T17:30:19Z")
I want to clarify one thing- the idea that “nothing is worn under” is more or less a recent invention. True, the Scots didn’t much go in for wearing what we’d call “underwear” but they rarely let their equiptment dangle. Traditionally, a shirt with a very long tail was worn, with the tails then being used as a sort of breechclout. The equivilant today would be wearing a jockstrap. So, wear or not, but don’t think it’s because it’s ‘traditional’ unless you think that traditions are rather recent. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/24 "2006-03-25T17:57:07Z")
I’d wear a kilt, but I don’t have the legs for it. Plus, my ancestry is a mixture of English, German, and Italian, so it’s not like I could pick an appropriate tartan or anything. Though I guess I could always go with the camo. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/25 "2006-03-25T18:05:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I want to clarify one thing- the idea that “nothing is worn under” is more or less a recent invention. True, the Scots didn’t much go in for wearing what we’d call “underwear” but they rarely let their equiptment dangle. Traditionally, a shirt with a very long tail was worn, with the tails then being used as a sort of breechclout. The equivilant today would be wearing a jockstrap. So, wear or not, but don’t think it’s because it’s ‘traditional’ unless you think that traditions are rather recent. Well, nobody really wore “underwear” back then, as we knew it at least. I’m all for men in kilts. More men in kilts-kilts are a good thing. And us gals might be interested in [this](http://www.verymerryseamstress.com/kiltlift.htm). ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/26 "2006-03-25T18:20:17Z")
Yea, you can wear a kilt in everyday circumstances in the US if you want to be the geekiest attention whore on your block. Nothing unusual at all about that affectation…oh no! Put on that Tartan skirt and play dress up, O Bruce of Bohemia, Highland Honky, Chieftain of Cool! (Please, pay no attention as I skip through in my Lederhoden whistling Edelweiss!) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/27 "2006-03-25T21:49:45Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Without a pattern, they really just look like skirts to me. > > Kilt on a man = good. > > Skirt on a man = not so good. > > 😃 Purist. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/28 "2006-03-25T21:54:56Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Yea, you can wear a kilt in everyday circumstances in the US if you want to be the geekiest attention whore on your block. Nothing unusual at all about that affectation…oh no! Put on that Tartan skirt and play dress up, O Bruce of Bohemia, Highland Honky, Chieftain of Cool! > > (Please, pay no attention as I skip through in my Lederhoden whistling Edelweiss!) You forgot Lord of the Prance and Fancy Nancy! 😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/29 "2006-03-25T23:11:35Z")
The only guy in the U.S.A. who has a free kilt pass is Rowdy Roddy Piper. Personally, I want to see a selection of Skorts for men. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/30 "2006-03-25T23:22:46Z")
Man, my Family’s Tartan sucks bagpipes. I just googled it. It’s just ranger Green and Black. Not even a noteworthy weave. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/31 "2006-03-25T23:29:44Z")
That’s another thing. I think one of the prerequisites of kiltery should be that your Family name actually has a registered, classic, and pedigreed Tartan. If nay, then nary a kilt fer ya. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/32 "2006-03-26T01:31:20Z")
I’d be entitled a cooler Sporran, though. Behold the [**Ysgrepan**](http://www.crescentmoonimports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=402&osCsid=a062646aef3ef4fadf9d3e2587617123). Horse and Goat Hair… JUJU! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/33 "2006-03-26T02:07:09Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I’m all for men in kilts. More men in kilts-kilts are a good thing. > > And us gals might be interested in [this](http://www.verymerryseamstress.com/kiltlift.htm). A kilt lifter kit? I have several problems with this. First, I feel that this is a double standard. If a skirt lifter kit complete with shoe mirrors was marketed for men, it be pitted as sexist and exploitive. Why then, is a kilt lifter kit for women acceptable? Second, and more significantly, such a thing is a waste of money. IME, the Ren Festers and other men who wear kilts without undergarments are quite happy to display their anatomy if you ask politely. It helps if you carry a variety of ribbons- First, Second, Third, Honorable Mention, Most Artistic, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/34 "2006-03-26T02:12:51Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > A kilt lifter kit? I have several problems with this. > > First, I feel that this is a double standard. If a skirt lifter kit complete with shoe mirrors was marketed for men, it be pitted as sexist and exploitive. Why then, is a kilt lifter kit for women acceptable? I think it’s supposed to be a gag gift of sorts. A joke. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/35 "2006-03-26T02:17:26Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I think it’s supposed to be a gag gift of sorts. A joke. Ribbons would be so much cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/36 "2006-03-26T04:04:51Z")
I like my family’s [tartan](http://clan-maccallum-malcolm.3acres.org/) but I wouldn’t wear it often (see above attention whore posts). I would make sure to go to one of the yearly Burns dinners I know about. If an authentic kilt was less expensive or I was more than an 1/8th Scottish I would get one. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/37 "2006-03-26T04:08:31Z")
I do believe there are Irish tartans as well, only they go by county, rather than clan, so you have to know which county your family came from. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/38 "2006-03-26T07:09:21Z")
“Family tartans” are a very recent affectation made up when being Scottish stopped being low class and became kind of trendy. You know, after Culloden wiped out great swaths of traditional Scottish families so nobody was left to complain about the English co-opting the style. Traditional great kilts look much better than those fruity pleated numbers everybody wears these days, but then again I can see why the pleated ones are much easier to deal with–but they tend to be more expensive, go figure. Proper kilts are just five or six yards of wool fabric hand pleated on top of a long belt, then you lay down on them and wrap the belt and kilt around your waist, then throw the end over your shoulder. Me, I love a man in a kilt–it shows off the legs marvelously and it’s lots of fun during foreplay. Usually it’s the guys who get to enjoy the easy access of skirts and turnabout is, after all, fair play! At an SCA event a guy told the old joke about the ancient Chinese proverb which states that rape is impossible since it’s easier for a woman to run with skirt up than man with pants down. I pointed out that it was a pretty nonsensical statement at that moment, as he was wearing a kilt and his lady a gouazi shirt and harem pants… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/39 "2006-03-26T12:25:28Z")
There’s an American student who walks around Edinburgh in a khaki kilt. To be honest, he looks like a muppet. I remember the fuss that was caused when Vin Diesel wore a leather kilt to the MTV awards in Edinburgh a few years ago. The only people who wear kilts are people, particularly old men, coming back drunk from ceilidhs at seven in the morning and Americans 😛 . ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828/40 "2006-03-26T18:00:41Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Purist. 😛 Your point? 😉 > [@Guinastasia](#): > > I do believe there are Irish tartans as well, only they go by county, rather than clan, so you have to know which county your family came from. Yep. I’m 50% Irish, on my father’s side, and about 6 years ago I did some research into our family tartans. There are [several](http://www.flickr.com/photos/misnomer971/sets/72057594091075370/) which could be worn, but I believe that the most “appropriate” one would be the one for County [Roscommon](http://www.flickr.com/photos/misnomer971/118222949/in/set-72057594091075370/) – I think that’s where most of my family comes from, though I could be remembering wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-wear-a-kilt-just-cuz/349828.md?page=3)