|
  |
|
|
So where are all the kilts then?
By Jim Murdoch
I was born in Glasgow 50 years ago and I've live my whole life in Scotland. I think I was 10 maybe the first time I saw someone in a kilt who wasn't on the tele and I was a grown man before I ever tasted my first haggis. I'm always amused by how foreigners perceive the Scots but then we all tend to caricature other cultures. At the end of every school term we were all marched off to one of the local churches for a service and on these days one boy in the school was made to go in a kilt. Some parents haven't a clue. I remember his name to this day, the whole thing, the exceedingly Scottish Duncan Cameron Macgregor Wilson. I believe the kilt's pattern was the Macgregor tartan rather than the Wilson, at least I remember it being red but it was 40 years ago. Anyway, poor Duncan would arrive about a minute before the school bell rang and you have no idea how much tormenting we managed to fit into those 60-odd seconds. The next time, and in fact the only time I remember the kilt worn as day-to-day dress, was on a visit to Edinburgh. I would be in my twenties now. I recall seeing a handful of men walking around the streets looking like they'd just stepped off a shortbread tin. Other than that kilts only appear in wedding photos. It's a common thing for the groom to dress in a kilt for the occasion. As for what they were underneath their kilts, well tradition dictates that they go "commando" but I doubt that many do; Duncan certainly didn't. Personally though I've never been even the slightest bit curious what it feels like to wear a kilt. They're quite heavy I'm told, nothing like wearing a skirt, though how those who make that claim know the difference I don't want to know.
|
The website of author Jim Murdoch
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
|
 |
|
And ye calls yerself a Scot! I dinna ken why you'd look down on kilts like that, one would think it was an English invention! Dangle yer sporan with prrride! 
 | | nick Sep 19, 2009 13:31 | |
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
You have me wrong if you think I look down on the kilt or indeed being Scottish, I'm simply commenting on how I grew up. If anything I'm puzzled by how little the national fervour that I now know exists in the heart of all Scots was lacking from my childhood. That's the time we usually get indoctrinated – for better or for worse – but it really was many years later that I began to identify myself as being a Scot with any degree of pride. Anyone who spends any time on my blog knows full well that I'm Scottish. The fact still stands that it has been many years since I saw a man in the street wearing a kilt.
All that I can add, is that I do believe kilts are much heavier than the average skirt. I went to a high school here in the US that had a Scottish theme. (Instead of being something ridiculous like a Bulldog, an Eagle, or something, we were Highlanders.) My sister was in the band; she played the bagpipes. The uniforms were made in Scotland and supposedly quite authentic. I recall trying it on for size. Men's shoes with spats, the heavy wool tartan (Ramsey?)and so forth. It was beyond my comprehension that anyone could march in it on a hot summer day. But if it makes you feel better about the whole thing, I never once thought that modern day Scotsmen wore these things.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
I have also never attempted to play the bagpipes. There’s an annual competition on Glasgow Green every year with players from all over the world gathering. It can be quite stirring. And, of course, during the tourist season there will always be one or two lone pipers hanging around the town centre looking to earn a quid or two. Just as an aside – tartan. I’ve just looked around my flat and I have one item in the whole place that’s tartan, a square pouffe. I have no idea what tartan goes with the Murdoch name. I think the only tartan I’ve ever worn was the lining of a Harrington jacket when I was a teenager.
Oh, and I'm a Mc by blood. (or perhaps a Mac in reality) I think that means I'm a bit Scottish myself?
The copyright for this content entitled "So where are all the kilts then?" has been specified by the contributor as:
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0
Details 
This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://jimmy4559.qondio.com/
|
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
