December 19, 2006

• A man in a kilt, for the lassies, Is a regular visual feastie In the Highlands' high winds Y might catch a glimpse O' the bonnie lad's wee beastie. Shame about not seeing the old regimental plaids anymore, though.
• 
• So, what does a Scotsman wear under his kilt?
• Can't say. (NSFW, probably)
• defence chiefs have yet to finalize a contract to buy enough to go around Their boys are sharing kilts because they can't finalize a damn contract? Sheesh.
• I think it was in Eric Hobsbawm's The Invention of Tradition where I read how the kilt was invented during a Romantic revival in the 18th century by an English Quaker who ran a woollen mill. John Prebble had a book called The King's Jaunt where he says the fashion for tartans, and the idea that there were distinct ones for different clans and regiments, followed George the IV's trip to Edinburgh. Your real Highlander wore the plaid in whatever pattern his missus could knock out on the loom back in the hovel, until we English banned it after the Highland risings. I think that's enough curmudgeonly cold-water pouring for one thread!
• Yer genuine old skool Highlander wore a plaid cloth, as long as possible (length=status), wrapped in a convenient fashion, combined with a sark (shirt). Kilts are a relative innovation. I have friends who swear by the kilt as a practical garment for the outdoor man. The hills and forests of the Waikato district of New Zealand is infested with kilt-wearing McGillicuddies. I have never been propositioned by strange women at parties as as when wearing a kilt. Except for the day when I, the normally straight bloke, cruised around with a boy. Presumably the bisexual man with a kilt and a boy on his arm could take his pick.
• as often as Why didn't I see that on preview?
• > I think that's enough curmudgeonly cold-water pouring for one thread! I'd also like to dispute the story on Eurostat. From http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/press/euromyths/myth134_en.htm: (1) This story appeared in November 2003 (2) The questionnaire was not sent by Eurostat, the EU's statistical branch, but by the UK Office of National Statistics. [Apologies to fish tick, but the stupid attitude of certain national(ist) newspapers to the European Union pisses me off. I'm not a fan of super-bureaucracy, but a lot of these stories are invented to appeal to base nationalism. They serve to add an acceptable face to xenophobia. Note the Daily Record article "Spaniard Pedro Solbes, an EU commissioner, insists our national dress should be listed as a skirt on official forms" (my emphasis) -- it's not just an EU commissioner, it's a damned Spaniard who's threatening the kilt.]
• Good catch rory, and I entirely agree about the made-up anti-EU agenda in the UK press. Now, in a clumsy attempt to re-rail this to something more light-hearted as per spec, here's evidence that one man appeared to wear a festering baboon heart under his kilt - and also under his Robin Hood night-to-day wear and saucy soldier outfits. It was an insert to the third (Mills and Boon) edition of Hobsbawm, I believe.
• Whoosh! Gorgeous dollies there, Abiezer - mighty pricey, though, as festering baboon hearts go.
• I have an extensive collection tick - I cut them out to keep off all my soy packets!
• When the price of tofu's steep Fourteen dollies watch do keep Two my fridge are guarding Two my soybeans hiding Two are on my miso Two are on my natto Two tvp do cover Two o'er tempeh hover Two ensure I do not stray upon the path towards teh Gay.
• The kilt was only fer dey-to-dey wear! In battle, we'd wear a full evenin' dress couvered in sequins! The idea was to blind yer apponent! Ach! 'Tis no more than whut God gaive me y'puritan pukes! /Willie /Dumb_American_Simpsons_nerd
• There's a haggis hunt on one of those pages. Don't think they really look like platypi, though.
• So this means if Britney Spears had gone out on the town wearing a kilt there would have been no kerfluffle and hence, a much quiter week 'round these parts. No, not THOSE parts... THESE parts...
• Quite.
• Two Scotsmen in a kilt walk into a bar.... Will somebody please tell me what the punchline is to this?
• I can't believe no one's posted a link to the Scotsman Song yet...
• It's terrible that they have amalgamated the Scottish regiments. It will hurt morale. And it reduces the ability of Britain to mobilise in the case of a mass war. But they have Trident, they can just blow up the planet instead.
• The ultimate evening beaver sporran. Although I kinda like the poodle effect sporran.