To ask Scots if this would offend them ...

[UsedtobeFeckless]

Basically DS, who has a Scottish great grandmother but is 7/8ths non-scot, wants to wear a blackwatch tartan kilt to a formal event. He's googled which tartans it's ok to wear if you're not entitled to a clan one but DP is a bit worried it might look like cultural appropriation ... Any thoughts would be welcome!

But if the person had scottish decendents like the op has then it is fine it really is .

or someone in America who had a Scottish ancestor from the 1700s.

I am one of these people. I have his Scottish surname. Is it OK for me to value that ancestry?

Don't give a shiny shit.

Wasn't aware that I lost my Scots side when my father was inconsiderate enough to drop dead, though, @APerson. Thanks for letting me know.

Hopefully, if Independence happens, they'll be less strict when applying for a passport.

I don't think cultural appropriation is bullshit but as a Scot I don't think it really applies to us (any oppression by the English was quite a while ago, the current government notwithstanding ) and even if it did it wouldn't bother me about the kilt. Just make sure he's wearing it correctly - that doesn't mean no pants, it means it shouldn't come below the knee and he shouldn't wear one of those Braveheart shirts with it unless he also sports a stupid beard and a massive tattoo, somewhere, of a Celtic cross

There are people who find Black Watch to carry pretty unpleasant connotations, but you’d be pretty unlucky to run into one.

Isn’t Hunting Stewart one of the universal ones?

Q

Another Scot who wouldn't in the slightest bit offended, I'd think it was quite charming

Wouldn't care a jot.

A bunch of senior guys at my work went to a formal event recently in Edinburgh. Some were Scottish, some English, some European. They all hired kilts and looked fab in them.

I think most men look great in kilts and the more that want to wear them the merrier!

MitziK

were you born in Scotland, or do you live in Scotland now? If so, I personally consider that Scottish.

If you've always lived in eg England and were also born there, then no you aren't.

On that logic, I could call myself Irish but I don't. Don't dress up for St Patrick's day either. I've never been there.

As with 99% of posters, I'd have no problem with it and would think of it as a nice gesture and a nod to his heritage. But like a PP said, please not the awful black kilts that are out there. I would research what clan his GGM or what her district was and wear that tartan though, there are very few tartans that are boggin'

I’m Scottish and i’d think it was nice!

I used to work with international students and at the end of the year we always had a ceilidh. Honestly, there was nothing nicer than Kurdish, Chinese, Saudi, Brazilian, Iraqi and Libyan students turning up in kilts. I bet your DS will look lovely.

Clan tartan is a loax of made up bollocks, it is a product of a 19th century fetishism for all things Scottish. Wear what the fuck you like, pick a colour you like and go with that. I've lived in Scotland for almost all my adilt life and have worn about four different tartans to formal events.

My husband was best man at a Scottish wedding and wore a kilt in his Irish county tartan. He said all the Scots we very complimentary.

I wouldn't be offended in the slightest.

I might think it was an odd outfit to chose unless the event was in Scotland though.

I'm a Scot and can't think why anybody would be offended. Black Watch - great choice.

Don't care - I think everyone should wear kilts 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😀

Most Scottish people I know would think it was lovely.

That aside, cultural appropriation has to be one of the biggest piles of shite ever.

I am a Scot living in London and my DS is English born but with a Irish grandmother and Somalian grandfather.... my DS is proud of his Scottish heritage and happily wears a kilt despite his posh London accent..... I love a kilt so wouldn’t bother me at all

I think that a Scottish great grandmother is a close enough connection to wear a Cameron tartan. There seem to be several, but Black Watch is also nice

www.google.com/search?q=cameron+tartans&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRlqvZ1YnhAhXLThUIHVzGBeMQ7Al6BAgAEA8&biw=1600&bih=789

Please do not buy into the cultural appropriation crap. It's needlessly divisive. And as a Scot myself, I love it when anybody wears a kilt!!!

@FunkyKingston clan tartan being a load of 19th century bollocks, really 😂😂

@APerson, even the Irish would accept you as Irish and issue you with a passport if you applied. Seems a shame to deny part of yourself due to location - it wouldn't be acceptable to say to somebody who is half Bengali or half Nigerian with, say, a white English mother, that they are only English and then, if they lived somewhere other than England, they were only Bengali or Nigerian (Although the UK rules on nationality these days aren't far off, especially with the fuckups over the Windrush generation of British subjects and their descendants).

Anyhow, you said very clearly that the relative had to be living to count in your eyes. So my father's choice of where he lived didn't matter until the day he keeled over at the age of 54, at which point, I didn't just lose a parent, I lost any right to have 50% of my DNA acknowledged?

I don't see much wrong with block colour kilts, though. They've been worn in many countries and there are historical artworks depicting Scots wearing them, so it's not as if Scotland owns the monopoly on the things and they have only ever existed in multiple colours.

im scottish, wouldn't be at all offended, im sure its fine for him to wear any tartan he likes, i dont think anyone bothers about that these days do they? i certainly dont know anyone or have heard of any anyone that would bother

A fundamental characteristic of being truly scottish is not giving a fuck for other people trying to foist their rules and opinions on you. So tell him to embrace his inner Scot, wear a kilt and choose whatever tartan he wishes. Precisely

KittyVonCatsworth

Absolutely

That a specific clan is associated with a particular kilt pattern absolutely stretches back no further than the 19th century. Weaving styles varied across Scotlamd, but the idea that x clan wears y tartan is a pure invention of the 19th century. Read David Canadine's The Invention of Tradition for further details.