whats difference between Modern Scot

[HollyElise]

ANonnyMoose - I think he must have been refering to some particular modernization of the kilt, but attributing the whole thing, or "the modern kilt as we know it" to that Quaker ironmaster, don't you think?... in other words, an exaggeration.

[aNonnyMoose]

Hi! I'm fully aware that much of the 'modern' kilt regalia dates back only as far as Walter Scott and his preparations for some Hanoverian king's visit to Scotland. And that most tartans extant nowadays are purely an invention, although based on the principle of what had been used in the past. Not to mention the monstrosity known as the 'BPC' jacket... You couldn't pay me to wear that ****e! However, I do wear the kilt on occasion - just not with the paraphenalia that has been added on over the years.

This is one of those Anglo-Saxon revisions which has gained currency over the years, and has become an exaggerated generalisation. His comment about the Borderers holds water, neither side considered themselves Scots or English, they were Borderers, and took the best course to suit themselves. The Wry Mouths are well known for duplicity, which is why Blair employs one as his head spin-doctor...

[ANDY-J2]

The kilt derived from the plaid-a long piece of cloth which was worn as a cloak by highlanders since the early middle ages.The length of the plaid became progressively shorter until it ceased to be a cloak and became the kilt so it is a purely Scottish invention.Most of the Mediaeval nobility had no particular reason to be loyal to Scots kings prior to the wars of independence however after that their options were limited and they tended to remain loyal to the crown except for a few powerful families such as the Douglases who usually put their own ambitions first.I doubt if the poorer classes had any conception of national identity or patriotism given that they were with few exceptions uneducated and would seldom travel farther than the nearest town during their lifetime.Only amongst the middle classes or gentry would you expect to find notions of patriotism and there is ample evidence from the wars of independence to suggest that many of them were indeed motivated by a sense of patriotic pride.Also at Flodden no one was coerced into fighting for James IV yet the social elite answered his call to arms in unprecedented numbers-with disastrous consequences for Scotland-so one has to believe that they were indeed motivated by something other than self-interest.Historians however tend to believe that patriotism and nationalism were very uncommon prior to the advent of the modern nation state in the seventeenth century however Scots and Irish history would suggest otherwise.