Cloaks and Plaids

             Yesterday’s post provoked some comments from a Scottish friend of mine. These had the consequence of reminding me I had intended to blog about the Plaid as a logical follow up to my post on cloaks.

             The first obstacle here is one of terminology. “Plaid” essentially means “blanket”. A “belted plaid” was a blanket held in position by a belt. At some time in America’s past tartan patterned woollen shirts made of blanket material became commonly referred to as “Plaid shirts” and the word got redirected to refer to the pattern rather than the material. Americans consider “plaid” and “tartan” to be synonymous but historically it will be seen that this was not the case and this use of “plaid” is inaccurate and confusing. In this article plaid refers to a garment, not a pattern.

             The plaid will be more familiar to many people in two derivative forms. One is the kilt, a relatively modern addition to Scottish costume. The kilt simulates the appearance of wearing a plaid without the rather involved procedure of putting one on. The other derivative is a tartan sash worn as part of some Scottish costumes and uniforms. This simulates the upper part of a plaid. The plaid is sometimes called a “great kilt” but as far as I am aware this is a relatively modern term and likely to be a backronym that came into use after kilt wearing became common.

             So what is a “real plaid”. As the name suggests, it is a woollen garment, effectively a blanket 60” across and 4 to 5 yards in length. A common method for turning this into a garment is to lay an belt on the ground and lay the plaid over it. The plaid is then folded and pleated to the wearer’s satisfaction. He then lies on the plaid, gathers it around him and fastens the belt to secure it.

             As commonly seen, a plaid appears to be of two parts. That below the belt resembles a kilt (or in fact the reverse is truer!). The upper part passes up the back and over one shoulder as a sort of sash, often held by a large broach.

             In actuality the upper part of the plaid can be spread out to cover both shoulders and keep the wearer warm, much in the same manner as any cloak. If it was raining or especially cold a fold of plaid might be passed over the head too.

             This was not the limit of the plaid’s abilities, however. A Scotsman who found himself outdoors at night simply lay down, unbuckled his belt and rearranged his plaid so he was cocooned in a capricious blanket. As many readers will know, wool remains reasonably warm even when wet. The wool used to make plaids had the lanolin left in it so the cloth had a certain degree of water repellence. Next morning the Scot would rearrange his plaid, fasten his belt and stand up and be on his way.

             As you may now appreciate, the plaid was an interesting variation of a cloak. While on the topic of Scottish clothing, a few interesting facts uncovered in my researches. Contrary to the usual Scottish jokes about kilts, it was apparently acceptable to wear a plaid over trews. I have seen contemporary illustrations of this but unfortunately have not located any on-line. For a big chunk of history, however, the Scotsman did not wear much more than his plaid. Socks and other foot coverings took some time to catch on, apparently and the Scots were noted for going bare foot and bare legged. Their main garment, other than their plaid was a shirt dyed with saffron. Apparently the latter had insect repellent qualities.

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Gird your Loins

            It has been a while since I posted anything, but hope to rectify that soon.

            As some of you may know, one of my many interests is in language. The other day I used the phrase “gird my loins”. It occurred to me that “gird” is an interesting verb that is nearly exclusively used for just this one phrase. It obviously has a connection with words such as “girdle”.

            Today somebody pointed me in the direction of this on the Art of Manliness site.

 

           A more extreme version of girding your loins before a fight was undertaken by Moro suicide murderers: “A strong band was wrapped firmly around the waist, and cords wrapped tightly around the genitals, ankles, knees, upper thighs, wrists, elbows, and shoulders, restricting blood flow and preventing the mag-sabil from losing too much blood from injury before accomplishing his gruesome task.”

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Tolerance and the Burke on the Bus.

            Let me give you a hypothetical situation:- You are sitting on a bus. A few seats ahead of you a man pulls out his phone. For ease of reference we will call him “the burke”. The burke begins to talk into his phone, loudly, in some language you cannot understand. His conversation goes on for five minutes, then ten and then fifteen and shows no signs of ending.

            Would you find this irritating? I know I would, but why?

            Permit me to set some background to today’s blog topic. A few days ago my computer at work picked up something nasty by some unknown route. Our computer guy decided that it was simplest to just rebuild the operating system. This will save the few files I had on the machine but will erase the useful programs I had installed. Once again, I am going to remind you all to backup both your files and your program installers. I have been without my work computer for this time so I began to investigate my colleague’s book shelf. I picked a copy of what I thought was “King Solomon’s Mines” and saw it was actually “King Solomon’s Ring”. Not a sequel, as it turned out but a highly entertaining and informative book on animal behaviour by Konrad Lorenz. Finishing the book within a day I noticed another book by him, “On Aggression”. A lot of interesting things in this book, and this gave me some insight on why the “burke on the bus” can evoke such strong emotions.

            What I learnt was that a culture or subculture has a collection of common habits/ rituals/ customs/ mannerisms. These are so omnipresent in our own culture that we will not be aware of many of them until they become notable by their absence in others. On the buses that I was used to when growing up people tended to be silent or talk at a discrete level. In some countries I have visited the inside of a bus sounds like a fishwife riot. It can be argued that mobile phones have created a change in social norms. That may be so, but it is not really relevant since social norms are not necessarily logical or functional but they are powerful. They are habits that will be strongly ingrained. Some of these conventions are very subtle, such as head position and other mannerisms when paying attention to someone. These can differ between different cities or social groups and encountering different mannerisms can cause wires to get crossed. I once watched a film from Africa. As one character explained something the person he was talking to made an “uh-ha” noise every few seconds. If someone I was addressing did this I would be inclined to perceive them as being rather moronic, irritating or possibly mocking me. To the Africans in the movie this was good manners and they would probably perceive my way of listening and paying attention as boredom and rudeness. Customs that are common in one subculture are repugnant in others. Walk the streets of Hong Kong for a day in the right season and you will hear someone hawking and spitting about every five seconds!

            For many people on this bus the burke is violating at least one social norm as they perceive it. It may be in the sub-culture he is from people do talk loudly in buses so he is oblivious that this is not common where he is now. That he is not speaking English and that he assumes his conversation will not be intelligible to his neighbours may have an influence here. Whether he is operating in ignorance or arrogance is irrelevant. To some observers at least he is a social transgressor. A common selection of social norms is said to be a way of social bonding. What is apparent is that violation of these norms causes feelings of tension, discomfort, irritation, anxiety and even aggression.

            There is another reason why the burke on the bus stirs such negative emotions. By talking loudly in public he is effectively announcing that anyone in earshot is irrelevant to him. Now, we do not expect a complete stranger on a bus to have any particular affection or concern for us, but openly rubbing our noses in this fact is another matter. Unintentionally or not, the burke is effectively insulting everyone else present and our subconscious responds accordingly.

            Sometime ago I visited a webpage where the author said something on the lines of “..I know this is about a British game but I am American so I will be spelling it ‘armor’!” It is hard for me to recall that without imagining him finishing with a smug, self-satisfied grin. This statement irritated me and my recent readings have explained why it was actually offensive. That an American should use American spelling is not an issue. What was offensive was his statement was attacking and demeaning English conventions. Before some of my American readers dismiss my reaction as oversensitive consider how you would react if a blog started with the declaration that words would be spelt “properly” in English fashion. Exactly!

            As an aside, the reason why many words are spelt differently by Americans is that Noah Webster deliberately changed the spelling to promote American cultural identity. The cultural norms we are discussing include such factors as accent, lexical register, word choice and so forth. It is a common if somewhat juvenile occurrence for sub-cultures to deliberately change their vocabulary to promote cohesion.

            Returning to the burke on the bus (who is still talking, no doubt!). He is violating at least one social norm and provoking negative emotions in his neighbours. Most social animals also have a collection of rituals/ laws/ social norms. On the rare case that a member of the group violates these rules it usually provokes immediate censure, sometimes by the rest of the flock/ group. The birds/ monkeys/ wolves descend on the miscreant, pecking and biting and it is soon made clear to him or her not to repeat those actions. Sadly, this will not happen to the burke on this bus. A social norm in many cultures is to mind your own business and avoid confrontation with strangers. Our custom of tolerance of different customs in this incidence promotes violence and friction. So the burke keeps on talking and those around him become more irritated and quietly seethe. I have frequently observed that trying to please everyone usually results in more people being dumped on and the inconsiderate individual being rewarded. The burke never learns better and more people suffer. When aggression cannot be applied to its cause it is often redirected in displacement behaviours. Human nature is such that many passengers will leave this bus and instead of feeling irritation at the uncouth burke will redirect these feelings into a more generic routes. It may become a more generic resentment of foreigners or immigrants.

            We are so imbued with our own cultural norms we have difficulty perceiving them yet they are very real factor in human relationships. I am fond of saying “tolerance works both ways”. I once encountered an American whose pet topic was a discourse on the “evils of diversity”. His (dream) world-view failed to understand that there are numerous variations in cultural norms between cities or within a single district. Whether you like it or not, any human society will contain multiple cultures. In a multicultural world all sides must strive to find common ground and adapt their habits and customs as necessary.

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Baton Thongs

            Did you notice my “deliberate mistake” in the first draft of the previous blog? As I typed “wrist loop” something nagged me to use another term, but “martingale” is rather obscure these days, certain dictionaries no longer acknowledging it.

            For a weapon such as a baton a wrist loop should never be used on the wrist! If it is and the baton is grabbed by an aggressor you will find yourself undesirably under their control.

            The correct way to retain a baton is to use the loop as a thumb loop. Hook it over your thumb, let the thong go around the back of the hand then grasp the grip. If the baton is seized you can just open your hand and let the loop slip off your thumb. Counter attack before the aggressor realizes you have let go.

            Most batons you will encounter will have the thong mounted at the butt of the baton. The FBI Baton Manual (which is well worth a read, btw) recommends the thong is mounted above the grip and is about twice as long as you might expect is needed. Once again, the thumb is used. With this thong you have two options. The first is to let the thong hang down the back of the hand and then grasp the grip. This is effectively the same as the method already mentioned for a base mounted thong. The second method is to first let the thong hand down your palm, then take it up the back of the hand and pass the grip over the top of the hand and into the palm.

 

            All of these methods wrap the thong securely around your hand but allow the weapon to be rapidly released if grasped. Those of you that brought my book on Survival Weapons will be familiar with the illustration below. This shows the same methods being used for a machete. Having a machete fly out of your hand when you hit a resilient piece of wood can make you unpopular so a thong is recommended!

            A long thong on a baton has other applications. Below is an illustration of a restraint. Both of the suspect’s hands are passed through the loop and it is then twisted and rolled around the baton to tighten it. A second way to use the loop is taken from Fairbairn’s “Get Tough”. The suspect does not have multiple arms! This shows the thong being tightened around the wrists of several prisoners so that they may be led.

 

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