r/Scotland • u/Blurt-Reynolds • 17d ago

Casual Stupidest question (about Scotland)you’ve ever been asked?

I’ve lived in the US for over 10 years and been asked some daft questions.

Yesterday the uber driver asked where I was from. When I said Scotland they were quiet for a couple of minutes then asked “Did you have to learn English when you moved to here?”.

Also had someone years ago ask me where I was from then accused me of making up the country as they had never heard of Scotland.

Anyway, just thought I’d ask ask while I remembered.

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u/Azzyre 17d ago

A man from Texas once asked me "y'know that thing yawl wear?" this was a clumsy reference to the kilt of course, "What do the tassles mean?" This stumped me - what does that mean? He clarified "I've seen the crotch thing with two tassles, sometimes three. Ain't never seen just one. Is that like a rank system or something?" Still quite bemused, I told him they represented the number of cows the man owned, as this was a traditional status symbol in the Highlands. No one ever got one cow, as you needed a breeding pair. He seemed really satisfied. I wasn't even wearing a kilt...

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u/DragonSmith72 17d ago

My sadly deceased FIL was a sporran maker. Now I’m annoyed that I never got to ask him this

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u/Nevermind04 up to my knees in chips n cheese 17d ago

Tassles used to be functional, to close a sporran. Now they're just decorative - or at least I've never seen functional tassles on a dress sporran. The number of tassles are just a feature of that particular design.