h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The proper etiquette for wearing a cowboy hat is more involved than simply removing the hat indoors. There is a logic which often helps determine when and if the hat should be removed.

You remove your hat when you are in someone's private space, be it their home or their office. (By 'their office' I mean an office that is set up solely for them, not just 'an office area in which they work with other people'.) Perhaps it will help to remember that you remove the hat to show respect for another person's own space. You do not have to remove your hat when you go to the power company to pay a bill or while shopping in a store or browsing at the library. However, if you are waited on by a lady clerk, you would then want to remove your hat unless you had no free hand in which to hold it.

You need not automatically remove your hat in an elevator. The elevator is nobody's private space. However, if there is a lady present, and you have room to hold your hat, you may choose to remove it while the lady shares the elevator with you. If she prefers to turn her back on you and look the other way, feel free to put your hat back on rather than visibly accommodate someone who is being rude. It's a matter of your own self-respect and self-esteem to not be the other person's subject.

When you do remove your hat, hold or set it so that the inside is not visible to others. All they should see is the crown, or the top side of the brim, but not the inside. In a way, the inside is the hat's 'underwear' and you don't want to flaunt it, even if it is made of silk and has a pretty picture on it!

Tip your hat briefly to women you do not know, if they make eye contact with you or if you have to 'squeeze' past them in a public place. Remove your hat in the presence of women you do know. If you and she begin walking you may put the hat back on.

Generally, a man should not tip his hat to another man - that is a gesture reserved for women, and it is an insult to tip one's hat to another man, much like calling the other man a woman. There are a couple of exceptions - one may tip one's hat to an older man who has provided directions, or remove it when speaking to a clergyman.

A hat should be removed upon entering a church. It can be put back on while you are walking towards the exit after the service; you do not have to wait until you are outside.

Always remove the hat when the national anthem is being played, when the flag goes by, or when a funeral procession passes. Remove your hat during funerals, certainly when attending an indoor service.

It's really not that difficult to know when to wear a cowboy hat, and when you should remove it... fine distinctions in circumstances make the difference. Generally these rules hold true for all hats. Automatically removing one's hat upon going indoors may be a good rule of thumb for youngsters, but once one is old enough to understand the logic, the rules are a little more complicated. They do make sense, so they are not that hard to get straight.