A Conversation for Scottish Researchers Group
Wet kilts
kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website Started conversation Feb 22, 2008
I mentioned elsewhere that I've heard that Highland Scots used to wet their woolen kilts (to sleep in?) because it was warmer. Is that true?
Wet kilts
swl Posted Feb 22, 2008
The excuses the sheepshaggers will come up with to justify their toilet habits never cease to amaze me.
Wet kilts
Fiona Posted Feb 22, 2008
I think you'd be BARMY to do that.
Most well made kilts are waterproof, anyway. But wetting your kilt would mean that you'd end up getting COLDER because of the wet. o.o
Where on earth did you hear this, may I ask?
Wet kilts
Teuchter Posted Feb 22, 2008
If the story's true, it'd have been a plaid rather than a kilt.
Wet kilts
Mr. Dreadful - But really I'm not actually your friend, but I am... Posted Feb 22, 2008
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I think you're confusing us with the Welsh.
Wet kilts
kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website Posted Feb 22, 2008
>>Is this a suggestion for an afternoon activity for Towel Day? <<
I was thinking more for the next SRG meet
Teuchter, what's the difference between plaid and a kilt? I was meaning the long bit of fabric that was folded and wrapped round the body, held in place with a belt, with a bit that goes over the shoulder. Is that a plaid?
I'm not sure where I heard it but Robyn Hoode has heard the same thing and she's in the UK. Wool does have some interesting insulation properties.
Wet kilts
T.B. Falsename ACE: [stercus venio] I have learned from my mistakes, and feel I could repeat them exactly. Posted Feb 23, 2008
Actually wool, and some fleece material, will still keep you warm while wet so it should be ok. Although I doubt you'd want to do it if you had a nice warm hovel to sleep in.
Wet kilts
cooldonbejasus Posted Feb 24, 2008
Ok. it's like this; you're part of an army of 30,000 of the most savage people remaining in Europe.
You're on your way to commit suicidal war against the most advanced people the world has yet seen; are you really going to be able to find a nice warm hovel for your 30,000, or are you going to tough it out, like the savage you are, and hope your Chieftain doesn't have you beheaded for behaving like a wee Southern softie?
It's going to be wet; that's for sure.
But if you can't take a joke you should never have been a Highlander in the first place. Peeing in it in the middle of the night might even give some momentary warmth, but compared to the hell you know you're about to meet, it makes very little difference indeed.
Wet kilts
kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website Posted Feb 24, 2008
Sure, but I wasn't meaning the ability to tough it out *if the wool got wet. What I'd heard is that when on the move Highlander's intentionally made the kilt wet because it was warmer to sleep in it that way. Now it could be a load of bollix, or it could make sense given the ways in which wool acts as an insulator.
Wet kilts
cooldonbejasus Posted Feb 25, 2008
Sorry, pal... too scientific for me. I know, as all Northern European people, and even sheep, know, that wool is a good method for keeping warm. I daresay the sheep don't have many warm hovels to cower in, and most of the time their fleece will be wet to the extreme, but if it works for them...
Wet kilts
cooldonbejasus Posted Feb 25, 2008
Just another thought... water has a very high limit for thermal conductivity; 4200 Joules per Kilo springs to mind.As long as it is kept in place, and not travelling across the skin, it will be an insulator rather than a means of loss of heat: so your theory of wet wool's effectiveness in slowing or stopping this relative movement may have some grounding in fact.
I only know that as a 14-year-old boy, I slept every night for 2 weeks on the concrete forecastle deck of a 28-ft fishing boat, with near-freezing water running all night directly beneath me, and in contact with my clothes; perhaps thanks to my mostly-woollen garments, I not only survived, but felt rather invigorated in the mornings, when I had to shovel the snow off the upper deck.
No mention of Kilts, you will have noticed.
Key: Complain about this post
Wet kilts
- 1: kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website (Feb 22, 2008)
- 2: fords - number 1 all over heaven (Feb 22, 2008)
- 3: swl (Feb 22, 2008)
- 4: Dr E Vibenstein (You know it is, it really is.) (Feb 22, 2008)
- 5: Fiona (Feb 22, 2008)
- 6: Teuchter (Feb 22, 2008)
- 7: Mr. Dreadful - But really I'm not actually your friend, but I am... (Feb 22, 2008)
- 8: kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website (Feb 22, 2008)
- 9: T.B. Falsename ACE: [stercus venio] I have learned from my mistakes, and feel I could repeat them exactly. (Feb 23, 2008)
- 10: cooldonbejasus (Feb 24, 2008)
- 11: kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website (Feb 24, 2008)
- 12: cooldonbejasus (Feb 25, 2008)
- 13: cooldonbejasus (Feb 25, 2008)
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