But I do confess to having inculcated a number of old-fashioned norms.
Take hats for example.
Last week at Danica's assembly, one
And it bothered me. A little. I don't get steamed or lose my ahem over such things, but it just registers as being not quite right.
I don't wear hats indoors, except for in shops and stores, which I don't have an issue with for some obscure reason. While I don't mind wearing one in those situations, that's about it. I wouldn't wear a hat in a proper restaurant. I might wear a cap in some more publican-style establishments but not many or often, and I just wouldn't wear an actual hat.
I suppose it's a generational thing although the guy wearing a hat in the assembly wasn't exactly a teenager and hadn't been so for probably four or even five decades. Still, hats were a common form of male attire when I was young. If you suited up for church in the fifties, you wore a fedora, and you removed it when you entered a building. Immediately if not sooner. No question about that.
Now, I came of age in the later sixties, so I was never personally part of the fedora generation, but I am still obviously influenced by the norms of those times.
These days, being follically challenged, me 'ead requires protection from the sun in summer and the cold in winter and from sneers of the well-haired in all seasons. But I do feel obliged to remove it indoors.
And by the way, I don't wear the ubiquitous ball cap. The fact that I don't wear them and don't like them also marks my generational quirks. But I did wear one when I was coaching ball, and I would likely do so even today at the ballpark. Everything in its time and place. Eh what, old chap?!
Can't say I've thought about hats much but come to think of it I take my winter woolly hat off indoors.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this same thing when eating in a nice restaurant the other day and watching a tall and well-tattooed man eat with his baseball cap on. I do not think it is right, but in reality it makes no difference.
ReplyDeleteI think we have many things in common, similar thoughts on many issues.
ReplyDeleteA famous singer's husband died recently and two of her sons had hats on in the Church. While it makes absolutely no difference, as Tabor said, in my mind, I was screaming for her to tell those boys to take off their hats in church. It is hard to reconcile how we were raised with today's standards sometimes. I was glad that I recognized it at least.
If hats are the thing that upsets you most I'd say you are a pretty happy fella ... chapeau or not !
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed this little meditation. Folk around me also have customs about hats, and those customs vary by generation, which means someone is going to be irked somewhere. I do, by the way, have a couple of my grandma's hats, and treasure them and the gentility they represent from their heyday in the 40's and 50's.
ReplyDeleteHere, if you enter a building of any sort, take that da@# hat Off!
ReplyDeleteYou weren't raised in a barn or by a pack of wild wolves...just do it. It's a sign of respect...
I grew up with that and I guess I'll die with it...
Not something I've thought about in years...most gentlemen here just do it...
hughugs
I remember being similarly annoyed when I had the prvilege of dining in a very fine restaurant once and there was a family seated close to us with a teenager dressed in ripped jeans, an old t-shirt and a baseball cap. I'm a people watcher so I always notice what's going on around me, but it rarely annoys me like it did that time. There we were, on a gorgeous summer night, all dressed up and gathered in this beautiful dining room, anticipating a beautiful meal-an experience we might only have just this one time-and his nonchalance detracted from the overall experience that I was having, somehow. I also felt his family wasn't doing him any favours by not teaching him better etiquette, but maybe they were just happy he joined them. I remember having to choose my battles with my kids, especially during the teen years.
ReplyDeleteI love hats.
ReplyDeleteI recall, when teaching in a 6/7/8 middle school, we were vigilant about getting kids to take their hats off in school. They'd hide their faces from us, and that just wasn't Canadian!
My teaching colleague walked into the local McDonalds one day. Her hubby, walking behind her, noticed that every kid in the place saw her and removed their ball caps! It's a great story! Thanks for reminding me of it!
Thank you for posting about what the non-removal of hats in public places, restaurants, performances, etc. dven though my father never wore a hat of any type, I was raised to know that they were always to be removed in certain places. Sadly, that is not something most people seem to have been brought up knowing. It also seems commin courtesy to be hatless when at an indoor performance so as not to inconvenience anyone else's view. Seems you and I are of a very different generation, AC, and I have no regrets.
ReplyDeleteWe have two friends who have had to have cancerous bits removed from bare scalps. The resultant mess is horrible and all of us gave permission for them to wear their hats until they were healed.
ReplyDeleteBut ball caps in dining rooms make me want to go and rip them off and throw them out the window. Only the thought that I was raised to be a lady prevents me.
Not that I now follow all the lady stuff rules. Do not be too shocked at the fact that I no longer wear white gloves to go down town and shop. Probably because you can't shop in most down towns any longer.