Where are the Coats?
I underdressed this morning. My base layers were fine — khaki pants, long sleeve shirt, undershirt, etc. Upon checking the temperature (40°F) I decided on my Northface Light Mountain Parka (sans liner). It is so hard to dress for the weather around here lately, because it may start out in the forties and by 3:00PM hit as high as seventy.
Walking into work I quickly discovered that it was too windy to not have grabbed a polartec vest or jacket to line my coat. It was not terrible, but I could have been more comfortable. When I got to my office I noticed a number of people with less outer protection, such as a simple vest or more surprisingly no outer protection at all.
This is something that I have noticed on several occasions. Is there something about the South that makes it uncool to wear a coat in winter? Do people hope that if they do not cover up it will feel warmer? Or do they think to themselves, “It’s just short walk from the car to the building?”
I agree it would have had a big influence. Interestingly, some liguistic scholars think that American speech (particularly on the East Coast)is actually closer (but not identical)to the English of three-hundred years ago than is the English spoken by the British today. The idea is that American English is much more conservative than British English and hasn’t changed as much.
By the way, the Scots are Irish – that is, the Scoti (as the Romans called the Irish), were Irish. In around the 5th-6th centuries, a lot of Scoti moved over the water to Scotland and sort of took over the place from the people the Romans called the Picti, the Picts. So you are really Irish. I am too, as a Scot descended from the followers of St. Columba or Colm (McCollum) of Iona. I guess you already know about Columba since he was the one who crowned King Aidan of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada.
Sigh. You can always count on me to tell you more than you want to know:-)
The Kennedy side is actually Scottish…or at least Scotch-Irish…which is barely Irish
My mom’s side is definitely Irish (surname “Condon”). Maybe you are onto something with your theory. I will add that it was a particularly cold day. And also, when I lived in PA I more frequently dressed light and enjoyed it. So maybe the South has made me soft?
Here’s another theory that I have and maybe someone has done a study on it. A lot of Scots settled in the South. I think that the brogue contributes somewhat to the “Southern” accent. What do you think?
I have a theory about the coat situation, but you’ll have to bear with me because there are several steps to it. First – Dr. Grady McWhiney, a Civil War and Southern historian, has written a book or two in which he puts forth the idea that the South is particularly Celtic in culture and genetic makeup (CRACKER CULTURE: CELTIC WAYS IN THE OLD SOUTH, see also David H. Fischer’s ALBION’S SEED: FOUR BRITISH FOLKWAYS IN AMERICA).
Next step – the Roman historian Tacitus described the Celts as a people who could bear cold and hunger, but not heat and thirst. So – all these Celtic people around here are just naturally warmer-natured and therefore don’t feel the cold so severely.
Are you still with me? So, how come an Irish Scott Kennedy is out there shivering? Well, the newer theories suggest that the Irish are not particularly Celtic in blood or culture, but rather that they just picked up the language and some of the culture from a relatively few Celtic immigrants (nowadays it is doubted that the Celts invaded Ireland so much as they just filtered in over the course of a few hundred years). This might help explain the puzzling discrepancy between contemporary descriptions of the Celts as tall, blonde, blue-eyed people, and the rather overwhelmingly brunette Irish race of today. At least that’s my theory. Unlikely? Of course. Convoluted? Definitely. Well, you did wonder, didn’t you?
You can definitely always count on her to give more than enough detail. If you are ever in need she makes a great Trivial Pursuit partner- she knows everything!
For me, it’s often because of the weather phenomenon I refer to as “car hot.” It may be 40 degrees outside, with a frigid wind, but the sun shining through the car windows will make it so hot I end up turning on the air conditioning. So sometimes I skip the jacket because it is just a short walk to and from the car.
Yeah, I can see that especially if you’re going to be cooped up in a vehicle. It was funny, still, to see people underdressed even with this arctic weather we have had for the last three days. I walked to the stadium parking lot at lunch behind a woman wwho was wearing one of those fashionable wool shawls instead of a coat.
If I ever made it to Who Wants to be a Millionaire, then she’d be my Phone-a-Friend!
I can only speak for myself…
I left the house without a coat and about 5 steps out wished I had the time to go back in and get my North Face Mountain Light jacket (I was running a little behind this morning).
It is strange that you say this because when I was in TX over the holidays, those people take every chance they get to dress up like they are on an artic adventure with their huge coats, hats and mittens! It really is comical to see them all dressed up like that and me wishing I was wearing shorts…it was over 40 degrees afterall!
I was underdressed yesterday myself. And then last night I saw people walking around in short sleeves or shorts. I couldn’t believe it!