All You Need to Know About Hat Etiquette

[Rogera]

If there is nowhere to put my hat I'll just push it back off of my forehead to open my face up for conversation and clear the hat from flying food.

Last Sunday I did see a man with a straw cowboy hat resting on his knee the whole time he was eating. He didn't look very comfortable though.

 

[APP Adrian]

If there is nowhere to put my hat I'll just push it back off of my forehead to open my face up for conversation and clear the hat from flying food.

Last Sunday I did see a man with a straw cowboy hat resting on his knee the whole time he was eating. He didn't look very comfortable though.

Same. What's important is to show your face when in an "intimate" environment. I think that's why Jewish people wear those skullcaps inside, it doesn't hide the face.

 

[hatsRme]

So THAT's why they invented the yarmulkeh, eh?! Maybe the same reason the Sikhs wear their Dastaars as well...?

 

[Lotsahats]

Same. What's important is to show your face when in an "intimate" environment. I think that's why Jewish people wear those skullcaps inside, it doesn't hide the face.

This is an interesting way to cross cultural mores. At the same time, when you're covering your head because you're Jewishly observant, you're coming at hat wearing from a different perspective, with a different set of assumptions. You can wear a hat without covering your face.

So THAT's why they invented the yarmulkeh, eh?! Maybe the same reason the Sikhs wear their Dastaars as well...?

:lol:

 

[Tony Murfin]

As a hat wearing convert (I'll post something in Introductions shortly) I've become interested in hat etiquette, both in terms of what is considered acceptable and in its origins. Like many others here, I've got a bat habit of asking 'But why?' ... and usually being dissatisfied with the answer. Excuse me if I'm rehashing anything, I haven't (yet) read all 117 pages of this thread! I just thought I'd chip in and see if my thoughts resonated with anyone else's.

It strikes me that formal etiquette for hats, as with everything else, goes back to the 19th century obsession with codifying everything, combined with the rise of New Money (and decline of privilege) following the industrial revolution. The arriviste industrialists etc. needed to learn how to behave in 'polite society'.

Rules the origins of which were at best obscure were adapted to societal and technological innovations, sometimes further obscuring their origin. After all, when people started writing etiquette books, elevators and automobiles were unknown and restaurants a relatively recent innovation.

Take elevators, the etiquette for which seems less than obvious. You could be removing and replacing your hat between each stop depending on who enters and exits, strictly according to the rules!

But surely this is just an adaptation of the etiquette for a stairwell? On encountering a lady on a stairwell, a gentleman would remove his hat and step aside to let her pass. When elevators became common, the adaptation was that the hat remained off in the presence of the lady.

But why remove it in the stairwell case?

I think this likely has a great deal to do with the state of the streets in the 18th and 19th centuries. As an aside, my ex wife used to insist on the etiquette of my walking on the curb side when we walked beside the road. This is traditionally explained by the fear of slops thrown from adjacent houses into the street raining down on unfortunate passers by - though this seems to have been comprehensively prohibited since the late Middle Ages. However, in an age of rapid city growth and transportation based on the horse, there was plenty of non-human manure likely to be swilling around. So there remains plenty of justification for the gentleman to walk curbside, with his outerwear, especially overcoat and hat, protecting his lady's more delicate attire.

Therefore the lady passing a gentleman on a stairway would not want his hat to be dripping, even potentially, the accumulated street manure on her best dress. So the hat is removed, the behaviour codified, and the principle remains in the era of the automobile and elevator.

As I say, just some musings, I'd be interested in what other people think.

 

[Bob Roberts]

I think it's better to take the stairs whenever possible to get the exercise and take your hat off only if your sweating.

 

[RJR]

I tend to agree,BR.

 

[alanfgag]

Tony, welcome to the Lounge and thanks for weighing in with a thoughtful opening post. I look forward to your continuing contributions.

clear skies!
Alan

 

[Bird Lives]

I noticed that too and thought abt mentioning it somewhere. So interesting that the gentlemen at the counter are wearing and those at the tables arent...

One thing I noticed, the tables have hat hooks and the counter doesn't....and counters have always been a hats on environment. I learned that from Gary Cooper movies...}8^)).

I was at an Italian restaurant with my family last night. No hat rack, no open seat next to me to put my hat on, couldn't fit it under the chair I was sitting in. Finally gave it to my wife and she wore it during dinner . Looked real cute on her too... and no laws of etiquette broken!

My daughter wears mine. She's my portable hat rack.

....thats funny and clever too....And I agree, I've always thought ladies looked great and little girls cute in a fedora. "My portable hat rack..." }8^D JD, you killin me!

 

[andrew_AU]

Felt the urge to post my 2 cents here after posting something similar in the Ask a Question thread:

I often wear a hat indoors.

I only take it off when I feel it's appropriate to do so. And that changes with my mood and the context rather than the place I'm in.

For example, I'll wear a hat in a restaurant quite comfortably if I'm having a meal with my wife or a friend. But if I'm dining with a business associate or client I will remove my hat.

I would not wear a hat in a place of worship (unless culturally appropriate) or to a funeral. I'm not the sort of person to tip my hat or remove it in the presence of a lady. But I like to think that has more to do with equal opportunity than a lack of courtesy.

I don't usually wear my hat inside my own office. But that has more to do with comfort than anything else.

In my life things are a lot more casual than in the 'good old days'. I would not go out of my way to offend anyone but I really don't think too,any people care about what I'm wearing on my head. Or perhaps I just don't care about whether or not they care...?

 

[Bob Roberts]

I dont care

 

[DJH]

I care even less than Bob.


Cheers!
David

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I care even less than Bob.


Cheers!
David

Me too. -1.

 

[andrew_AU]

I dont care

did you think we care about whether or not you care?

 

[moontheloon]

did you think we care about whether or not you care?

F with Bobito and make sure you sleep with one eye open ... Jersey connections capisce ?

 

[frussell]

It's hard for me to get past my upbringing with old Texans and California cowboys asking "boy, is your head cold?" if I forgot to take my hat off indoors. Still, I tend to agree that nowadays, nobody cares much either way. I observe the social niceties with religious institutions, and the flag/anthem, and that's about it. Still feels weird, but nobody else bats an eye if I stay hatted in a restaurant. Frank

 

[Bob Roberts]

It's hard for me to get past my upbringing with old Texans and California cowboys asking "boy, is your head cold?" if I forgot to take my hat off indoors. Still, I tend to agree that nowadays, nobody cares much either way. I observe the social niceties with religious institutions, and the flag/anthem, and that's about it. Still feels weird, but nobody else bats an eye if I stay hatted in a restaurant. Frank

Thanks for the bring back "frussel."

 

[Bob Roberts]

F with Bobito and make sure you sleep with one eye open ... Jersey connections capisce ?

Were on our way.
Meet me at Newark departures.

 

[moontheloon]

Were on our way.
Meet me at Newark departures.

leave the envelope with the skycap and I'll see you at the JetBlue gate

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Meet me at Newark departures.

What happened to the Budda Bing?