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Do any of you guys follow any type of hat etiquette?

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delectans

Call Me a Cab
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This thread began as a reasonable discussion of a perpetually inflammatory subject, but has predictably degenerated into a most shameful and distasteful, no, rather quite disgusting display of pompous, asinine arrogance! I think we all know who the trolls are...
 

ManofKent

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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Societal norms change. Often this is a good thing - who would argue against universal suffrage for example?

I'm all for maintaining consideration for others, and try to be considerate of others. If I enter another man's place of worship where it is the norm to remove a hat I will happily do so even if I don't share the man's particular beliefs, and can find no logical argument beyond tradition for men removing their hats and women retaining theirs. Similarly if I enter a friend's place of worship where the custom dictates heads should be covered I will comply even though I do not share his beliefs.

I don't generally doff my hat to men or women, but when a fellow hat wearer doffed his at me when crossing the creek bridge I doffed mine in return - it was the friendly and polite thing to do in the circumstances, even if many older writers on hat etiquette suggest doffing a hat to a fellow man is an assault on their dignity.

I don't tend to take off my hat when I walk through the open plan office outside the smaller office I share with my administrators, but I don't wear a hat in my office. In shops I'm inconsistent, but if my hands aren't full I generally take off my hat before paying for goods. I certainly don't have mobile phone conversations whilst at a checkout as some people do.

I find the history of etiquette interesting, some I adopt some I don't. Some of it has the nasty tang of maintaining class distinctions, some of it relates to a world where patronizing women was considered socially acceptable, others such as wearing 'Sunday best' to church was more about an opportunity to show your neighbours that you weren't poverty stricken.

Arguments that society's standards are in decline have been made since at least 8 BC (and I'm not specifically referring to the infamous misquotation about youth often attributed to Plato or Socrates - Hesiod also wrote on it for example).

Anyway I shall of course be assiduously checking photos posted by those who claim to follow hat etiquette to ensure they have never committed the serious breach of etiquette and shown a hat's liner. I won't of course draw it to their attention, because to comment on another man's breach of etiquette would be just as bad.
 

ManofKent

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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Just walked into the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans. I removed my lid. Most of the gents in here have left theirs on.

Historically, men generally wore hats in bars (although in the UK there tended to be a distinction between the Public Bar and The Lounge Bar (and presumably the Snug)). In France men wore hats in bars - see Degas's bar scenes, including those of Absinthe drinkers.
 
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15,083
Location
Buffalo, NY
from the thousand word department

bruce_jackson.jpg


I traded a print for this photograph by Bruce Jackson when he was my professor in college. It was part of a documentary project he worked on for some years in prison farms of Texas and Arkansas.

Two salutations to the photographer by two inmates of different ages. Respect is bigger and more complex than black and white, right and wrong.
 

Mystic

Practically Family
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882
Location
Northeast Florida
Hi Guys,

Haven't been around here but a couple of times since last year. Sorta out of commission since last year.

Whenever I put my two cents in....it usually gets thrown back at me...But....

In the time I have been on the lounge Jared (JLee) has always been nothing but polite, helpful, knowledgeable and interesting. He has admitted that his hat wearing style sometimes is not as "orthodox" as others on the site but I have never seen him put down anyone else because they differ from him or he differs from them.

That said.....I don't make hat wearing hard for myself. At my age I just put it on and wear it. I don't adhere to any hat wearing "dogmas" or list of do's and don'ts. My mother's voice still echos in my head at times...keeps me on the path of courtesy.... most of the time.

At my age If I don't "cut the cheese" in public while wearing a hat....I figure I'm doing ok.

BTW...Does any one know if Justin (Splintercellsz) has traded in his fedoras for Kevlar yet?
 
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fashion frank

One Too Many
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1,173
Location
Woonsocket Rhode Island
Just walked into the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans. I removed my lid. Most of the gents in here have left theirs on.

Lived in the Big Easy for a couple of years and loved it.

See now Man of Kent made a good point if you go into a room like a bar that is mostly made up of males they will most likely NOT take their hat off , funny how that works !

All the Best , Fashion Frank
 

DJH

I'll Lock Up
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6,355
Location
Ft Worth, TX
Good input, Mystic. Hope you are doing OK, miss seeing you around here.

I agree with you on Jared - he's a classy young man with his own (very cool) style.

I think I read that Splintz (another good example of why the younger generation should be respected) is making that trade in August.
 
Historically, men generally wore hats in bars (although in the UK there tended to be a distinction between the Public Bar and The Lounge Bar (and presumably the Snug)). In France men wore hats in bars - see Degas's bar scenes, including those of Absinthe drinkers.

I think bars tend to call into that "public access space" similar to hotel lobbies, airports, etc, especially where there is an atmosphere of open air, such as one finds here on the Big Easy.
 

Banky

One of the Regulars
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227
Location
Milwaukee, WI
I'm not trolling anything. Just a little levity. Get off your high horse.

You just admitted to trolling above. Talk of me on a high horse is funny, practice what you preach. You've been nothing short of self righteous the entire time you've been posting in this thread.
 

splintercellsz

I'll Lock Up
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6,142
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Somewhere in Time
You are correct, David! Not many here wish to take the military route, but I am happy to do whatever this great nation asks of me.

Hey Mystic! The Kevlar comes towards the end of August! Counting down the days! How have you been?
 
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I think bars tend to call into that "public access space" similar to hotel lobbies, airports, etc, especially where there is an atmosphere of open air, such as one finds here on the Big Easy.
I concur. Also, historically speaking, bars, pubs, saloons, or whatever one chooses to call them, were a sort of "males only" club where the common rules of etiquette and manners were far more relaxed or simply dispensed with.

I've lost count of the number of times my wife and I have dined at a local "steak house" type restaurant and have seen older "gents" (who are "age appropriate" to be familiar with hat etiquette) sitting at their respective tables with their hats still resting on their heads. Granted, this particular establishment does not have a "proper" place (or places) for hat storage, but quite often these "gents" could easily have placed their hats on an unused chair or vacant seat space at their table. I have to wonder if, like a "lunch counter", the rules of hat etiquette allow for a man to wear his hat at the dining table if there is no safe/secure place available for him to place his hat while eating?
 
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