The key to a kilt: You wear it well

Dean Peterson of Lacey, Wash., proposes that mailmen be allowed to wear kilts.

RE "MAILMAN seeks comfort in kilt" (City & Region, July 21): The uniform kilt would look less like a skirt, and more like a kilt, if it was worn properly.

There is an old Scottish saying: "A man in a kilt is a man and a half."

The kilt is a traditional male military uniform item designed for use in close combat.

When properly attired, the mailman should wear a sporran (a leather pouch hanging in front of the kilt); his socks (called "hose") should be thicker and go higher up his leg; there should be decorative ribbons (called "flashes") at the top of his socks; and he should have a small knife tucked in the top of one of his socks.

If the mailman is a military veteran, he should be wearing his service ribbons on his shirt.

He should stroll his beat with a large walking stick (called a "cromach"), and as an alternative to a pith helmet, he might elect to wear a beret, with USPS insignia pinned upon it.

Otherwise, in the manner he's currently wearing it, as depicted in the photograph, he does appear to just be a guy wearing a skirt, and Highlanders and Celts would merely laugh at him.

JOHN ROBERT
MALLERNEE
Washington
The writer is official bard of Clan Henderson.