Has anyone ever asked you-

[Steakslim]

-If Romans and Greeks wore little skirts? :evil: The first time someone said that I bellowed in rage and tried to bash my head out against a concrete wall

How about you?

[M. Demetrius]

Didn't bother me at all. Sometimes I wear a kilt. Doesn't bother me then, either. Nor the predictable question that follows.

[Carlton Bach]

Ignorance is a terrible thing. I always point out that they are not skirts, they are dresses.

[Matthew Amt]

If I get to an event wearing my braccae because it's chilly, I wait until some public are around before taking them off. With a big sigh of relief, I say, "Now I can go without pants, like a civilized man!" Those who don't sidle away with fixed grins don't ask any more questions!

It might help to explain that both "shirt" and "skirt" come from the same Old English word, "scirt". Or just say, "Why, yes, big guy--do you like that?" Be sure to show him the matching spiked sandals and handbag!

Matthew

[M. Demetrius]

Right you are, Matt. And as you know, until the early part of the 20th Century, shirts were mostly mid thigh length, and sometimes worn outside the pants and belted. Belts weren't commonly used for trousers, suspenders (braces) held them up.

And when dressing up and tucking the shirt in the trousers, like to wear a frock coat or similar, the shirt was usually folded under the crotch, front and back, and served sorta like underwear. Scary when you take it back out for everyone to see the skid marks, I guess. Yikes.

[fasta]

-If Romans and Greeks wore little skirts? :evil: The first time someone said that I bellowed in rage and tried to bash my head out against a concrete wall

How about you?

I've never been asked it. I've been told that its true by members of the public because they saw it in films! :roll:

[A_Volpe]

If I get to an event wearing my braccae because it's chilly, I wait until some public are around before taking them off.

Ooh, so That's why you do that, Matt! Always wondered why you showed up at (Roman Days in June) in Braccae in the morning then pulled them off just as the day started....

I did get a written comment once from a college visit, someone wrote "I dig the tighty-whities" - I guess I had my tunic pulled just a little high that day :roll:

I find it funny too how garments called Tunics continued to be worn until WW2. 8)

And yet, I have never heard a woman complain about us Romans in tunics showing some leg... :lol:

[M. Demetrius]

The US Marine Corps still calls the jacket a tunic, or so I'm told.

[Magnus]

Yeah, and we call our dress uniform tops tunics, when I was in the army and even now in the police service.

[Hibernicus]

Nothing like telling a hard headed Roman snubbing Scot that the little "Roman skirt" predates his kilt ( a garment invented by the English) ... oh, and that the word "kilt" is French, the Scots/English spelling of the French word for blanket: quilt... or telling him that civilized men wear underwear. .. but only if he's being snooty about history. If he's really wanked about it call him an invader and an Irish Pirate, that all his ilk ought to go back to Ireland where they came from... that Alba ought to be returned to her rightful heirs!

But only if he deserves it... otherwise, say no and blame someone else like Victorian English historians and their ethnocentric superiocity....

.. or not...

Hibernicus

[A_Volpe]

( a garment invented by the English) ... oh, and that the word "kilt" is French, the Scots/English spelling of the French word for blanket: quilt

ooooooOOOOH! Did not know this! Very interesting. :twisted:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

And an Italian invented the telephone , to boot! :twisted:

[marcust]

That happened to me once I was at a conference and I met this person and somehow we started talking about rome and me friend asked me that same question since my friend saw it on tv and they flapped around and my friend seemed to think that was funny however the friend was quite suprised when I told her that the romans considered pants barbaric and effeminate