When we visited England in October, we walked up to Beachy Head from the town of Eastbourne. Once we reached the top, we went into the Beachy Head Pub to have a pot of tea. (We should have had a stronger drink to celebrate that we can still make that walk up there!) Anyway, looking over at the bar, I noticed that they had bottles of Scotch displayed upon a plaid cloth or paper. And when I pointed this out to my husband, he looked over at it and said, 'Oh, yes, you mean "tartan". Hmm....really, I have always called that pattern "plaid". When we got back to his parents' house, I asked my in-laws...and sure enough, they also say "tartan". Well, ding-dang, I just get every word wrong, either English OR Scottish! Things like this just tickle me but it makes me wonder why we Americans have to be different. Do they say "plaid" or "tartan" in Australia, I wonder?
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| Nice view even on a hazy day. (The Beachy Head Pub) |
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| The beach in Eastbourne |
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| Walking towards Beachy Head. |
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| This is the steep climb to Beachy Head. Can you see the pier in the distance? |
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| The views are stunning! |
Wait, I was talking about plaid/tartan before I began reliving our walk up to Beachy Head! See the photo above? That is the first color photograph that was ever made and it is of a tartan ribbon! (Made by the Scottish scientist, James Clerk Maxwell in 1861.)
Tartan is often called plaid in North America, but in Scotland, a plaid is a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder as a kilt accessory, or a plain ordinary blanket such as one would have on a bed.
The explanation above is from Wikipedia...so I hope that is correct!
What have we learned today, my friends? That's easy, when you see the pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colors, call it "plaid" if you speaking to an American but call it "tartan" if you are speaking to a Brit! If you are talking to anyone from any other part of the world...you are on your own!
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| The bag I am carrying does not identify my clan, just means I shop at Target! Spot the American! HA! |
A clan could be identified by its tartan pattern and colors.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know that but when I see that pattern, I call it 'plaid", don't you?
DeleteAlright, I give. Yes I call it plaid.
DeleteHa! I knew it! :-)
DeleteIt probably won't surprise you to read that I say "tartan" :-)
ReplyDeleteIn German, tartan is called Schotten-Karo ("Scottish check"). I love all things tartan, and have done so since my teens.
Schotten-Karo, Scottish check, that makes sense!
DeleteI am slowly but surely learning some German.
I remember the dress that I wore on my first day of school.
I thought it was red plaid, but I guess it was red tartan!
The Kilt as worn in bygone days in the highlands of Scotland was just a long sheet, a blanket, which was wound around to forma kilt and the remaining length thrown over the shoulder. This was the basic form of dress. Lucky folks had a shirt and a leather waistcoat like jacket also all held together by a belt with dagger/sword/sporran attached.
ReplyDeleteIn a fight with friend or foe all was dropped to ease movement.
The tartans were various designs of little note until Walter Scott decided to romanticise the highlanders when King William IV visited Edinburgh. From that day on tartans appeared everywhere as money was to be made from the trendy fashionable set who had never seen the highlands.
"In a fight with friend or foe all was dropped to ease movement". I see now that my people must be from Scotland, that sounds like my kinfolk.
DeleteThank you very much for your comment from Scotland!
As far as I know in England and Scotland it is tartan, but I totally agree, in America it is called plaid! xx
ReplyDeleteI guess Richard and I have never discussed plaid/tartan before! :-)
DeleteI'm a plaid girl, but when I hear the word tartan I always relate it to Scotland. Love the pictures you shared today.
ReplyDeleteThanks, MA! I didn't plan on having all the photos but when I started thinking of walking up to Beachy Head, I wanted to show you the how it looks!
DeleteEven I wasn't sure of the difference between plaid and tartan so I appreciate that explanation. Congratulations on still being able to make it up Beachy Head. It does look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Richard and I used to be able to MARCH up there but our steps are a bit more carefully placed these days! It is beautiful.
DeleteAnd i've also heard clan members call it their "colours," so i am confused, too!
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense too since the tartans are different colors, okay let's say "colours", we'll put the "u' in there for them!
DeleteBoth terms are used in Canada but "tartan" is used when describing official emblems. For example, most if not all Canadian provinces have an "official tartan."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra for letting me how Canada uses these words! :-)
DeleteI love the Scottish "tartan" but I call it plaid too. Those dark blue and greens are pretty to me.
ReplyDeleteI plan to take a vaca to London in June, do you have any recommendations for places I should see?
Oh! There is so much to see in London!! The museums, the churches, the parks!! St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Southwark Cathedral, The National Gallery, The British Museum, AND if you are like me, you must walk over as many of the bridges over the Thames as you can! (Waterloo, Westminster, Tower and Millenium). OH! And you have to see the Tower of London! See, there is so much!
DeleteIf you look down at my comments you will see a comment from Julie (Home Jules). She is from England, you should look at her blog and ask her for suggestions! Also, Amy above at "Love Made My Home". She is also English, they might be of more help!
I love London! We like to stay at hotels near Russell Square, the Bloomsbury area, it is close to the British Museum and fairly easy walking and/or taxi ride to everywhere!
I would have called it a tartan plaid.
ReplyDeleteReally, honestly? You must be more English than I am!
DeletePlaid, to this Scots-American, was something hideous and worn in the early 70s. I'll stick with tartan.
ReplyDeleteMmmm...so your comment does not help me understand the difference between plaid or tartan!!
DeleteAnd thanks for your comment, by the way, I think you must be a new visitor to my blog!
What a fun post! The photos are so beautiful. What are those pole-like things on the beach? To make separations for boats? Where do people swim? Probably dumb questions. :<))
ReplyDeleteNo, Nan, that is not a dumb question at all. Those are called "groynes" or "breakers" and they are there to keep the beach intact, they are part of the sea defences. (I would spell that "defenses" but in England, it is spelled with a "c"!) If you saw the photos of the beaches in New Jersey from this past weekend, you will see what a very good idea they are!
Delete(And they are spaced fairly far apart, this photo makes them look as if they are close together...if you look back at some of my earlier posts, you can see this better.)
I tend to call any pattern that has the same pattern on the weft and the weave tartan and the looser less formal cloths plaid. I think it's correct to say that all tartans are plaid but not all plaids are tartan. However my knowledge of what people call these cloths outside Scotland is pretty minimal.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many words that we say differently that almost every day I am surprised by something. Just recently, I learned this...what do you call it when you feed a baby and then, you pat the baby's back? We say we "burp" the baby, but I think you say "wind" the baby! Oh well, as long as the baby gets rid of the excess gas, everyone will be happy! :-)
DeleteDefinitely tartan to me but my daughter says it's plaid - she watches far too much American TV! She calls me Ma too - Little House on the Prairie!! x
ReplyDeleteOh, and you know, it just occurred to me...most Americans would pronounce tartan like this...tart-en, with the middle "t" being very soft or almost non existent...therefore, PLAID is much easier for us to say! (My Dad called his mother "Ma".)
DeleteLOVED Little House on the Prairie! xx
I think the word plaid is older, but have no idea why I think this....There were so many Scottish and Scotch-Irish settlers to the American colonies early (some of my own ancestors among them) and I think they brought the word plaid with them. Now my skittish mind has jumped over to thinking why I hear the the hairstyle for little girls called "braids" here and often "plaits" in UK books. Ah, the world is a puzzling place!
ReplyDeleteAnd also, you know when you cut your hair over your eyes and we call it having "bangs" but over there, it is a "fringe"! Married to a Brit even after 32 years, it still amuses me to learn of the different words we have for the same thing!
DeleteEven in the USA we have different names for things. My Father-in-law called green peppers mangos! Then there's the "pop" verses "soda" thing. Your pics are lovely!
DeletePop or soda? Ha! In the south, we just called everything "coke"!
DeleteNever heard of green peppers as mangos, that's funny!
This post has given me so much pleasure to read. So many different thoughts on the same subject. Personally I would go with Adullamite - I would explain tartan/plaid the same way. We are down in Sussex at the beginning of March and will drink to you both in the Pub at Beachy Head. I have been off-line for a bit but am now back and looking forward to a virtual walk with you up Stone Mountain.
ReplyDeleteWe call it plaid in Hawaii, too.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to know that I am correct in Hawaii! :-)
DeleteThis post has given me so much pleasure to read. So many different thoughts on the same subject. Personally I would go with Adullamite - I would explain tartan/plaid the same way. We are down in Sussex at the beginning of March and will drink to you both in the Pub at Beachy Head. I have been off-line for a bit but am now back and looking forward to a virtual walk with you up Stone Mountain.
ReplyDeleteSo much pleasure, you told me twice! HA! I sometimes have double commented, not sure why! Now, you MAKE sure you WALK up there, double time, MISSY! HA!!
DeleteVery happy to see your comment here, Pat, hope you are well! Hope to get to Stone Mountain soon. Maybe we will meet one day, and will look at that shelf of whiskies on the TARTAN cloth together! (Who knows we might just drink some of them! Cheers!!)
Here in Australia it is called Tartan and also in New Zealand where I was born.
ReplyDeleteI notice that your English language is much more like the Brits than what we have done with it in America!
DeleteThanks for your comment, I don't know if you have visited me before. You are welcome here anytime! I have a great wish to see both Australia and New Zealand. Even if I don't get to, I enjoy seeing the people's blogs from there!
'Tis called tartan here, too. I'm of Scots/Irish heritage. I also have a wonderful little book that was handed down to me by my grandmother...and it consists of all the Scottish clans and the tartans, with the history attached.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful book to own, and that it was handed down to you! I figured it would be the same way in Australia, you are very much more like the Brits in the language! :-)
DeleteI have a Maxwell tartan scarf that I wear two times every year - at my church's Kirking of the Tartans service in February and at my clan's tent at the Stone Mountain Highland games in October. I think of the tartan as something you wear or display that proclaims your heritage, but the plaid on my new comforter is just a plaid pattern. :)
ReplyDeleteLynn, I hoped you would see this post! If you look at the explanation from Wikipedia, you saying "plaid" for your pretty bed cover is exactly right!
DeleteAlso, I hope you read the story of James Clerk Maxwell, he is one fascinating person. I might have to do a post about him!
In all my years of visiting Stone Mountain, I have never been to the Highland Games, maybe I will one day and see you there! :-)
I've looked into the history of Tartan/Plaid myself as I was going to do a post on it years ago. The basic pattern came from Ireland originally as they used to wrap their dead in checked cloth but it did not have much colour in it. Up until relatively recently Scottish clans could only tell each other apart by their war cries and they had to wear a sprig of heather/Rushes/other plant that only grew in their area at formal meetings between each other. After Tartan was banned for many years, the clan system smashed and the unruly and often violent Highland chieftains were dragged off in chains to swear loyalty to the crown the British Government eventually relented and they were allowed to wear tartan again once they had been broken and properly tamed or moved overseas. No longer hostile or dangerous to the power of the day the romantic idea of the "noble highlander" was born for the tourist industry promoted by Sir Walter Scott in his highly popular books and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert when they built Balmoral and created a love of all things "highland" as rich folk in England and the Scottish lowlands copied them and bought large hunting estates(who along with lowland Scot and London tailors created all the clan colours we see today in the Victorian era as it made them a fortune.) Remaining Clan chiefs then sent their sons to Eton and Cambridge, realizing this was the way forward, and still do today.
ReplyDeleteThis is the unpalatable truth that most of the stuff we take for granted today is an establishment invention for the Victorian tourist industry and sporting estates. Oh, and William Wallace never went anywhere near the Scottish Highlands if he could help it. He came from the lowlands near Paisley(or Ayrshire) and never entered the real highlands as they would have kicked his ass. A bit like Afghan warlords today they were too unpredictable and had their own agendas. Most of the highland stuff we accept as genuine today is a recent myth including the famous two handed broadsword W.W. is supposed to have used. The real truth is out there and very easy to find online for anyone interested. There was also a good "Tony Robinson" programme recently which said much the same thing that might be on You Tube. The myth is probably too well established though and folk never like the true version of events :o)
I always find that most things are much more complex than people think and don't fit into the "sound bites" that are so popular on TV.
DeleteThanks for your comment here. If you want to do a post yourself, then please do so! I grant you my royal permission! HA HA, like I am royal or something, that is funny. :-)
Hi Kay,
ReplyDeleteone of the reasons I didn't do it was that it was so complicated and requires an in depth professional knowledge I don't have. For instance in Braveheart the Scots are all wearing kilts whereas foot soldiers of that time wore identical heavy multi layered long outfits of monotone bland colour that matched the English troops as tartan is rubbish at keeping out arrows and they weren't stupid and wanted to live to fight another day. Also both sides were made up of different factions. Many Scots fought with the English troops as just like our last referendum the country was divided when picking sides.(Obviously no use for a film promoting a united front.)
It's something that happens every day all over the world and the untrue occurrence becomes accepted fact to most of the population. " Tell a lie often enough and that becomes the truth" Quote from many a crafty politician in the last 4000 years.
There is an amusing but historically accurate programme on here called "QI" with Stephen Fry that runs something along the lines of "everything you think you know about anything is probably false but what someone wished you to believe." The recent recession and the deliberate mess that is the Middle East are perfect examples that it's still going on.
"The untrue occurrence becomes accepted fact"...ah, you see, it is up to people like US to set the world straight! Don't be fearful of not being an expert, just tell it like it is, my friend.
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