"Take your hats off, you are indoors".

[The Wingnut]

Of interesting note, you can get in a mess of trouble in the military by not handling your headgear properly. Forget to remove it indoors, people will immediately call you on it. Walk around outdoors without it, hoo boy, cardinal sin.

I found myself being glared at by one of my superiors while walking through a parking lot yesterday. He pointed at his head as he drove by and I immediately froze in my tracks...I'd forgot my cap in my car!(this is somewhat more common with flightline personnel as we can't wear stuff that'll get sucked into a $5 million jet engine and wipe the thing out). I made a beeline back and retrieved it before anyone else caught me. Had someone higher up the food chain seen me, I'd have been the victim of far more than a hard stare.

There are pages upon pages of military regulation dictating dress and appearance, and courtesey. Many will think of military members as barbarians, but off the battlefield, we're polite barbarians. Please, thank you, yes ma'am, no sir. Even out of uniform the habits stick.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Of interesting note, you can get in a mess of trouble in the military by not handling your headgear properly. Forget to remove it indoors, people will immediately call you on it. Walk around outdoors without it, hoo boy, cardinal sin.

There are pages upon pages of military regulation dictating dress and appearance, and courtesey. Many will think of military members as barbarians, but off the battlefield, we're polite barbarians. Please, thank you, yes ma'am, no sir. Even out of uniform the habits stick.

I imagine that back in the Golden Era any young man who violated hat etiquette found themselves corrected on it by their parents if no one else. I always thought that enforcement of proper etiquette would be easier if it had been ingrained in them while they were growing up. Most of the time, however, it was simply a matter of a quick reminder such as in your case. After I'd been in the AF a while I found I was uncomfortable in civilian clothes if I didn't have with me my AF ID, a pen, and wearing a hat or cap.

Back in the late '80s at Bergstrom AFB I could always tell when it was a Guard weekend--you'd see them walking in the parking lots with hat in hand, and then in the BX with it on their head. I imagine what with all the active duty time being forced on them these days they've gotten the hang of it by now!

Cheers,
Tom

PS I never was able to remember the new AFI number for the uniform regs--it was always AFR 35-10 to me!

 

[Wolfmanjack]

Many will think of military members as barbarians, but off the battlefield, we're polite barbarians. Please, thank you, yes ma'am, no sir. Even out of uniform the habits stick.

My time in the U.S. Army taught me a great deal about confidence, poise, dignity, and showing respect. The military are not barbarians. As for their political leaders…well, that’s another question.

 

[The Wingnut]

PS I never was able to remember the new AFI number for the uniform regs--it was always AFR 35-10 to me!

It's now AFI 36-2903. Had that pounded into my head in basic.

 

[Tango Yankee]

It's now AFI 36-2903. Had that pounded into my head in basic.

Ah, yes. I even had it printed out in a binder on my bookshelf, but even though it came out a little more than halfway through my career I just couldn't get it to stick like 35-10! Things pounded into you in Basic tend to stick, don't they?

Cheers,
Tom

 

[jkingrph]

I imagine that back in the Golden Era any young man who violated hat etiquette found themselves corrected on it by their parents if no one else. I always thought that enforcement of proper etiquette would be easier if it had been ingrained in them while they were growing up. Most of the time, however, it was simply a matter of a quick reminder such as in your case. After I'd been in the AF a while I found I was uncomfortable in civilian clothes if I didn't have with me my AF ID, a pen, and wearing a hat or cap.

Back in the late '80s at Bergstrom AFB I could always tell when it was a Guard weekend--you'd see them walking in the parking lots with hat in hand, and then in the BX with it on their head. I imagine what with all the active duty time being forced on them these days they've gotten the hang of it by now!

Cheers,
Tom

PS I never was able to remember the new AFI number for the uniform regs--it was always AFR 35-10 to me!

All I ever new was AFR35-10. As an active duty officer for 10 years, then reserve for another 7 with a long break, I hated to see the demise of the 1505 uniform.

Back in late 70's we started having problems with some of the airmen, I was in medics, trying to get away with improper headgear, ie watch caps as worn by flightline crews, or nothing at all. A few good chewings in presence of our senior NCO fixed things quickly.

 

[The Wingnut]

Watch caps are currently ok on the flightline(might vary from base to base). It's been determined they're a non-hazard and they're really helpful on cold / windy days.

 

[The Wingnut]

Things pounded into you in Basic tend to stick, don't they?

Cheers,
Tom

I still roll my t-shirts. I can fit a LOT more in a drawer or suitcase that way.

...and every once in a while my brain is calling cadence while I walk. ACK!

 

[Yohanes]

Hat in prom?

Sorry bringin' out old thread, due to my curiosity. Well, if it's a prom, and you should take your hat off... where would you put your hat? I don't think you can leave it on your chair (if there's any in such event) - what if some dorks snatch it while you were dancing, or carry it (how do you dance by carrying a hat?), or place it in your locker first before the prom?

 

[duggap]

Sorry bringin' out old thread, due to my curiosity. Well, if it's a prom, and you should take your hat off... where would you put your hat? I don't think you can leave it on your chair (if there's any in such event) - what if some dorks snatch it while you were dancing, or carry it (how do you dance by carrying a hat?), or place it in your locker first before the prom?

You know, most facilities are not designed for a man with a hat. Just look at restaruants today. May I suggest that you and your male friends wear your hats right up to the time you go in and then either leave them in the car or put them in your locker. You are right they will not be there when you return from a dance. Be sure to get your pics with the hats on. Have fun.

 

[Yohanes]

I'm a man, comrade

 

[wenestvedt]

As a Professor in a small liberal arts college, I take very seriously my responsibility to help my students develop the skills to be successful.

*golfclap* Well done, sir!

As an administrative employee (IT) at a small New England [though with a Miami campus!] college, I am seriously apalled at the way students today dress. I wear a fedora to work about one day a week (and my big ol' Akubra the other days) and it gives me great joy to walk quiely down the sidewalk, carving a path like an icebreaker through the crowds of droopy drawers and sideways Yankees caps. :7)

Keep the faith, perfesser!

- Will

 

[Edward]

There are pages upon pages of military regulation dictating dress and appearance, and courtesey. Many will think of military members as barbarians, but off the battlefield, we're polite barbarians. Please, thank you, yes ma'am, no sir. Even out of uniform the habits stick.

Why do you think the reason for that is? I have to admit, I've always had a thing for uniforms (the biggest joke of it all is I'm an avowed pacifist lol ). I'm sure a lot of it is psychological, even tribal. Making evderyone the same - making you a soldier, not an individual. I don't mean that in a negative way, I'd like to stress, more a neutral term - I can certainly see the positives in refocussing attention on the group, being a functioning part of the overall unit / company / etc as opposed to "I'm an individual doing my own thing." Collective responsibility, accountability etc. Then there's the respect issue - respect for your regiment or whatever by respecting its uniform and symbolism. I do also think in part it's all about training the mind towards discipline - if you can be trained to follow fastidious rules on uniform, it trains the mind to follow orders to the last detail, and so on - something that I can well imagine can mean the difference between life and death in certain circumstances.

Sorry, a bit off topic, but I am genuinely interested in views from the inside on this.

I Corinthians 11:3-16

Exactly what I was thinking of - I didn't have the reference to mind, though. I have certainly seen this in action - more son in some stricter denominations than others. Any church I've ever been in, it was considered bad form for men to wear a hat inside. Not a great thing in my lifetime given the falling from favour of hats, though I remember a lot of elderly men in our churches when I was a kid wearing trilbys and flat caps, and they would have doffed them before stepping inside. We certainly had it pushed hard on us in Cubs / Scouts that we should remove our hats before entering a church in uniform. It tended to be in the Methodist Churches I grew up with very few women wore hats, though it would be acceptable form for them not to remove them. Aside from certain very traditionalist denominations (Free Presbyterian, many Bretherens as well), not every woman would wear a hat - up to the individuals. They all do at weddings, but general Sunday mornings, it varies.

The rationale behind the Biblical "rule" of course was always that men removed their hats to show deference and respect to God, while women kept them on to show modesty. I gather in certain parts of Africa, the tradition has long been that single ladies would uncover their heads, while married ladies would wear hats - an intriguing twist!

Personally, I think either is acceptable for the ladies, but I'd never dream of not removing my hat in a church - or any place of worship (of course I have donned a skull cap when I have visited a synagogue).

Funny that a boor like Trump would be giving etiquette advice.

Touche! lol

Hi all,

I looked around the inter-web and found this list of hat superstitions, most of them, as some of you mentioned, no doubt came about to deter bad hat-manners. * Wearing a hat indoors will give you a headache.
* Wearing a hat this is too tight will cause hair loss.

My mother always said that wearing a hat indoors would send me bald. Actually, i think (ironically enough) several years of wearing a rubber baldpiece for several hours at a time in a hot room every week was a big contributing factor!

topper comes off a wee bit reactionary. Slackness and/or not giving a damn are not liberal values.

Then again - I don't know the score in Britain very well, but I suspect he has nothing on our American "traditional" education advocates, who are basically tools.

I suspect something may have been lost in translation here - "liberal" does not carry the same assumed political meaning over here that it does in the US - one can be either liberal or conservative on a given topic, but a "liberal" can be from either the right or the left of the political spectrum - and this can vary from issue to issue. It's not the same thing as saying "left wing values", which it seems to be in the US.

 

[barrowjh]

I had never heard that it was impolite to put your hat on a table until I read this thread. The only times I have done this were while traveling alone; seated alone at a table for 4, I would place my hat (upside down) on a far corner, out of the way of servers, and within sight. Now that I know this offends some, I will go looking for a lanyard/clip combo. Might be a challenge; don't want the 'alligator' -like clip teeth to eat into the felt, so I may have to search the local fasterner shop. I appreciate the ed'yakashun.

 

[SinatraStyle]

A wooden clothes pin would probably prevent marks in your felt if you decide to clip to your brim. However, the better solution is to clip it to the sweatband.

 

[BigSleep]

"* Wearing a hat this is too tight will cause hair loss. "

This can be true.

My friend's dad was a motorcycle cop back in the 1950s.
This was before helmets were worn.
He always wore a classic 7 point police uniform hat. He wore one that was very snug so it wouldnt come off while riding.
For the rest of his life he had a band of scalp showing on tha sides of his head.
Musta cut off too much blood flow.

Somehow the very top of my hats must have been too tight. Weird!

 

[Gary Crumrine]

Friends,

When I was a boy, I recall being told that Uncle Russ was bald on top because he wore his hat indoors. Due no doubt to Uncle Russ, the other men in my family always removed their hats when crossing the threshold. Of course, there was always a hatrack by the door back then. Now, however, what do you do with a hat not on your head? There probably are workarounds, but without a hatrack (and confidence that your hat will not go missing while you are elsewhere), it's probably best to just leave it on your head and deal with rude comments in an appropriate way, keeping in mind that there might be witnesses.

 

[Qwkslvr]

The problem with obeying hat etiquette these days are thieves and lack of hat racks.
When in a public place, you just can't put anything out of eyesight and hope to have it there when you leave, and; the only places I know to have hat racks are barbershops.

 

[Starius]

Yeah, this summer I wore my panama hat out to a restaurant for a family dinner gathering and I just set my hat on my knee for the entire duration of the meal. It occurred to me then that this was the only place I could put it.

 

[ScionPI2005]

My rules are slightly altered, considering the majority of my day is spent in classes and around a college campus. I always wear my hat when first coming indoors and walking through the hallways to class. I only remove it once I enter the classroom and take my seat; then the hat goes either on my knee or it will rest against my bag by my side. And yes, I admit, sometimes when I'm in my living space, if I feel like leaving it on; I do...but there's no one around to criticize me, so please don't tell on me...

In regards to other hat behavior I have seen around Albuquerque; nearly 90% of the population keeps their hat on all the time while indoors. I have seen older guys wearing basball caps, cowboy hats, fedoras, you name it, all the time, even while eating. It would appear that here, the deviant is the one who DOES remove their hat. Funny how things are different in different cities.