So, do you know how copper wire was invented?
-Two Scotsmen fighting over a penny.
Seriously though, anyone know how far back the stereotype goes of the frugal Scot?
I think it's more of a 19th century thing / Victorian era.
Hmmmm...
Yankee "thrift", Southern "hospitality", Mid-Western "values", etc.
Today the Scots themselves propogate the reputation of thier *ahem* fiscal frugality more for marketing value. I read that in all of the British Isles the Scots give more to charity then any other peoples.
I think the ancient way of life for the Picts/Scots required frugality for simple survival and then the later Protestant Reformation and the severity of John Knox cemented the ideals.
Two Scots bet a penny on who could hold his head under water the longest.
They both drowned.
Julianne - that last makes a lot of sense.
I wonder also how much Adam Smith might have to do with it? Being pretty much the center of economic thought for a time could nae have hurt.
Heh - Ages ago, a wonderful travelling player by the name of Mike Rayburn quipped at my school -
"Yeah, he's Scots-Irish. Means half of him always wants to get drunk, and the other half never wants to pay for it."
:)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/AmrasElfwine/gifs/rampantwave.gif)
A Scotsman took a girl for a ride in a taxi. She was so beautiful he could hardly keep his eye on the meter.
The whole Knox/Presbyterian conservative connection could make sense for an early start for it....
The sterotype of the tight scot and the thick irish originated in the early satirical english magazine called punch.
Heres a link with further information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_(magazine)
Were kilts expensive hundreds of years ago? It would seem to me that someone who dressed in a length of fabric and not tailored clothing (or sewn clothing) was poor or perhaps necessarily frugal.
I also heard that scots used the kilt fabric as a tent to sleep under at night and as clothing during the day.
Did this have something to do with the stereotype of frugality?
Regards,
CB
I doubt it would have anything to do with the kilt. cloth is not expensive. Clans sometimes wore the same tartan, as tartan did not go by clan name, it just happened to be whatever weaver you visited. I am sure you all know that clan tartans were a victorian invention.
As I have stated above, the scots being cheap was perpetuated by the edwardian magazine punch.
Quote from: Seanfromscotland on June 16, 2008, 03:02:59 PM
As I have stated above, the scots being cheap was perpetuated by the edwardian magazine punch.
You might want to check your facts. The English magazine, Punch, originated in 1841 during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).
By the Edwardian period the stereotype of Scottish Frugality had long been established. As you say, the magazine may have
perpetuated the belief through the political satire cartoons. But they certainly didn't
propogate the belief.
Oh and your link for a Wiki article comes up with no information.
Frugal Scots?????? .... I don't buy that! ;D
I'm not frugal!
We're not THAT frugal!
Now turn your head, as I remove my wallet from its secret hiding place... ::)