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Irrational hatred of hats

Mid-fogey

Practically Family
Messages
720
Location
The Virginia Peninsula
Well...

...it sort of depends on who doesn't like the hat. If we're talking comments from strangers, there's another thread for that.

I think what we're talking about here are close friends, significant others, wifes, parents, etc. The issue is that they don't want to be seen with someone in a dress hat.

Their concern might be that they think dress hat wearing is odd, and that it somehow reflects poorly on them by being with you. Another reason is my wife's, which is: she is very shy and doesn't like the attention that the hat brings.

I try to show reasonable consideration for the feelings of the people I'm with. I usually accommodate my wife by wearing it to work or other places I go without her. As time goes by, I see her being less and less concerned with it. The positive comments I get from others are also slowly wearing her down.

It's just a hat.
 

immortaldiamond

Familiar Face
Messages
54
Location
London, UK
To blend or not to blend

All very interesting thoughts. It doesn't bother me in the least, but it struck me how strange a few decades make. 50 years ago I would have provoked horror for NOT wearing a hat. Then the wearing of a bowler was one way to blend in with the crowd, now the opposite is true.
 

Lefty

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,639
Location
O-HI-O
Replace the term "fedora" with "cape" and reconsider this thread.
cape-706048.jpg
 

Chuck Bobuck

Practically Family
Messages
715
Location
Rolling Prairie
Vintage Betty said:
lol Aren't you sweet! By your Avatar image, I'm old enough to be YOUR mother!!!

I'm sure you're not. :) For the background on my avatar, I have a thread on Memorial Day and the Greatest Generation I started today.

Mid-fogey said:
...
I think what we're talking about here are close friends, significant others, wifes, parents, etc. The issue is that they don't want to be seen with someone in a dress hat.

Their concern might be that they think dress hat wearing is odd, and that it somehow reflects poorly on them by being with you. Another reason is my wife's, which is: she is very shy and doesn't like the attention that the hat brings.

I try to show reasonable consideration for the feelings of the people I'm with. I usually accommodate my wife by wearing it to work or other places I go without her. As time goes by, I see her being less and less concerned with it. The positive comments I get from others are also slowly wearing her down.

It's just a hat.

Mid-fogey, that sounds like my situation, but you said it much better than I could of. I haven't been wearing a fedora that long yet.

Goose. said:

...

Don’t be a sheeple. Be comfortable and confident in your own skin...you won't be wearing it for long (translated as; "Life’s short"). Enjoy your hat(s). Truth be told, anyone that gets in your sheet "irrationally" for a lid has bigger issues than you can fix and that's not your job anyway.



And Goose, you always have something fun, interesting and poignant (in a good way) to say that I enjoy reading. SHEEPLE...? Now, that's knife knut talk. ;) :)
 

Geesie

Practically Family
Messages
717
Location
San Diego
I almost always get compliments on the hat. Only one negative remark ("you're trying too hard to be different") and then there's my father's reaction when I showed up home in leather jacket and fedora: "When did you rob a 1940s thrift store?"

But that's just his personality.
 

Mid-fogey

Practically Family
Messages
720
Location
The Virginia Peninsula
Thanks...

Geesie said:
I almost always get compliments on the hat. Only one negative remark ("you're trying too hard to be different") and then there's my father's reaction when I showed up home in leather jacket and fedora: "When did you rob a 1940s thrift store?"

But that's just his personality.

...Dad!!! Just remember who picks the home!
 

thunderw21

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,044
Location
Iowa
Never met an adult with such a hatred of hats but a friend's kid was scared to death of them as a toddler.

He'd start crying and squirming when he saw me with a hat on. Take it off and he be fine. Put it back on and the crying would start again. He eventually grew out of it.
 

Rustin

New in Town
Messages
7
Location
NW Indiana, USA
Post Number One...

Last Christmas I told my wife I wanted a 'cowboy hat'. Luckily she let me pick it out - it's not that expensive a hat, a brown Stetson Rawhide with a low crown and only a 3 1/2" brim, which I've shaped. It's unmistakably a cowboy hat but very conservative - I don't look like Hoss Cartwright or Tom Mix. Anyhow, my wife never thought I'd actually wear it, but I do, more and more. The only place I wasn't wearing it regularly was to work (in the IT dept of a hospital). Then one day I noticed one of our senior surgeons walking in the door... with a very $nappy cowboy hat on his head. And I thought 'If he thinks it's OK to wear a cowboy hat to a hospital, that's good enough for me.'

Mostly I've gotten either good comments or no comments (fine by me)... a couple of 'ya-hoo's... but the other day when I was leaving, one of my younger co-workers saw me less than 50 feet behind him, then turned and just kept walking. Considering he sits ten feet outside my office door and stops by to chat ten times a day, it's not like he's averse to me. I guess he was afraid to be seen walking next to someone in a cowboy hat. Well folks it's a very nice looking hat, looks good on me (my wife called me at work to tell me how sexy she thinks I look in it), and if a 26 year old is so uptight he's worried about being seen next to someone in a cowboy hat, well, it must (stink) to be him. Not my problem. I think he'll get over it eventually and get used to it. Meanwhile, I'm the guy who walks in on a rainy day wearing a cowboy hat instead of toting an umbrella. I'm fine with that.
 

Wolfwood

A-List Customer
Messages
319
Location
Finland
Rustin said:
but the other day when I was leaving, one of my younger co-workers saw me less than 50 feet behind him, then turned and just kept walking.
Are you sure he recognized you with the hat? Sometimes people just look at the most obvious thing and miss the rest - in this case, he might have seen the hat and thought "no, I don't know anyone who wears a cowboy hat" and missed the face that peeked from underneath the brim.
 

avedwards

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,425
Location
London and Midlands, UK
Charlie Huang said:
My parents. They will only accept beanies (and maybe a baseball cap) on a head but nothing else. I have to literally sneak the hat out of the house and then put it on at the corner and then take it off on the return approach to get away from the snideness...
My brother was like this a very little bit at first, but soon got used to it. My mother asked me at first whether I wear that everywhere (implying that I should save it for smart occaisions). My father said he liked me following after him, as he wears a flat cap most of the time, or one of my fedoras if we go out to dinner in a relatively nice place.

A few of my friends did at first have an irrational hatred to my hats (telling me to get rid of it otherwise they'd pretend not to know me), but over time they now appreciate them to the extent that I am asked where it is if I don't wear it (the last time that happened was six months ago).
 

HDRnR

A-List Customer
Messages
362
Location
Jersey
One of my buddies wears a giant sombrero just to piss people off. He will also wear a fez to a formal function with a suit just for fun. He normally wears a cowboy hat though.
 

Chuck Bobuck

Practically Family
Messages
715
Location
Rolling Prairie
HDRnR said:
One of my buddies wears a giant sombrero just to piss people off. He will also wear a fez to a formal function with a suit just for fun. He normally wears a cowboy hat though.

My wife and 12 yr. old daughter and I were in this country store last Summer. I found a cheap straw fedora type hat and wanted to get one for my girl. I was disappointed that she wanted this huge cheap looking sombrero instead. We got it for her and I'll be darned if she didn't look really good in it. :D
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
I once dated a girl that HATED my hat. I had one that looked like Hank's from Green Acres, I'm pretty sure it's the same kind of hat.
GreenAcres2314.jpg

I would walk her to school every morning, and she would take that hat from me all the time, stuff it in her backpack, refuse to give it back to me until after school, etc, etc. Ahh, young love.
 

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