📙 Part 2: Describe a traditional product in your country

This episode's vocabulary

Kilt (noun) - a skirt with many folds, made from tartan cloth and traditionally worn by Scottish men and boys.

Tartan (noun) - a pattern of different coloured straight lines crossing each other at 90 degree angles, or a cloth with this pattern.

Distinctive (adj.) - Something that is distinctive is easy to recognize because it is different from other things.

Dirk (noun) - a type of dagger (= small pointed knife) used as a weapon in Scotland in the past.

Impractical (adj.) - impractical clothes, devices, etc. cause problems when used in normal situations.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory is going to describe a traditional product in his country. He is going to say what the product is, when he tried this product for the first time, what it's made of, and he's gonna explain how he feels about it. Tell us, bring it on! Off you go!

R: Well, it's difficult to talk about Scottish products without mentioning kilts. Many people describe them as skirts when they talk to me about them. But truth be told, they're far more than that, actually. First of all, they mark you out to Scottish. And secondly, if you're wearing a particular tartan, that's the name for the pattern on them, then they show what family you belong to it. So there's a community aspect there. Most people focus on the strip of dense fabric that gets wrapped around your waist and then hangs down to your knee area since that's the most distinctive part. But actually, usually they're part of a sort of smart suit with a tailored jacket or a more casual, open-collared shirt. So there's some variety there. But the point is that there's a bigger, I don't know, uniform or outfit that it's connected to. So it's not just a skirt for men. I think I was about five or six when I had my first one, it was quite small and made for a child but still quite heavily based on, well, still quite heavily weighted, I should say. Based on what I can recall. Made of very dense wool, which gives them this weight. It also makes the proper ones quite difficult to make and therefore they're quite expensive. The shirts and suit parts are mostly cotton or polyester and they're more modern editions. But the socks are also made of the similar kind of dense wool. So it isn't really a summer outfit that you would wear all the time, definitely. Lastly, there are the accessories that go with it like dirk, which is a ceremonial blade. And we also have kilt pins with family emblems. And sporrans, which is like a small bag that makes up for the lack of pockets on the part that gets wrapped around the waist. You've got to have somewhere to put everything I suppose. In terms of my personal feelings about them, I think they're great, if a little bit impractical. And if you can pull off the look, I would definitely recommend investing in one. It's a good way to stand out from the crowd and it definitely makes for an interesting conversation piece if you know a little bit about them.

M: What about your friends? Do they have kilts?

R: Interestingly not many of them do.

M: Oh, are they Scottish, your friends?

R: I have friends from all over the world.

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