tipping your hat

[pchong]

Loungers...what is the reason behind the tradition of tipping one's hat as a mark of respect/acknowledgement?

Views appreciated.

[mikepara]

Knights would salute by lifting their helmet visor. As no knight would fight with his visor in this position it showed trust, respect and that you intended no harm. This is carried on today by the tipping of your hat to your elders, betters and ladies. Or in some rural areas the tipping of an imaginary hat. Mike

[David V]

Villiens, tenants and cotterd who worked the lords land would doff their cap when in the presence of the master. This sign of subservience latter became the sign of respect of removing or tipping your hat.

[pchong]

thanks very much to both. Good day (tipping my hat)...

[Percy.Trimmer]

I would suggest that removing the hat has always been a sign of respect in Christian cultures. In 1 Corinthians 11.7 Paul says it is not right for a man to have his head covered. The hat is always removed in church and by extension out of politeness in other contexts and circumstances. Tipping the hat is just an abbreviated version of the same.

[East Anglian]

Yesterday, I heard an elderly gentleman say: "I was always told - if you don't wear a hat, how can you take it off to say hello?"

For my own part, when I first went to school in the 1960s, I wore a typical English schoolboy's cap. We were taught to remove our caps to grown-ups unless it was raining - when we were allowed simply to touch the peak. The reason for this, we were told, was that King Henry V had caught a cold and died as a result of removing his helmet in the rain.

[JamesT1]

If only I wasn't too young to wear a hat...

[Algernon]

King Henry V had caught a cold and died as a result of removing his helmet in the rain.

Sadly a somewhat sanitised version of the truth: he died of dysentery!