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tipping your hat

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:35 am
by pchong
Loungers...what is the reason behind the tradition of tipping one's hat as a mark of respect/acknowledgement?

Views appreciated.

In the medieval world,

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 12:28 pm
by 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

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:31 pm
by 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.

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:30 am
by pchong
thanks very much to both. Good day (tipping my hat)...:-)

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:27 pm
by 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.

Hats

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:33 pm
by 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.

Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 1:13 am
by JamesT1
If only I wasn't too young to wear a hat...

Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 4:08 pm
by 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!