Chapeau Short: Why do you tip your hat when meeting someone?

hello and welcome to another one of my Chapo shorts my shorter more informal videos on subjects related to hats in this video I'll be talking about why does one tip one's hat when greeting someone it is common custom and courtesy amongst men in Western cultures to tip one's hat meaning lift it slightly or at least touch its brim when you are greeting somebody that you know or meeting someone and then when inside a private space such as a home an office or a place that deserves respect such as a Sacred Space you fully remove it when inside and then as a similar sign of respect you also do so when for example listening to your country's national anthem or passing let's say a funeral so where does this custom come from well it dates back to the Middle Ages when men would sometimes be wearing something more akin to this when knights in the Middle Ages wore fully face covering helmets like this in order to protect themselves in battle they would have to lift the visor when meeting an ally in order to identify themselves as a friend the act of lifting the visor continued as lifting one's hat slightly when meeting someone in order to similarly identify yourself as someone who has friendly intentions incidentally some people say that this is also the origin of the military solution so there are other theories but that's not the purpose of this video furthermore Beyond just lifting the visor so as I said the origin of just tipping one's hat or at least touching its brim when they were invited into somebody else's house the guest in order to indicate that they trusted the host and did not need protection would fully remove the helmet and therefore indicate that they were not fearful of attack this was also done in churches where the host was technically God house of God and thus they showed their faith in God and therefore their lack of fear of attack in his home by not wearing a helmet inside therefore not wearing any headgear became something of a mark of respect towards the host and the place that you were in and after a time it took a while for this custom to fully become ingrained removing once hat in a private space such as a home and office became a Mark of that respect and furthermore the act of removing a hat became the mark of respect itself so in solemn events as I said listening to a national anthem or hearing a memorial for someone who has passed on removing one's hat became customary because this custom came from men wearing military helmets women were not expected to do the same so while men are expected to remove their hats women when wearing a distinctly feminine hat do not have to remove it indoors or when greeting someone one though it is preferable when wearing a unisex hat such as a baseball cap removing one's hat is customary in Western cultures but other cultures sometimes have different Norms especially some religions where the act of covering your head is the sign of respect towards the deity you are praying to nonetheless unless you are part of that culture or in an setting where it is expected it is recommended that especially if you're a man when inside or greeting someone it is usually advised to just do your hat I hope once again you found this little video interesting and we'll join me again soon for another hat until then now you know why I tip my hat to you

Channel: HatHistorian

Views: 15,816

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Id: KKTJXnnqZ8o

Length: 3min 43sec (223 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2024