The Hat Tip

A trend for people who write blogs is to offer a "hat tip" when they replicate information tidbits. I find this expression extremely annoying for two reasons.

1.) JFK ruined the American hatwearing experience by refusing to muss his full head of handsomely brushed hair. Have you ever seen a picture of Kennedy wearing a hat? Didn't think so. People don't wear hats anymore. It's all ball caps these days, which are NOT hats. They're caps. So maybe the expression should be, "cap tip?" If we pretend that the cap has superceded the hat, we can then say that people don't wear hats properly anymore. The hat-wearing etiquette has been superceded by complete and total absence of hat-wearing etiquette. I count in this lounge five ball caps. This lounge is indoors. There is no eye-blinding sun in this lounge. People are not playing ball in this lounge. The ball caps serve no purpose in this lounge. The ball caps should have been removed.

2.) Even if we were to pretend that people still wear hats, the "hat tip" expression makes absolutely no sense. Tipping one's hat is a form of greeting. I guess you can expand the equivalent definition of greeting, the "acknowldgement," and use "hat tip" as an acknowlegement. But they're still two different concepts. One suggests, "I acknowledge your presence." The other suggests, "I acknowledge that someone else pointed this out first." It's a stretch, but I guess it works. I still don't like it.

From the Austin Business Journal:

We've also used our fashion for greetings. As was the open hand, it has long been a sign of politeness to bare your head. From the sweep of a Renaissance chapeau with an opulent feather through the removal of a simple cowboy hat or bowler, exposing the most crucial part of your existence has been a very proper greeting.

In the West, in particular, we've also altered our greetings to fit the needs or style of our culture. In the Old West, with a cowboy hat a necessity to fight off the relentless sun, but sometimes keeping at least one hand on the reins was more important. The compromise was the hat tip, a grab of the brim and slight pull. It says respect but not recklessness.

Even as we moved from Stetsons to gimme caps, it was a tradition that thrived. In fact, it was easier to give a pull to the longer brim of a baseball cap. But that too slipped back as it became more fashionable to wear your hat as if you can't tell the front from the back.

And from Ask Andy About Clothes:

Tipping of the hat is a conventional gesture of politeness. This hat tipping custom has the same origin as military saluting, which came from the raising of medieval Knights face visors to show friendliness. 

Hats are worn less now, but at the turn of the 20th century, all adults wore hats whenever they left the house. It was a matter of good personal hygiene, since hats were a protection from industrial dirt. 

Hats are removed when inside, except for places that are akin to public streets, like lobbies, corridors, and crowded elevators (non-residential). In a public building (where there are no apartments) the elevator is considered a public area. 

You may choose to remove your hat in a public elevator, but in the presence of a lady your hat must be removed.

Of course, I have no delusions that my singular cry for sensibility will be heard by the increasingly blind-to-fidelity masses. I am fairly certain that the "hat tip" expression will find its way into the dictionary with this new, albeit incorrect, usage.

A somewhat related pet peeve of mine: President Harding gave us "normalcy" after World War I. We had a perfectly good word without having to create a new one that means exactly the same thing: normality. Now, almost nobody uses "normality." After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the fake word was bandied about several times daily. The American Heritage Dictionary, bless them, at least gives me validation by providing "normality" as the definition for "normalcy."

I refuse to use the word "normalcy" on principle. But most would say that it makes me a kook.