Why doesnt anyone wear neckerchiefs anymore?

[SSScout]

Slider? There's an American for you...

Woggle to old timers or Brit Scouts.

 

Look at "Woggle World" http://cubclub.tripod.com/ for some inspiration.

 

And http://www.pinetreeweb.com/neckerchief.htm(This message has been edited by SSScout)

[Eagle92]

I personally like my woggle made out of clothelin in a Turk's head knot. NO PROBLEMS SLIDING.

[Scoutfish]

Nah, slider is coprrect! It even makes sense: It slides down off the necker onto the floor!

 

First time the name was used, I imagined it was something like this:

 

1st Scouter: "What's this on the floor? Oh, it's a necker device.Bet it slipped off without anybody even noticing"

 

Second scouter: Yeah, it must have been a slider."

 

Woggle sounds like the mating dance of a wild turkey!

 

 

[blw2]

I found that link re the history of the necker posted above by SSScout very interesting.

 

I had no idea that there was supposed to be a "Good Turn Knot". I wonder what happened to that custom?

 

I also enjoyed the statement by the then scout Chief Scout Exec.......

Wearing It Right

James E. West, Chief Scout Executive, says: "We are anxious to have the co-operation of every Scout and Scout Official in making

effective the regulations covering the Official Uniform, Insignia and Badges. To tolerate a conscious disregard for requirements, even in simple matters, breeds disrespect for law and order. When I have found boys wearing the neckerchief under instead of over the shirt collar, it developed that invariably the Scouts, and indeed their own Scoutmaster, did not understand the correct way of wearing the neckerchief. I am anxious that every Scout and Scout Official study the diagram, wear the neckerchief in the right way, and that he invite the attention of other fellows to the right way when he finds them wearing it wrong."

 

I love that statement "To tolerate a conscious disregard for requirements, even in simple matters, breeds disrespect for law and order. ". I'm reminded of the thread currently running on the scout pants......

[desertrat77]

Doesn't surprise me James West said that. Good fella, but by a few accounts I've read and heard, he was high-strung by nature.

 

Anyone who is "anxious" about proper uniform wear, and concerned that someone not wearing a neckerchief properly "breeds disrespect for law and order"...that's a bit over the top, in my book.(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

[Scoutfish]

I agree Rat!

 

Kinda sounss like High Chancellor Adam Sutler in V for Vendetta

 

"

Mr. Dascombe, what we need is a clear message to the people of the country! This message should be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the ENTIRE INTERLINK! I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion! I want every man, woman, and child to understand how close we are to chaos! I WANT EVERYONE to remember WHY THEY NEED US!"

 

 

Sure, you want to wear the uniform right. But to say not wearing a necker, or not wearing it correctly will lead to disrespect for law and order?

 

WOW! That's more than a bit over the top. Alot of our leaders do not wear neckers. at any given time, a third of our boys are not wearing them or not in uniform.

 

So far, there haven't been any molotov cocktails or breaking and enterings. Haven't had ant scouts stealing or committing crimes either.

 

Me thinks that Jmaes West had a little bit of OCD. And sounds a bit like Freud with his rationalization and reasoning. Know what I mean? He put his own thouggts and isues on everybody else:

 

"The reason you hate your necker is because it represents your mother, who you hate and want to have sex with!"

 

Umm...nah, I just hate that it itches and irritates me when I am hot and sweaty!

 

[SSScout]

blw2: Good to hear from you.

The "Good Turn" knot went the way of all uniform things: one of two reasons (or both). Either the PTB decide the uni needs "updating" (ESL : teeny neckers under the collar, cuffs on shirtsleeves. Centen: lighter weight, silk screen flag & "BSA" strip, ipod pocket on sleeve, no buttons on pockets) OR,, us participants just decide the thing isn't worth doing (blue jeans, no neckers, no hat, let the boys wear the shirt not tucked in, )

I remember being taught the Good Turn knot. Our neckers back then were long enough to do that with little problem. Not so now with the cravat necker. The overhand knot was tied with one end around the other. Done right, it helped the necker lie right. The idea was (originally) that once the Scout had done his Daily GD, he would untie his knot. That was back (waaaaay back) when the uni might actually be worn thru the day, not just on special times.

So to the spun thread...

[K1986]

This is a little off topic but still within the guides to post here. I've seen a couple posts about packs that make their own neckers. Our group has talked about doing this, we have the resources to make good quality neckers. (Thank goodness for Cricuit Machines!) But according to national, packs should not make their own neckers like troops do. I understand the way that the colors make them distinctive but it seems to me they just want to ensure uniform sales for continuing years. I work with what I would call a lot of financially disabled families and we typically award new neckers each year when kids move up and recycle old ones but we still spend $100 a year in neckers and slides when we could make good quality ones to award new kids when they join. What does everyone think? Can we go with our own and save some hassle or stick with the rules and keep buying them by rank?

[SeattlePioneer]

Last night I had six boys new to Cub Scouts and their families show up to form our Bobcat Den of new Cub Scouts.

 

The gathering activity was to make a neckerchief slide, sanding a 1/2" section cut from a tree branch to make it smooth. Then boys used a Dymo label maker to make their name in plastic tape and stick it to the sanded wood surface.

 

Two holes were pre-drilled near the top of the wood blank, and boys and parents threaded a pipe cleaner through the holes and formed a loop in back to hold a neckerchief.

 

We had a ceremony welcoming each new boy to Cub Scouts. Each boy was awarded a neckerchief I'd cut from a colorful bed sheet (20 from a $5 thrift shop bed sheet), and the parents helped the boy put the neckerchief and slide on.

 

 

Now that the boys were "in uniform" we did a flag ceremony, and learned the Cub Scout salute.

 

I'd assembled a pole and crosspiece and cut out some things for a Bobcat Den Flag, but the boys and parents decided how they wanted to assemble those pieces to make a den flag and glue them down with hot melt glue.

 

The new Scouts completed two Bobcat Badge requirements, and lit two candles on my "Bobcat Trophy" to commemorate that and look forward to completing the other six.

 

If my program needs neckerchiefs, we make neckerchiefs. Mine aren't fancy --- I cut them out of the bedsheet with a sharp butcher knife.

 

Despite that, the boys and parents seemed enchanted with that, and parents often took pictures as one parent was helping their son put on their neckerchief.

 

By the end of the hour meeting, all the new Scouts were in uniform with a new neckerchief and slide they had made, had a new den flag they had made, had learned something of the "Law of the Pack" and practiced the Pledge of Allegiance while holding the flag on a staff, learned the meaning of the Cub Scout Motto by actually DOING their best, and had been invited to a Saturday Bobcat hike and hot dog roast.

 

As best I could tell, both the boys and parents were pretty impressed.

 

(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

[SSScout]

Seattle, that was lovely. That's exactly what CS should be about. And it is what is lacking in so many CS programs: a personal connection. Here, you have the parents DOING with their boy. They are learning by example. Later, they can learn by EDGE (shiver). Unless the parents toss them as being "dirty " or "not nice" somehow, those handmade neckers will be kept for a loooong time.

You have made memories, and that is a good distance into what Scouting should be about.

[SSScout]

Seattle, that was lovely. That's exactly what CS should be about. And it is what is lacking in so many CS programs: a personal connection. Here, you have the parents DOING with their boy. They are learning by example. Later, they can learn by EDGE (shiver). Unless the parents toss them as being "dirty " or "not nice" somehow, those handmade neckers will be kept for a loooong time.

You have made memories, and that is a good distance into what Scouting should be about.

[Mr. Boyce]

As a scout I was a big fan of neckerchiefs and neckerchief slides. I liked the option of picking for myself what neckerchief I'd wear (you used to get these, like patches, at activities, they'd come in different designs and colors, etc.), and then I'd have a current favorite neckerchief slide.

 

I have a few of my old neckerchief slides still around, a couple of good ones I carved and painted.

 

We as scouts never poo-poohed the neckerchief, but just wore it. I'm not sure where the anti-neckerchief message came from.

 

I like neckerchiefs. The bolo, to me, looks like something a geezer out in the sun states would wear while he's sitting in front of his RV.