Is it bad taste to wear college colors if you didn't attend the college?

Originally Posted by Manton

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You can wear a blue and gold scarf all you want and I bet not a single Cal grad anywhere will even make the connection.
I would walk up to him and question him to make sure he wasn't posing as a Cal grad and wearing colors that he didn't earn. Just kidding, you are right I wouldn't draw the connection. I don't really associate ties and scarves colors to the school somebody attended. They are just colors to me.

Audit a "continuing education" class (online, if possible) - then you'll be a student of the school and you can "rep" the colors proudly.

Originally Posted by Manton

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You can wear a blue and gold scarf all you want and I bet not a single Cal grad anywhere will even make the connection.

I was thinking too that crimson and white stripes should be simple enough a design that it needn't be associated with a single school--or if it is, what a sad monopoly for such a classic and handsome design.

I've asked the same question at AAAC. The folks over there are much more permissive of the idea than some of the responses I see here--a curious contrast, because I thought a more traditional forum would be more... uptight about this sort of things. Apparently not.

Originally Posted by PeterEliot

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I was thinking too that crimson and white stripes should be simple enough a design that it needn't be associated with a single school--or if it is, what a sad monopoly for such a classic and handsome design.

I've asked the same question at AAAC. The folks over there are much more permissive of the idea than some of the responses I see here--a curious contrast, because I thought a more traditional forum would be more... uptight about this sort of things. Apparently not.

Factor out the crank GBR and re-read this thread and see what you find.

My Bentley is sky blue, and I never went to UNC. So I would say, wear whatever colors you wish.

Originally Posted by Master Squirrel

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I wore an old KU t-shirt while mowing my lawn one day in St Paul (MN). An old alumni spotted me and outed me as a non-KUer. The police had to helicopter me off the roof right before the mob stormed and set fire to my house.

This was "” as you say "” in St. Paul though. I'm pretty sure the reaction would be much milder were you anywhere else.

Originally Posted by viator

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But why should we allow some "institution or organization" to take away colors from the rest of us by some sort of fiat?

It is not use of the colours as such rather the layout of the colours - size of each element which is wrong.

As a person whose alma mater's colors are red and blue, I demand respect for those colors and declare them proprietary forevermore. Be warned, peons.

I carry a (sword)cane for those occasions when I chance upon any scoundrel who is dishonourably wearing the Orange and White, or the Crimson, or the Crimson and Gray, or the Queen's Tartan.

Originally Posted by Bull

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Audit a "continuing education" class (online, if possible) - then you'll be a student of the school and you can "rep" the colors proudly.

This is American can-doism at its best.

On a completely unrelated note, I was shocked to discover that not only do colleges have color schemes, so do specific degrees. I really wonder who makes this stuff up. A B.A. in Interior Design is "Bilberry," in case you were wondering.

So if you wear a blue & gold sweater with a bilberry check, you can expect a lot of flack from highly-educated interior decorators.

From a short story by P.G. Wodehouse:

Well, you know how it is when you're in some public spot and a stranger comes in wearing the old school tie. You shove a hasty hand over your own and start to sidle out before the chap can spot it and grab you and start gassing. And Barmy was doing just this when the barmaid uttered these sensational words:
"Good evening, Mr. Briscoe."
Barmy stood spellbound. He turned to the barmaid and spoke in a hushed whisper.
"Did you say "˜Briscoe'?"
"Yes, sir."
"From the Vicarage?"
"Yes, Sir."
Barmy quivered like a jelly. The thought that he had had the amazing luck to find in the brother of the girl he loved an old schoolmate made him feel boneless. After all, he felt, as he took his hand away from his tie, there is no bond like that of the old school. If you meet one of the dear old school in a public spot, he meant to say, why, you go straight up to him and start fraternizing.
He made a beeline for the chap's table.
"I say," he said. "I see you're wearing a ..."
The chap's hand shot up to his tie with a sort of nervous gesture, but he evidently realized that the time had gone by for protective measures. He smiled a bit wryly.

Originally Posted by Morgan

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From a short story by P.G. Wodehouse:

Well done!

In the USA, as others have pointed out in threads of this sort, college sweatshirts are widely sold as souvenirs, to supporters of the college's athletic team, parents or other relatives of students, etc., and there is certainly no stigma of fraud in wearing such.

Whenever I see somebody wearing an "Oxford University" sweatshirt, I don't even bother to ask if they have been to Oxford because I know they haven't. Any real Oxonian's loyalties lie with his college not the abstraction that is Oxford University.

While college scarves were popular at Oxford in my day and are still sold by places like the Varsity Shop there (so I assume some people must still wear them), do people in any numbers wear them at the Ivy League colleges? To tell the truth, I was oblivious to the existence of these garments stateside until I too saw them in the J. Press catalog.

When I was in school, collegiate scarves were worn fairly widely at the Ivies.

I see them only rarely these days except for the odd big sporting event.

- B