Festival Reporting Patronized Scots

I was born in Scotland but am no “Scotophile.” However, when I read pieces such as “Scottish Festival Strikes Happy Note” (May 27), I become furious.

I wonder if the reporter had been covering, say, a Jewish festival she would describe the participants (attendees) as wearing lacy prayer shawls and imitating thick dialects while the aroma of whatever wafted in the air.

Bangers, incidentally, is the English slang for sausages. The traditional Scottish edible sold at Scottish gatherings and Highland Games is the small, round pie filled with ground lamb (mutton) and highly spiced.

Also, when one speaks or writes about the traditional dress of the Highlander, one uses the term kilt, not kilts. Also, for the edification of your crack reporter, the “colorful red, gold and green scarf” worn by a member of the Dunbar clan should be referred to correctly as a plaid--the garment, not the pattern. The pattern is called tartan, and not all Scots are entitled to wear one traditionally, but at Highland gatherings, anything goes.

It is not the first time I have run across a patronizing tone in the coverage of your reporters, but it is usually reserved for “certain” ethnic groups. (We never read that young men in colorful serapes imitating thick Mexican accents attended the Cinco de Mayo festivities!)

WILMA HEBERLING, La Habra