A good head will get itself hats.
Someone with a good head i.e. a competent, able person is likely to achieve success and wear the hat signifying their position.
Quite often, in many diverse human societies, rank or social importance has been indicated by the type of headgear a person wore. In the Britain of the Victorian era, lasting to around W.W.II when the fashion for men wearing hats died out, the managerial classes wore bowler hats and the workers a flat cap. The expression going cap in hand to the boss denotes this subservience.
In Native American tribes the war bonnet of eagle feathers showed someone who had demonstrated their courage and achievement in battle. A brave with a cool head in a crisis could get a feather in his cap.
The different ranks in organized armies often have different hats so that the soldiers know who to follow and salute. The ambitious person might aim to get himself promoted with the vision of putting on the coveted hat symbol. In the UK, paratroopers aspire to wear the red beret that shows they have achieved the honor of membership of the Parachute Regiment.
A Scottish Highland chieftain is entitled to have an eagle feather in his bonnet as an insignia of his position and the more important ones have two. The ultimate hat symbol of success is the monarch's crown.
Hats of course are also worn by ladies to enhance and project their femininity. There is an old saying to set one's cap at from the 18th century, when women wore fine, white linen or muslin caps that needed to be tied in place with ribbon. It meant trying to win a man's affections by setting a jaunty angle to their cap and showing off the crowning glory of their hair.
The Easter bonnet is worn by Christian churchgoers and is a colorful way of expressing the joy of the return of spring.
So, if you want to get ahead get a hat.
Proverbs store the wisdom of ages in short, memorable lines with several layers of meaning. This blog states a weekly proverb and explores its meaning. Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, war leader, writer, painter, historian, bon viveur, whose mother was a United States citizen, recommended that people lacking formal education to learn proverbs. "The Wisdom of Nations lies in their Proverbs... Collect and learn them". William Penn, founder of the State of Pennsylvania.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
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