western history and culture

The verb you apparently want is "to throw." This is a superstition of which i have never heard, although you may get lucky. Given that different people would likely have different notions of what constitutes a "ten-gallon" hat, your answer there may be difficult to find as well.

It takes some gaul to post a solicitation for the answers to a cigarette company's contest questions under the rubric "western history and culture."

Its generally considered bad luck to throw a hat onto a bed, certainly bad manners.

The term ten gallon hat doesn't refer to it's carrying capacity. Americans, who learned to cattle ranching from the Mexicans, also adapted many Mexican tools of the trade. The vaqueros wore high crowned, wide brimmed hats to shield them from the Southwestern Sun. The hats were adorned with "galleons" (sp), a sort of fancy embroidery. A ten galleon hat was both large and very fancy. In the early days, Texans and other cattlemen preferred the Mexican hat to the headgear they brought with them from the United States. Over time the term was corrupted and applied to any large, fancy hat as a "ten gallon hat"

Eventually, a philadelphia hatmaker named Stetson came up with a beaver hat that became even more popular. The Crown of the Plains became the preferred headwear in the Southwest. The Stetson wasn't originally curled up on the sides, but left flat or with the front turned up. The hat sometimes did double service as a bucket to wash from, or ration out water for the owner's horse. Stetson hats from a very early period come in a variety of styles, brim widths and quality. Each "X" denotes the amount of beaver fur that went into the making of the felt. Ten X hats were 100% beaver pelt, and are the most expensive. The "On the Road" style Stetson has long been a favorite with politicians. Truman and LBJ both favored the Stetson "On the Road" style hats.

If you win the prize, whatever that might be, I fully expect to share in it. Do your own work.

Thank you Asherman, that was interesting.

Set -- it also takes gall...

There is a Marlboro quiz going on. I don't know the details, but I do know these are just two of the questions that have swamped another Q & A site. They are a pain in the fundament.

Hmmm. I was raised on a ranch, showed horses, raised catlle, etc. Dad woulda whooped my behind if if he ever saw my hat on the bed for any reason, let alone some superstition! He also woulda whooped my behind if I wore my straw hat out after Labor Day, rather than my felt.

Aint no excuse for puttin' yer hat on a bed as far as I know.

Couldn't wear a hat indoors either. Having a hat on the bed was very bad luck, sorta like having an owl take up residence nearby. Bad JuJu.

Aye. And what's with all the "please translate my tatoo to Latin" questions lately?

The answer to the 10 gallon hat is out there... easily found... run a search on msn... thats how I found it... just to help...

Jaded I want to thank you.

Hat thrown on the bed
The word "Never" is the answer.