What is a jaunty hat? A miserable pile of secrets!
 

Random thought of the morning: I am not sure my definition of a jaunty hat follows the generally accepted one. Through research on Google Images, I discovered that there does not actually seem to be a generally accepted definition of a jaunty hat.

What would YOU consider to be a jaunty hat?

(Side note: Do not search for "jaunty hat" on Google Images with safesearch turned off.)

(Side note 2: Vote this thread for Most Pointless Discussion awards 2010!)

I would assume that it's the kind of hat that makes you look like a happy-go-lucky, carefree bastard. Wacky, or at the very least goofy, while still posessing at least some semblance of style, it tells the observer. "Hey, YOU might think I look like a retard, but I don't, so fuck you with a chicken."
It is the absolute counterpart to the top hat.

I don't know nothin' bout no jaunty hats, but that is one fine lookin' thread title.

This is an entirely new topic to me. I've never even considered what "jaunty" means. Check it out. Apparently it means noble or gentlemanly. Which is just the adjectives I'd associate with the top hat. I guess it could cover just about anything except silly hats.

How does it apply to other accessories? What, for example, is a jaunty car? Google suggests it's a fancy horse carriage. This is one of the top hits for "jaunty pants":
http://www.brazus.net/nathan/pictures/n08042001c.jpg

Maybe "jaunty" is just a jaunty word for "cool".

Now, see, that last line there implies that there's a fine line between "jaunty" and "stupid-looking but worn by an idiot". Like those Cat in the Hat monstrosities you see at carnivals and festivals all the time.

Also I always thought a fedora was a jaunty hat but it doesn't look retarded at all! You have changed my outlook on life and I am not quite sure how yet.

EDIT FOR NINJA:
Some free dictionary site said it meant "dapper" but I don't know the exact definition of dapper either, and I didn't want to play Dictionary Marco Polo at 6am.

Okay that's just getting into some fucking philosophical territory there. Are pants still pants if they are worn on the head? Because that's a fucking jaunty hat if I have ever seen one, though I would never wear something like that because of the obvious child-molester connotations.

EDIT 2: Turns out that if you search for "jaunty piledriver" it turns up with a picture of Zangief. Huh.

Nah, a Fedora's extravagant, but it's still in the awesome category. If you had, say, one of those caps with a propellor on top, and maybe a feather, then it's inexcusably jaunty.
Standard hats can also be made jaunty by adjusting the angle at which they're worn.

That just sounds like a failed attempt at achieving flight.

Dapper also means dandy, neat, noble, a cut above the common peasant. There's clearly some synonyms going on here. Or maybe a mad spiral of twisting ironies, cause it originally meant bold, strong and sturdy.

I guess if you're man enough, any hat you wear will become jaunty.

http://katechaplin.files.wordpress.c...pg?w=200&h=234?

Yeah... That dog with the pink hat haunts my memories still.

But seriously.
What? Even searching for things like "jaunty hat sexual" "jaunty hat sex" and even "jaunty hat porn" gives me NO NSFW results.

EDIT: Yeah, yeah. I know what that looks like, but Kerensky just made me curious as to what was so horribly scarring about an image search for jaunty hat.