Sam2, I guess it would depend who you view the purpose of acting refined is for. Some people may not give a second look if a chashuv ben Torah is or not wearing his hat outside, especially in “out of town” type places, but that doesn’t make it okay for a chashuv ben Torah to do. I think it’s an issue of how much appreciation the ben Torah has for his own dignity, rather than caring about how other people view his dignity. Meaning, let’s say theoretically you granted that it was beneath his dignity to drink directly from a fountain; I presume you would not say that if he went to visit a third world country where it was an acceptable norm that he should therefore be lax on his own personal standards. I, for one, cannot picture the Queen of England or even the Pope drinking from a water fountain.
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