This isn't in the least bit uninteresting; quite the opposite, it's just the kind of thing that is worth knowing.

It certainly has something to do with the way one used to put it on; that is "с пóля" is actually a shortened way of saying "надетая с поля".
If I could imagine having the hat in my hand, holding its brim... Maybe, if you hold the brim, you wear it naturally that particular way; if you take the hat by its "носок" (that's the term Dahl uses, when he says that "с поля" is "вдоль" and "носком наперед") you'd put it on otherwise.

Hmmm - weren't there similar restrictions on how officers could wear their hats in the British navy? I vaguely recall something about Napoléon's bicorne fostered a change of fashion in the English tricorne. Might have been from one of the Hornblower films, but I'm not sure.

How about, "... worn on one side and cocked in decidedly non-regulation style"? It's probably not that important to mark the details like "corner in front".

Alexey, that's interesting -- maybe the key to it is understanding how one put on a hat. I hope more native Russian speakers will chime in. But thanks for носок, which is very charming, isn't it?

The Ridger: I think that would be an excellent translation.

Is it not written: "He who writes a post of great interest to a single reader, it is as if he has written a post for all mankind."?

Hear hear! assume a single reader, and dozens will come out of the woodwork.

Too bad that the fashions of the past 100 years (more or less) have so neglected the hat and the kinds of statements it can make, not only while on the head of the wearer but getting there and off.

How do the English translations render this? The Ridger's is good as a once-off, but if it crops up several times it would have a touch of "early, rose-fingered dawn" about it.

I wonder if the phrase "с поля" could derive originally from the fact that the brim of the tricorne is turned up 'away from the ground' (so "полe" would mean 'ground' here).

This page http://militarist.milua.org/waterloo.htm (in Russian) mentions "с поля" several times, always in inverted commas, but there is a picture of each uniform and the relevant hats are pointed forward, as mab says.

The page is describing uniforms worn at the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, so a similar time to the action of War and Peace. Other pictures elsewhere of the two Waterloo adversaries, Napoleon and Wellington show that they are wearing similar hats, but Napoleon wears it crosswise, ie pointed ends to the side, while Wellington wears it pointing forwards.

This page http://www.mytimemachine.co.uk/waterloo.htm has a guardsman's recollection of the Duke of Wellington. Apparently he wore a large cocked hat a la Russe (ie in the Russian style).

Basically, what I am saying here is confirmation of what mab found, but the pictures are interesting!

Napoleon wears it crosswise, ie pointed ends to the side, while Wellington wears it pointing forwards

Lovely pictures. I was wondering if anyone here had a preference about this? When I was a boy I liked Wellington's style, but now I prefer Napoleon's. If the truth be told, I even prefer Napoleon (he was so smart and good at maths), but I'm glad Wellington saved us from the Frogs. His name was Arthur, of course.

Great pictures; here's the direct link. Thanks, Susan!

Ever since Kron showed up I've wanted to give my best wishes to the little Kroner, in hopes that they will continue to appreciate against the Euro.

There is a lot of pressure on the kroner from the small krone, aka the øre. She is artificially driving up the value of other currencies by inflated speculation on Icelandic horses, and what the chances are of us buying one (none).

It's always bothered me that metal bands neglect the "ø". Who[m] are they trying to fool?

And don't forget the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet, Åå, so that "from a to z" in norsk is fra a til å.

Achei da hora mais fika tudo em englis

Metalheads are just fake Nazis. If they were real Nazis, they'd use the full range of Norwegian vowels, just as Hitler did.

Japan tried to help.

Interesting that there's a Japanese example, though the music sounded a teeny bit punk to my untrained ears.

John's right that Ø is very much like a fascist graphic. The / just needs to be drawn as a lightning bolt. Of course, Knut Hamsen was a terrific fan of Adolf & Co.

Aha! I asked yet another Russian speaker about с поля, and here's his reading: поле is not brim here, but field, as in "from the field." That is, on the field men must have worn the hats with the corner in front. Simple, no? A classic case of overthinking a language problem.

Brilliant! Se non è vero, è ben trovato.