# Colombia's coat of arms looks like Nintendo animation. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755 "2006-12-03T23:56:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/21 "2006-12-04T08:42:50Z")
Oh, and [Bahrain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bahrain_coa.png) has a _vagina dentata_, complete with pubic hair. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/22 "2006-12-04T08:58:12Z")
Poor old [Eritrea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Eritrea), meanwhile, appear to have hastily cribbed theirs from a cigarette packet the night before the design competition closed. And what is up with all the Phrygian caps? They may have originally been meant to evoke sturdy yeomanry manning the barricades while boldly throwing off the shackles of oppression, but now they just look as if the Smurfs were running a thrift shop. ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/23 "2006-12-04T08:59:27Z")
[Argentina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Argentina_coa.png) : Let’s all share Papa Smurf’s hat, shall we? But don’t touch it, you don’t know where it’s been. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/24 "2006-12-04T09:12:33Z")
_The sun has got his hat on (a pole)_ ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/25 "2006-12-04T11:01:13Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] Oh, and [Bahrain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bahrain_coa.png) has a _vagina dentata_, complete with pubic hair. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry… VAGINA DENTATA??? I want to google it to find out what it is… but I don’t. oh god, why did I read this thread right before going to bed? I’m going to have vagina dentata nightmares… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/26 "2006-12-04T11:36:15Z")
My fave - the island where my grandmother was from. [Dominica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dominica_coa.png)\*. The parrots are sisserou, which are native only to the rain forests of the island. There’s a coconut(?) palm, a banana tree, representing the only exports of the country - thoguh if it wanted to be more realistic it should have a fat tourist, since inbound tourism is the actual mainstay of the economy - and what I believe to be Columbus’s ship, since he was reputed to have discovered it. Best of all though is a big fat froggie (known locally as crapaud), which is a local speciality. It tastes like chicken, of course. \*Note: NOT the Dominican Republic ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/27 "2006-12-04T11:48:37Z")
[QUOTE=myself] I hope this is not a harbinger of a trend of nations redoing their their national symbols in Flash graphics and entrusting the whole composition to the first CG geek on staff instead of bringing in a competent artist/heraldrist(?)/vexillologist. [/QUOTE] Never mind. After a look at some of those things I can see that the fight was lost way back… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/28 "2006-12-04T12:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=percypercy] > [@mobo85](#): > > I’ve named him Pierre, because he appears to be wearing a red beret. I see. You’re right. And a lovely beret it is too. Pierre he shall be then. -Lil [/QUOTE] [Barry Sadler voice] Fighting vultures from the sky Fearless birds, who soar and dive One hundred birds will test today But only one wears the red beret. [/BS voice] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/29 "2006-12-04T17:40:40Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] Oh, and [Bahrain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bahrain_coa.png) has a _vagina dentata_, complete with pubic hair. [/QUOTE] They’ve got nothing on [PNG](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Papua_New_Guinea_coa.gif/120px-Papua_New_Guinea_coa.gif). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/30 "2006-12-04T18:00:58Z")
Have y’all seriously looked at the US’s lately? First of all, apparently we don’t cotton to this “Coat of Arms” nonsense. Oh no, we have to be different. We have a Great Seal. On the front of the Great Seal is an obscene looking eagle who’s…um…spread eagle (where the hell does that expression come from, anyway?) in a most unnatural manner. I mean, really, does that look like an anatomically possible position for an eagle? It’s like it’s saying, “Jeez, I’m sorry about winning that National Bird competition, Turkey…but hey, I have drumsticks too!” From a design point, I don’t understand why everything is naturalistic, with small details and shading, and then the clip art apron of modesty is slapped onto the bird’s breast. Flip it over, and you get a pyramid in a desert with a floaty eye and more Latin. Ooh! Look, we’re so educated and obscure, we have a language we don’t speak, a building that doesn’t exist in our country, and Sauron’s Eye of Doom floating over the most inhospitable terrain our country has to offer. But, y’know, lovely horizon. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/31 "2006-12-04T18:20:00Z")
[QUOTE=Bambi Hassenpfeffer] [eagles](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Albania_state_emblem.svg) have to share one hat (?) or UFO (?) or something. [/quote] That’s not a hat or a UFO, that’s (a badly-drawn) [Orko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orko) from He-Man! Clearly they revere The Masters of the Universe. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/32 "2006-12-04T19:37:24Z")
[QUOTE=MEBuckner] Ooh! [Jamaica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jamaica_coat_medium.gif) has boobies! [/QUOTE] They stole their slogan from us…and translated it into English. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/33 "2006-12-04T19:57:27Z")
[QUOTE=Bambi Hassenpfeffer] The flags of [Ecuador](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Ecuador.svg) / [Colombia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Colombia.svg) / [Venezuela](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Venezuela_%28state%29.svg) and of [El Salvador](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_El_Salvador.svg) / [Nicaragua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Nicaragua.svg) / [Honduras](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Honduras.svg) were clearly designed to give fits to legions of geography students. [/QUOTE] That’s nothing. Look at the flag of [Poland](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/pl.html), or is it [Indonesia](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/id.html)? How about [The Netherlands](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/nl.html) and [Luxemburg](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/lu.html)? [Tunisia](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/tn.html) and [Turkey](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/tr.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/34 "2006-12-04T20:15:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] They’ve got nothing on [PNG](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Papua_New_Guinea_coa.gif/120px-Papua_New_Guinea_coa.gif). [/QUOTE] That’s a Bird of Paradise. (I hesitate to guess what its popular name is! ;)) [Grenada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Grenada) has cool supporters: an armadillo and a blue pigeon. Thailand’s official [Garuda emblem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Thai_Garuda_emblem.png) is just plain scary. And Bhutan cheated; they procrastinated and instead sent in [the King’s carpet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bhutan_emblem.png). ---
**Author:** ![Tazmanian\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@Tazmanian\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tazmanian_Devil)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/35 "2006-12-04T20:17:54Z")
[QUOTE=percypercy] I like the vulture. I’ve named him Harold. [/QUOTE] In the voice of the Abominable Snowman in Bugs Bunny cartoons: I will love him and hug him and pet him and squeeze him and I will call him Harold. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/36 "2006-12-05T00:09:12Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] That’s nothing. Look at the flag of [Poland](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/pl.html), or is it [Indonesia](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/id.html)? How about [The Netherlands](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/nl.html) and [Luxemburg](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/lu.html)? [Tunisia](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/tn.html) and [Turkey](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/tr.html)? [/QUOTE] 😃 You missed Monaco with Poland/Indonesia And our sympathy to the folks in charge of Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia who had to face the challenge of a requirement that it HAS to be a horizontally striped RWB tricolor. Thank heavens for crests and arms, I guess. > [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > .The flags of Ecuador / Colombia / Venezuela and of El Salvador / Nicaragua / Honduras were clearly designed to give fits to legions of geography students. Oh, and furthering the confusion, the one thing that distinguishes the Nicaraguan and Salvadoran flags is the Coat of Arms in the center… and now compare [El Salvador](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:El_Salvador_coa.png) and [Nicaragua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Coat_of_arms_of_Nicaragua.svg). These guys weren’t even trying! Actually, part of the thing that during the rest of the [19th century, they kept trying to re-constitute the USofCA](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/cam-us.html), apparently each under the impression that _themselves_ would be the natural seat/leader/Big Cheese thereof… And in Re: Pierre Harold the Condor – See also his less-CG-kiddie versions in the CoAs of Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/37 "2006-12-05T00:22:52Z")
The Andean nations are for some reason extremely enamored of the Andean condor, right down to the point where a popular kids’ cartoon character is [Condorito](http://espanol.entertainment.yahoo.com/comics/condorito/). ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/38 "2006-12-05T01:03:21Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] The Andean nations are for some reason extremely enamored of the Andean condor, right down to the point where a popular kids’ cartoon character is [Condorito](http://espanol.entertainment.yahoo.com/comics/condorito/). [/QUOTE] PLOP ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/39 "2006-12-05T01:46:24Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Have y’all seriously looked at the US’s lately? First of all, apparently we don’t cotton to this “Coat of Arms” nonsense. Oh no, we have to be different. We have a Great Seal. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t even _have_ a fraggin’ seal on it… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755/40 "2006-12-05T02:03:22Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] PLOP [/QUOTE] I looked back a bit in the archives. It looks like at least half of the strips end in a Muttandjeffian backspring on the part of someone… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colombias-coat-of-arms-looks-like-nintendo-animation/382755.md?page=3)