Same thing if you’re an Israeli kid - all you need to draw with your blue crayon is two lines and two triangles.
Of course, the Japanese kids have it easiest. Little bastards.
Or you could be like California, which has the wrong name on it. The “California Republic” lasted for less than a month and had no authority or recognition.
Somehow, I kinda like our flag for just that reason (despite being in overall agreement)…
Ugh–did you have do to that? For some reason, the Union Jack always had perfect rotational and reflective symmetry in my mind’s eye, but now that you’ve pointed this out I’ll never be able to unsee it. The offset stripes look pretty terrible, IMHO.
Just be glad you aren’t Mexican
I’ve always thought they should change the formal name of the state to California Republic, as opposed to the boring “State of California.” It would sound awesome. There’s no particular reason why you couldn’t do it; the formal name of a state doesn’t matter. There’s no legal difference between the Commonwealth of Kentucky and State of Tennessee. So why not “California Republic”? It’s a cool name.
Texas would throw a shit fit.
Yeah, Israel is another one I think is good. Probably better than Canada’s, in fact, since the Star of David is even more closely associated with Jews (and their homeland) than maples are with Canada.
Yeah. I mean the Irish really dropped the ball when they failed to put a shamrock or a harp on their flag. I mean, another tricolor? We needed another one of those?
Well, if you’re going to give love to those countries that put cool things between vertical stripes, the how about Barbados? They’re all “Screw maple leaves and Stars of David; we got a goddamspear!”
I think the US flag is too busy, but so are a lot of other flags that try to represent too much. I like the simple banner flags. But I still think the US flag is miles ahead of almost all state flags (US states). Arizona has about the only good state flag
Arizona’s flag is ugly. New Mexico’s is much better. It’s simple, attractive, and iconic.
The other good ones are Alabama, Alaska, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. But New Mexico’s is hands down the best.
I tend to agree, but at the time it was adopted in 1919, it was a symbolic linkage of the Catholic majority and the Protestant minority, and a rejection of the iconography of British rule: Flag of Ireland - Wikipedia. Oddly enough, the Irish President’s flag is as you describe. If it had a green field, I think it’d make a fine national flag for Ireland: Coat of arms of Ireland - Wikipedia
I think that in 1919 the use of the harp on the national flag would have been seen as antagonistic to Protestants.
Ooh, nothing gets us Protestants angry like a harp! Unless it’s an accordion.
::seething:: and do not get me started about that infernal harmonica…
I assume that underneath the joke you know what I’m talking about.
*I *don’t. I know the harp has been an Irish symbol since the middle ages, but is it associated specifically with the Catholics?
The harp flag became strongly associated with the largely Catholic anti-British independence movement. It was avoided on the national flag so as not to directly antagonize those who weren’t all that crazy about independence in the first place, sort of a clean-slate thing.
To me, it does. Look, my point is that we grow up seeing this image a certain way, and told this is how the flag is displayed. So naturally we stick that in our perception of what is “right”. Then see a different circumstance, it looks wrong.** It’s not about what makes sense, or even what the written rules actually are, it’s about perception and what most of us learned. I want to see the flag that way, dammit, and no explanation is going to change that.
Trident. That’s not a spear, it’s a trident. Symbol for Neptune.
So, growing up, you never saw the flag flying to the left of a flagpole?
But then, wouldn’t having a national flag at all be antagonistic to those who didn’t want independence?
And a trident is a kind of spear.