# Hanging the US Flag Vertically **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2001, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358 "2001-10-29T20:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rillian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rillian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rillian)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/1 "2001-10-29T20:11:05Z")
I know the US Flag Code says to hang a flag vertically (on a wall, for example) with the strips running up and down and the stars in the upper **left** corner, but to me it just looks wrong. Hanging a flag horizontally with the stars in the upper left and the strips running left and right looks fine. To hang it vertically, I would simply rotate it 90 degrees, with the stars now in the upper right corner and the stripes running up and down. If I had a paper flag, printed on only one side of the paper, and oriented horizontally, I couldn’t hang it vertically according to the code, because I would have to flip it over to the other (blank) side. Why do we hang the US flag this way? Is it just us or do other countries with non-symmetrical flags do the same? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/2 "2001-10-29T20:24:13Z")
I always think of it as though the US has 2 flags: one wider than tall with horizontal stripes, and one taller than wide with vertical stripes. Both designs have the blue field with the stars in the upper left. _It just so happens that one flag can be hung to display either design._ I’ve seen another mistake often made: if you display a flag in your window, it should be so that the blue field is in the upper left _as someone in the street is viewing it._ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/3 "2001-10-29T21:19:09Z")
The union on the left when the stripes are vertical does tend to look a bit odd because we expect the flag to simply rotate 90 degrees when we drape it vertically. However, the union is always to be on the observer’s left when it is placed against a wall. [Flag Etiquette, last revised by Congress, 1976](http://www.niceflag.com/etiquett.htm) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/4 "2001-10-29T21:38:35Z")
I believe its traditional that all flags with cantons in the upper left (e.g. the many flags that have the British Union Jack) _always_ have them in the upper left, the same as ours. So that’s probably where the tradition comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/5 "2001-10-29T21:49:20Z")
This is why I like the Canadian flag. Although I saw a bizarre vertically-hung one with the bars on the top and bottom and the Maple Leaf turned 90o to look upright… it was bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/6 "2001-10-29T23:04:07Z")
Even more interesting, the flag should be on the right of the door, not the left: "?As you stand in the doorway looking out, it should be to the right of the door. Or to the left of the person facing the home,? Pedro said. What if you hang yours without a pole? ?The field should be on the left, as you look at the flag,? he said. The field is the blue part of the flag, with the stars. Whether it’s hung vertically or horizontally, the stars should be at the top left corner. " ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/7 "2001-10-30T01:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*The union on the left when the stripes are vertical does tend to look a bit odd because we expect the flag to simply rotate 90 degrees when we drape it vertically. However, the union is always to be on the observer’s left when it is placed against a wall. > > [Flag Etiquette, last revised by Congress, 1976](http://www.niceflag.com/etiquett.htm) \*\* From that link: > [@](#): > > (i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. Which agrees with what has been said in the thread. > [@](#): > > (j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street. But when hung across a street, the union (stars) is to either the north or east. Which is why it looks funny when hanging over the east face of a building with the union in the upper left (per (i) above), which puts the union to the south. One of the local office buildings here hung a US flag on its east face for awhile after 9/11, and it looked so wierd I was about to write them. Fortunately, when I checked “flag etiquette” to quote them my superiority, I saw the section snipped above. I didn’t write, but it still looked odd. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-the-us-flag-vertically/90358/8 "2001-10-30T01:43:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > **This is why I like the Canadian flag.** So does the leaf stem point to the right or the left?