I didn’t know The Black Crowes were from Elbonia.
Didn’t Larry Flint wear an American flag diaper to court once? But he’s not an immigrant.
Thank you al for yor suport and payshens with my engalish.
I em prowd of my Elbonian flag and fly it ubuv the US 1 becorz it is a betta cuntree weth betta music and no baseball.
Weth my hart sweling and I drink up weth my 2 oyes the fayses of naybers hoo will not liv wen my God is coming.
Soon we well hav a bbq.
kumbaya
El Bonian
I’d first try to figure out what message he’s trying to communicate. I’d tell the neighbor “Hey, you know that’s an offensive symbol, right?” and if he goes “We just beat you in the World Cup. Our football team rulez, you da suxxors!” then I’d laugh and just let it go. If he said “Oh, I’m trying to honor both countries” then I’d tell him the correct way to do that. If he says “I’m trying to say that Elbonia is better than the evil USA,” then we’re going to start some hedge wars.
It’s not just a piece of cloth, though. It’s a symbol. A communication tool. Right now, I’m communicating my thoughts to you via the use of 26 symbols, in various combinations.
It’s not really a “respect the flag” culture as much as it is a “respect our country and the symbol of our country” culture. It’s basic etiquette not to put up offensive symbols, accidentally or otherwise.
It’d be like flipping you off and going “Whaaat? It’s just a body part in a certain configuration. Get over it already.” or putting my ankle on my knee in a muslim country and going “Whaaaat? It’s just the bottom of a piece of apparel. Get over it already.”
That would make you a social boor.
It’s probably due to the design of the Spanish flag. The Chinese underwear would have a star on the right hip. The Spanish flag would have the crown/coat of arms right over the…:o
Oh, I’d be OK with that. It’s not clearly part of a unified message then, it’s more like flying the Elbonian flag alone.
Seriously, in case it wasn’t clear, flying the Elbonian flag alone is less “insulting” to my mind than flying the Stars & Stripes under it. Not insulting to me, so much, just possibly insulting to the delicate sensibilities of vexophiles (is that a word?). I am at this point sick of red-white-blue heraldic colors in general. And I’ve seen American flags plastered anywhere someone thought it was appealing. Like as napkins.
You win the thread. I think.
Pardon me if I’m misinterpreting your post, but it sounds a bit ‘you’re an immigrant, be grateful you’re here’, because I can’t imagine there’s many Americans (or Brits) who would move to a foreign country and NOT ‘identify more with the nation you chose to leave’. They are immigrants, we are expats. There seems to be this idea coming across in some posts that if you move to the States, you must want to be American, but there’s a gazillion reasons why people move countries and it doesn’t mean they want to reject their home nation. And why should they? Americans don’t hold a monopoly on patriotism, and there’s a hell of a lot of patriotic Americans not living in the USA.
Slightly to the side, actually. And if that was the problem, why don’t we do it with, oh, sports teams colors or local flags? I’ve never seen underwear in those, either, and have seen someone get teased because a pack of five boxer shorts in several colors happened to include a red one (“dude, that’s a bit above and beyond for red’n’whites, innit?” “eh? 
:eek: smack me and call me a melon…”)
It’s a respect thing. When you are an immigrant, basic polite behaviour dictates you don’t go pissing off the locals, even if you regard the mores you violate as silly. And I believe you should go to some extremes - were I to move to Ireland, I’d probably refrain from wearing my (orange) Dutch national team jersey as daily wear, even though the locals might well not give a shit. As a resident in the US, I have flown the Dutch flag, by itself, and believe that was perfectly fine - but I wouldn’t dream of flying it over the stars and stripes.
Add me to the “would neither notice nor care” crowd because I don’t know much flag etiquette. Now, if he were burning the stars and stripes on my lawn, well, then we’d have a problem. But other than that…your house, your flag, whatev.
American checking in. It wouldn’t register with me. As others have said: it’s just a piece of cloth.
Is he wearing underwear or going commando? And if he’s wearing underwear, what flag is it made from?
Nope, no underwear. It’s being worn right next to his sweaty knackers.
It would bother me in the same way and about as much as seeing a fork on the right side of a place setting bothers me. I wouldn’t call it disrespectful, not by a long shot.
Now* that’d* drive Adrian Monk up the wall!
I think you mean vexillologist. I had to google that by the way, as I had no idea there was such a thing as flag study, much less a name for it.
What he’s doing is a clear violation of the flag code. I’d likely call the cops on the non-emergency number to report it. If it’s a slow day, they may send an officer over to explain the flag code to the guy. As far as I know, there are no penalties for the violation.
If the cops showed up for any other reason than to cite you for wasting their time, I’d want some of my tax money back.
You’d be sadly disappointed. And your tax dollars would be well spent.
It would not bother me in the least