# 'Red, White and Blue' etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420 "2019-02-12T20:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/1 "2019-02-12T20:47:10Z")
I learned it high school French class. My teacher was very enthusiastic about her French heritage. And she said in France it’s blue, white and red. (I just tried to do it in French. But the spellchecker on my phone won’t let me.) Also, on an early episode of _Star Trek: the Next Generation_ Captain Picard points this out. Then Data is about to mention Germany when Picard cuts him off. Anyway Germany surely is not the only one. How do various countries mention their colors? I mean I assume Italy is Green, White and Red. But I could be wrong. Well:)? :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/2 "2019-02-12T21:01:10Z")
“The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange.” - Constitution of Ireland, Article 7 Italy is green, white, red and a search backs me up. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/3 "2019-02-12T23:19:53Z")
Israelis say “Blue & White” or “Blue-White.” In fact, the latter is commonly used to mean “made in Israel”, is in, “Waze is a blue-white app.” ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/4 "2019-02-12T23:29:27Z")
In Sweden it’s one word, blueyellow. It’s the Swedish way. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/5 "2019-02-13T00:54:12Z")
The Australian National Colours, since 1984, are [green and gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_colours_of_Australia). This has, of course, nothing much to do with the flag, which is boring old red white and blue, totally ripped off from the Poms. Maybe one day we’ll get a flag to match. The Indigenous colours (and flag) are Red Yellow Black. I’m not sure if that’s a standardised ordering though - the flag itself is well-known, but not so much what order you mention its colours in ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/6 "2019-02-13T01:18:04Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > The Indigenous colours (and flag) are Red Yellow Black. I’m not sure if that’s a standardised ordering though - the flag itself is well-known, but not so much what order you mention its colours in “Red, black and yellow” is the usual ordering, in my experience. And Google sorta confirms it; a search for “red yellow and black” turns up a wide variety of results, but a search for “red black and yellow” turns up results dominated by reference to the Australian Aboriginal flag. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/7 "2019-02-13T01:30:44Z")
Germany Schwartz rot gold. Netherlands Rood wit blauw ( or, originally, oranje, blanje, bleu). ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/8 "2019-02-13T02:09:38Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > In Sweden it’s one word, blueyellow. It’s the Swedish way. Curious… ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/9 "2019-02-14T17:36:37Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > In Sweden it’s one word, blueyellow. It’s the Swedish way. Curious. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/10 "2019-02-14T17:54:17Z")
I didn’t understand this thread at first. You’re asking how the National colours are referred to? I don’t think we do refer to them in Canada. The colours are red and white, but I’m blanking on any equivalent to “Hooray for the red white and blue” or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/11 "2019-02-14T17:57:01Z")
There was a song about this in Hair. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/12 "2019-02-14T18:01:44Z")
The Austrian flag is three horizontal bands of – top to bottom – red / white / red again. I understand that local patriots have a rhyme: _Rot-Weiss-Rot / Bis dem Tod_ (Red-White-Red / Even unto death). ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/13 "2019-02-14T20:34:21Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > “Red, black and yellow” is the usual ordering, in my experience. And Google sorta confirms it; a search for “red yellow and black” turns up a wide variety of results, but a search for “red black and yellow” turns up results dominated by reference to the Australian Aboriginal flag. This is true, but there’s also [this](https://indigenousx.com.au/indigenousx-review-lrybb/) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/14 "2019-02-14T23:27:55Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > “The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange.” > > - Constitution of Ireland, Article 7 The white is for no-man’s land. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/15 "2019-02-15T00:20:16Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > The white is for no-man’s land. 😉 The Constitution is only about the Republic that covers the southern part of the island, but really [you’re not too far off](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_lines). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/16 "2019-02-17T20:17:51Z")
Norwegian is Red, White and Blue as well. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/17 "2019-02-18T12:39:21Z")
Spain’s flag is _rojigualda_ (redyellow or redgolden); the Republican version with purple instead of the bottom red is the _tricolor_ (stress is on the last syllable, otherwise sounds like in English). In Spanish, the flag of Euskadi is usually called _la ikurriña_, where the noun is the Basque word for flag; by the same token, the flags of Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Valencia are called _senyeras_(CAT) or _señeras_ (ES), that being the Catalan/Valenciano word. The normal version of the Catalan flag, with just the bars of Aragon, is sometimes called la _quatribarrada_ (CAT) or _cuatribarrada_ (ES), to distinguish it from the independentist _estelada_ (“the one with the star”). Andalusians speak of _la blanquiverde_ (the whitegreen). ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/18 "2019-02-18T15:36:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Spain’s flag is _rojigualda_ (redyellow or redgolden); the Republican version with purple instead of the bottom red is the _tricolor_ (stress is on the last syllable, otherwise sounds like in English). This brings irresistibly to mind, a most disgusting joke which I read of in a (mostly scholarly) book about the Spanish Civil War. The side which ultimately won (sorry, **Nava** , I recall you telling us elsewhere that “Nationalist” is not the correct word – but I fear I’m too aged an Anglophone to get out of that habit now) with the red-and-yellow-only banner; and the Republican red-yellow-purple counterpart; I understand that guys on both sides identified them respectively, with black humour, as “blood and pus”, and “blood, pus, and permanganate”. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/19 "2019-02-18T17:39:50Z")
It’s Red, White and Blue in the UK, but in all honesty, I don’t think it’s a phrase we use much in a national context - perhaps too many others have the same colours for us to feel pride in the combo. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420/20 "2019-02-18T18:11:24Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > It’s Red, White and Blue in the UK, but in all honesty, I don’t think it’s a phrase we use much in a national context - perhaps too many others have the same colours for us to feel pride in the combo. Doesn’t stop the Americans. Every now and again I hear the jingle for 1996’s Olympic Gymnast Barbie (“Pride of the red, white and blue!”) in my head. I certainly don’t remember anyone ever mentioning the order of the colours of the Union Jack when I lived in Britain. At best, people would mention the crosses (George, Andrew, someone else for Northern Ireland) from time to time, and how you could tell the flag was upside down because of… something to do with St. Andrew’s saltire I think. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-and-blue-etc/829420.md?page=2)