Speaking of Canada Day... Flags (of Canada and other countries)

I really like the Canadian flag.

I like the U.S. flag as well. And the U.K.'s. And Germany’s, Italy’s, France’s… heck all of the tri-coloured flags. Japan’s in nice, but not as nice as Canada’s.

I have flag patches from every country I’ve been to. I’m not sure what to do with them. Put them on the back of a jacket, in the order visited? (FWIW: USA, Japan, Mexico, UK, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Canada.)

Flags that are just stripes, like Italy’s or France’s or, for that matter, most European countries, strike me as being lazy, as if nobody could be bothered to come up with a real flag. As a matter of fact, that is in fact exactly what Italy’s flag is; they just copied the French flag and changed one colour.

I used to want to get flag patches of all the countries I’ve been to, and put them on a backpack or something, but now I think it looks lame and show-offy. Oh look at me, I’ve been to more countries than youuuu.

I don’t much care for the Canadian flag. I liked the original proposal which had blue stripes on the edges, symbolizing the oceans and a green maple leaf. Much more elegant. Also, very descriptive. Two oceans with a lot of maple in between.

Would make for ugly hockey jerseys, though, so that’s just not going to fly.

Josh Parsons tends to agree with you, but he is a bit more tolerant (see rule 3).

It’s okay if they have symbolism behind them. If a tricolor has white, it needs to be in the middle, or else it looks like part of the flag got torn off if against a white background. Russia and Bulgaria, I’m looking at you. The Scandanavian countries (and England) are in the same boat.

Australia and New Zealand look like their copying each other, and both are copying the UK. I know you’re culturally similar and all, but it’s like Canada adding stars on blue into their flag, or the US throwing some Aunt Jemima logos in there to go with the leaf.

Japan’s naval ensign or whatever it is (the rising sun with rays) is awesome, their regular one is lazy, even with symbolism.

Albania’s is cool, because a black two-headed eagle on red screams badass. It could have some machineguns and scantily-clad girls in there, then it would be a 1980’s metal album.

The Southern Cross is a culturally significant constellation for many countries in the southern hemisphere. That’s why it appears on both the New Zealand and Australian flags, as well as those of PNG, Samoa, Brazil etc.

Well, now this is the first time that I’ve known what all that tiny crap is on the Brazilian flag!

Look for the Southern Cross under the banner on the Brazilian flag.

Oh sure, pick the line with the glaring grammatical error :). Sure it’s significant down there, but couldn’t NZ put the Union Jack in the upper right or something? Looks like they forgot that the Southern Cross has a fifth star, too.

I wonder why Polaris didn’t prove popular in northern hemisphere flags (or is it in some)?

What, fifty freakin’ copy and pasted images of it aren’t enough for you? :stuck_out_tongue:

Nah, they’re the fifty largest stars (biggest because America has to be the biggest), scaled and pasted.

Not if their flag is based on the Blue Ensign. With the Blue Ensign, the Union Flag must go in the upper left.

If they have the audacity to have summer in December, they can do this one other thing backwards. :smiley:

I’d kind of like to see that.

If you were putting blue oceans on the Canadian flag, shouldn’t there be a blue stripe on top, too? Hey, that could be how we firm up our claim on Arctic waters - “See? It’s right here on our flag.”

Because Polaris is actually a really dim star? And is part of the constellation Ursa Minor?

Most US municipal flags suck; it’s just the city seal or a logo on a bedsheet.

I like the flags of Canada, South Africa, and some of the proposed Australian flags.

Mozambique has a badass flag, with an AK-47 prominently featured. Some dripping knives and skulls would definitely help. Maybe a grenade, too.

I like the simpler proposals. A 2-1 ratio is best, though the one that’s a bit too close to Canada’s is unnecessarily busy and, well, looks too much like it ripped off Canada. Just a blue field with the Southern Cross would instantly be one of the best flags in the world.

If I were designing an Australian flag I’d also make it green and gold but apparently, according to that page, people don’t want that, which I find baffling but oh well.