State flags, the beautiful, cool and ugly ones.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was reading “New Mexico” bastard babies, and I was going to state that New Mexico still has a cool flag, but hey, why not start a new thread?

Who has the best and worst flags in the USA? I am sure some of us still look at them from time to time, so what is everyone’s opinion on it?

New Mexico has the best flag.

South Carolina flag looks like a flag of a third world banana republic.

The Ohio state flag is just weird.

The Mississippi state flag looks confederate.

The Hawaiian state flag looks like an English colony.

The Arkansas state flag is a big diamond with a bunch of stars on it with the word “Arkansas” in the middle. Ugly? Maybe.

International flags, for me Bhutan has the best flag in the world, a dragon on a diagonal half god and half orange flag. Very cool. Mongolia is a close second.

In Europe, Macedonia’s flag is very interesting. Of course, the Union Jack of Great Britian is a classic.

The ugliest? I nominate Mozambique. It has a flag with an embem of a machine gun and a plowshare crossed together. Not a place I want to spend vacation.

2

I always liked the Ohio flag.

But I’ve always put originality over aestetics.

3

Moderator’s Note: Polls and “What’s your opinion about…” threads go in IMHO, so I’ll run this one up the flagpole over there and see if anyone salutes.

4

Well, personally, I like the flag of South Carolina. I think it’s my favorite U.S. state flag, and maybe my favorite flag, period. I think it’s precisely because it looks like the flag of some exotic, foreign country–not so much a “banana republic” as some tropical sultanate somewhere. Among U.S. state flags Alaska is also very nice. I’ll second the coolness of Bhutan’s flag, though. Of course if you like dragons, Wales is great. I also like the flag of Algeria, which has a similar color scheme to Wales; red, green, and white make a nice combination. (I guess I also have a fondness for crescents on flags.)

5

In the contest where they decided that N.M. was the best state flag, they decided that Quebec had the best provincial flag, and I agree with them.

6

Ohio’s flag is my fav, as it’s the only state flag that is not a rectangle. FYI it’s a burgee (swallowtail pennant).

7

Here’s a blog where someone has rated the appeal of the state flags:

http://pardon.blogspot.com/2002_10_27_pardon_archive.html

8

Well they were kind enough to return our sovereingty. I like our flag though. It has the same regal simplicity as the national flag. I also really like New Mexico’s for the same reason.

If you have to put the name of your state or nation on your flag that’s 2 grade points I’m going to have to take away.

9

You realize that for the older Northern states the state flag derives from regimental colors from the Civil War. Typically they are dark blue with the state seal superimposed. In the case of Iowa the state flag is a regimental color from the Spanish American War-Philippine Insurrection. The Ohio flag so admired by Crafter Man from his bunker in the wilds of Champaign County, is derived from an artillery guideon. He is right, the Ohio flag is striking and handsome.

In the old Confederacy there is a tendency for the post-Civil War designed state flag to be a reference to the battle flag used in Lee’s army–a blue St. Andrew’s cross on a red field. I suppose that the design is some sort of free speech act of defiance and nod to the Lost Cause.

I think that Mark Twain called the seal on the Missouri state flag two inebriated bears supporting a dead and gone beer keg.

10

Somebody in the UK created the World Flag Database. Pretty useful for this thread.

11

Here is a [Clickable US Map that links to all the state flags](http://www.fotw.net/flags/us(.html).

I like New York, but that’s only because I’m a New York-centric bigot.

We also have the coolest state motto: Excelsior. It’s so cool we wrote it right on the flag. Which happens to just be a flag of our state seal.

Colorado is also cool. It looks like a 1980’s product logo.

I think Arizona is definately the ballsiest design.
For Canada, I think BC has the coolest provincial flag, and Nunavut the ugliest.
How about [Mexican](http://www.fotw.net/flags/mx(.html) state flags?

I’ve always thought Nayarit was cool.

I like flags.

12

Don’t be hatin’ on the inukshuk.

13

Hong Kong’s flag is very pretty. It looks like a poinsetta. Seychelles has a flag that looks sort of like a rainbow. I think the Isle of Man has the coolest flag. Kiribati has a cool flag too – a bird flying over the ocean as the sun is coming up (or maybe down).

BTW, did you know that Antarctica has a flag? It’s just the continent of a blue background, but the fact that it’s Antarctica makes it awsome.

14

I love the South Carolina flag! It’s pretty and simple. Banana republic indeed! At least we don’t feel the need to put the name of our state, the seal, or the motto on the flag. We have, you know, plenty of other places to show off our seal, motto, etc. Which I also think are pretty classy. And I like having a state flag one could draw and assume recognition of. Nice and simple.

Is Oregon’s really reversible? Nifty.

I think all the wacky-seal-motto flags suffer from being too complex. Could you really tell a lot of them apart on a flagpole on a windless day?

15

Perhaps not ugliest, but Washington’s is usually in the running for “dullest.”

16

St Pierre and Miquelon, my all-time favourite flag.

17

I like the Washington one, cause it’s GREEEEEEN. Most of the rest of 'em are blue (with some exceptions of course)

18

The Arizona flag looks like surplus left over from Mao’s China. :slight_smile:

19

I don’t like living in California, but I do like the California flag. I think it looks good, and people who complain about California leading the country into Socialism (whether or not we are) have things to point to. For example, we have a red star! Also, the flag says “CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC” on it. This is easily twisted to “The People’s Republic of Kalifornia”. :stuck_out_tongue:

I also like the simplicity of Alaska’s flag. And it gets the point across.

I like Hawaii’s flag for the Union Jack. I haven’t made up my mind about the stripes, though. They seem to be a bit “busy”.

Maryland’s flag harkens back to the heraldic tradition. It seems to be more suited to a fiefdom than a state, but I think I like it.

New Mexico’s flag is simple. I like that. But the yellow and red remind me of how hot it gets there. (Yes, I know that it snows there too; but it’s still too hot for me.)

The flag of South Carolina looks like it would be more suited to an Arab country, if only it were green instead of blue.

Washington. I like the green, but I’m not too crazy about the Seal.

The United States flag. “Old Glory”. “The Stars and Stripes”. I like it. I think it’s a very attractive flag.

Canada. Love it. I like the simplicity. I like the colours. I like the country.

I may like the flag of The United Kingdom better than the flag of my own country. It’s hard to say. I like Old Glory for its ideal of Freedom and Fair Play. (Please, no debates about America. I’m talking about the ideal for which the flag stands.) I like the Union Jack for its history and tradition. I imagine those stout hearts defending their nation from attack, flying their Hurricanes and Spitfires against a numerically superior foe. I imagine the stereotypical English civility. Aesthetically the flags use the same colours. The American flag sometimes seems “busy” to me, with its 50 stars and 13 stripes. But I look again and say, “Buy ya know? It all fits together well.” The Union Jack never seems “busy” to me, even with all of those crosses overlaid upon each other. The Stars and Strips, or the Union Jack? It’s a toss-up for me.

20

I like the new Georgia flag. It looks pretty elegant to me, but there is tons of opposition to it.