When I was younger, I lived in suburban USA and (being British) was struck by how many US flags there were to be seen. Lots of houses had one sticking out the front, (sometimes a slightly different version with a patriotic slogan on - I seem to remember one that had a snake), every classroom had one - we pledged allegiance to it (I crossed my fingers), it’s everywhere.
In the UK, there are not many places the Union Flag is regularly flown. That’s not to say it’s not around - it has many uses in the fashion industry and I find it quite a striking design in those contexts. In terms of inhabitants flying flags, it tends only to happen when supporting your country in a sporting competition - and since most of the time each country competes separately, no one flies the Union Flag (I have a St George’s flag for this purpose, but no Union Flag).
I have recently re-visited the US, this time to New York and Boston. Here I didn’t see as much of the flag as I remembered in my previous life - although still more than I would expect to see at home. Perhaps that’s the difference between suburban Midwest and the urban East Coast. Perhaps it’s my memory playing tricks (it was in the late 80’s that I lived there, and I was about 7 at the time).
So, that’s the preamble over with, now for the poll. Where do you live? Is your national flag displayed prominently in many places? In my travels around Europe I’ve not noticed a conspicuous flag presence, but perhaps I don’t know where to look. Does your flag tend only to be used for “official” purposes, or is it more often used as a funky design on clothing and accessories? Particularly for Americans, is it a different story in different parts of the country?
Since 9/11, the Stars & Stripes has become the norm for bumper stickers. For a while, you’d see 8.5 X 11 printouts of Old Glory or similarly themed images in many office windows, but most of them have since faded or been removed. But as for official Bona Fide US flags, I see them only on flagpoles in front of official buildings such as my own workplace (A gub’mint building).
In a slight coincidence, all the walls in my apartment are covered with flags and not one of them is the Stars & Stripes. Mostly US states and other countries.
Some guy across the street has an Australian flag in his front yard. The rest of the time I’ve only seem them at schools, government buildings, Australia Day… and, frankly, I like it that way.
It might just be me, but it seems to me Canadian flags have become far more prevalent in Canada; more private businesses are putting them up, and they’re becoming more popular decorative items. Canadian patriotism, at least in my view, has become more in-your-face over the last few decades. Which I’m not terribly fond of, but whatever floats your boat.
Recently there’s been a large union flag flying on the flagpole outside the council offices here (see location) maybe because of the Commonwealth games? ::shrugs::
The national flag is on display outside many official buildings; most notably every City Hall and every Parliament. When it is, it’s usually alongside the flags for the Autonomous Region and for the town (Spain has 50 Provinces, grouped into 17 Autonomous Regions; both the country and each Region have Parliaments). The EU flag may be there as well.
Car stickers often include flags or coats of arms. My laptop can be found easily among the identical 40-or-so laptops in the office because it has a huge sticker with the coat of arms of my region.
Flags (for country, region or town) are also sometimes hung from balconies during any kind of celebration. I own a huge regional flag for such purposes, Mom’s got a national one. This isn’t due to any kind of “brutal regionalism” on my part: we already had the national flag and my bros bought the regional one as a Xmas present to me. They’re both at Mom’s.
Using the adequate coat of arms as a decorative motif in official buildings is very common.
Seeing US-flag bikini thongs strikes me as terribly inadequate. My regional flag is red, so we like to claim that “we wear our flag in our veins”… but wearing it in your buttcrack? UGH!
Except now a lot of American backpackers sew Canadian flags on their sacks before going abroad, muddying the waters.
Here in Peru, government offices fly the flag, and usually have one in they foyer and in the official offices. Post offices fly it as well, and there are two versions --one with the coat of arms (a llama, a cornucopia, and a quinine tree) in the center and one that’s just vertical bars of red and white. Regions or departments, as they’re known here, also have flags, the most striking of which is Cusco, which is a rainbow flag a la Gay Pride parades. It’s interesting to see what tourists think when they go to Cusco and see all the rainbow flags.
Yes. I don’t mind a spot of patriotism (in small doses), but here, having an Australian flag flying on your property smacks more of nationalism. By flying one, you tend to display yourself as a bit of a loony, xenophobe, or both.
I think it gives the flag more importance if you don’t see it everywhere, and in any event, half the people that fly it on private property don’t look after it, and don’t follow proper protocol.
There is increased patriotism in schools these days (compared to when I went), but even then it’s nothing like US levels. An individual classroom may or may not have a flag, depending on if the teacher could be arsed. If there is one, it’s ignored. There may or may not be some sort of flag ceremony as part of whole school assemblies every now and then.
The Returned Services League (boozy clubs for old soldiers) tends to be the only non-government outfit that really cares enough to fly the flag properly.
I agree. We have laws here stating that a US flag may not be used as bunting or other purely decorative uses (i.e. to be used as anything other than a flag). When everybody is all hyped up on showing the colors, it reduces the colors to nothing more than a fashion statement. Well, maybe not that bad, but it does diminish the status of the flag.
As others have noted, flags (national and state) are flown quite sparingly in Australia. It’s rare to see them on private houses. Having said that though my father has a flagpole in his front garden and raises the Australian flag every morning and lowers it again at night.
I’ve lived in California, Michigan, and Illinois and it’s common enough to see a US flag on the porch of a house in any of those states. Flag appearances did go WAY up after 9/11, though, for sure. The accompanying flags seem to vary from region to region, though. In California, the state flag is a very common sight, usually flying below the US flag, or on a parallel pole. I don’t recall ever seeing the Michigan state flag in the time I lived there, though. And at least in Chicago, you can go for long periods of time without seeing the Illinois flag, but it’s hard to go a single day without seeing the city flag, usually in conjunction with the US flag.
The french flag is flown on all official buildings.
Apart from that, it appears during international soccer games.
In some parts of southern France, a flag is traditionnally flown on a mast or tree planted in the garden of elected officials (be them mere members of the village’s municipal council or , say, MPs).
I know of nobody who owns a french flag, and if I was searching for one, I would try my chance with a soccer fan, as already mentionned.
EVERY apartment building, storage facility, large store and mall in my part of Texas is covered in US flags, but they’re rarely without the Texas flag underneath. They’re also on houses, cars and pet bandannas, for some reason. I think really people like displaying the Texas flag, but we just don’t want people to know that we think of Texas as a little country of it’s own as well. At least that’s what I’ve gleaned in my time here.
Ours is flown from official buildings, outside Returned Services Association clubs, displayed at service clubs, now and then flown at schools with flagpoles, shopping centres, car yards, now and then from the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and in people’s front yards. It’s nice to see it – even though I did campaign in the 1980s for a flag change, and would probably still support that.
The New Zealand national flag tends to get flown in Australia too whenever there’s an Anzac reference. So there’s one on the Anzac bridge in Sydney, and they’re also flown along various Anzac Parades, Highways etc. around the country.
You can see the Japanese flag flying in front of most government buildings (the smaller post offices usually don’t have enough space), as well as schools (usually with the school’s own flag right next to it), but very few people fly Japanese flags of their own. The exception to this are the ultra-nationalists, who occasionally get together in convoys of black vans and buses covered in flags (both modern and WWII designs) with 500-watt speakers mounted on the roofs blasting anti-foreigner/pro-emperor slogans and old military songs.
A lot of products have little flag stickers on them, or flag designs as part of the label.
I just remembered, many hotels will display Japanese flags, along with national flags from the countries of their current guests. Some of the really big ones will have large outdoor flags for the VIPs, but usually it’s just a row of little handheld-size flags at the front desk.
That’s cool to know, thanks, Cunctator. Yes, I forgot to add Anzac commemorations to the list. Your country’s flag is displayed on such occasions here, too.
I’d like to add that it’s not uncommon to see the flags of other nations in the US too. And not just at memorials - restaurants and bars often fly the flags of the countries their cuisine is from, and immigrants very often fly their home country’s flag alongside the US flag. I see the Mexican flag all the time, and when something Polish-y happens (esp. when Poland joined the EU, and when the pope died), Chicago is fairly covered in red and white.