National Flags

Watching the Olympics brought this thought to mind.

I’ve always liked the British flag. And I like how the Australian flag incorporates the U.K. Union Jack, but with the Southern Cross stars — sort of like identifying as the U.K. South. (I’ve also always liked the Confederate flag, probably because of its similarity to the British flag.)

The South Korean flag is also interesting, though I don’t know the history of it, even though I bowed to it many times during my tae kwon do training. (Bowing out of respect for the culture from which the martial art originated.)

The basic tri-color striped flags, like Russia, France, Germany, etc., I’ve always thought were kind of boring. The Mexican, though tri-color striped, at least has that cool eagle emblem in the middle. I have similar thoughts on the Iranian flag. And the Canadian flag, though only two colors, is neat with its maple leaf — I like a flag that is immediately recognizable.

I like the U.S. flag because it looks different than most, and is immediately recognizable.

The Albanian flag is pretty badass.

Choosing my favorite, I’d probably point to the U.K. flag. I like the look of it, but after learning of how it incorporates the flags of each of the member kingdoms, that makes it neater.

I used to live in Wilmington, NC. Wilmington is a port for many British ships, and when a ship was in port, many buildings around the area fly a Union Jack in honor/acknowledgement of the British sailors coming ashore. The mall where I worked during college was one such building. One day an American man pointed out to me that the Union Jack was flying upside down, and that was a sign of distress. He light-heartedly hassled me about it, (like I had any control over the flag flying above the mall entrance), and I thought he was joking. I mean, the Union Jack has a topside and bottomside? I wonder if even Brits can immediately recognize when their flag is upside-down.

Bullgrit