Flegs

[Arbiter]

Who decided what flags a country gets? I understand that some Germanic tribe would make their own flag and then stomp over neighbours and make them have the same flag. Fine. How does for example a shit tribe/country that never wins anything get a flag? What about countries that don't have any neighbours to need to differentiate himself from? Why does it become part of a national identity? We've got running water, food source, roofing, now let's start designing a flag.


Why don't countries ever update the flags? Apart from countries which get splintered up into mini countries after civil war etc. Why are we stuck with the same flag? You can saying it's a classic but it's also not representative of the changes in the country. What about flags that have illegible fine detail or an extra crest on a flag? Looks like a teenager with stickers on their phone case.

Do you feel represent by the flag of your country? Do you know that an expert on flags is called a cartographer?

[Dr Rock]

If Scotland ever gets independence I suppose we'll have to change the flag. Not if Wales leaves, obv.

[shoulders]

How does for example a shit tribe/country that never wins anything get a flag?

The Union Jack goes in the top left then some crap covers the rest.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

There's this fantastic resource called the Internet, all your questions can be answered there

[Cleveland Steamer]

In the west, all flags have stripes and lines on them, but go out east and it's all circles and stars. I wonder who decided on that.

[Shaxberd]

It's a boring answer but it's governments. Governments decide on flags.

Sometimes they do change them. Canada didn't get its maple leaf until the 60s, before that they were using the Union Jack and the Red Ensign with the Canadian coat of arms on it (coats of arms, these days, also decided by governments). They had a poll and chose a better option.

New Zealand tried the same thing a few years ago, only for the public to opt for the same shit one they already had.

South Africa is a good recent example of the process and faff of changing a flag. Obviously after the end of apartheid they wanted something new and more representative, also the previous flag was shit (standard horizontal tricolour but with three little flags in the middle, making it a pain to draw). They had a design competition, then presented six options to the public, but nobody liked any of them, and the 1993 parliament session closed without a new flag having been sorted. They got a designer in who got something together just in time for the first post-apartheid elections in 1994, the multicolour one with the Y-shaped stripe we know today. The proposal was that the new flag would only be official for five years before a decision to make it permanent in the new constitution being drawn up; it was debated and amendments suggested, but in the end they kept the design unchanged.

[madhair60]

There's this fantastic resource called the Internet, all your questions can be answered there

Where's the fun in that?!

[FeederFan500]

Arbiter asks who is the arbiter?

A flag is just an independently recognised symbol of a country or other entity. And flags can change, France changed theirs recently in a very minor way to make it more of a navy. A coat of arms can be added or taken away, Libya changed recently.

Nowadays new flags tend to get chosen from a shortlist of designs, Worcestershire has had a flag for about 10 years. NZ put it to a referendum.

[SetToStun]

Worcestershire has had a flag for about 10 years. NZ put it to a referendum.

Why do Kiwis get to decide on Worcestershire's adoption of a flag?

[madhair60]

step off homie, they made Lord of the Rings

[Shaxberd]

An interesting case is the various LGBTQ flags, because it's a much more informal process of "someone comes up with a design and sometimes it catches on".

There's been a real explosion of them from about 2010 onwards which I believe is entirely due to social media like Twitter and Tumblr making it easy to share and promote designs. I have mixed feelings - some new designs are lovely, some are a bit meh (not a big fan of the pastels on the trans flag, I like the pointy Venus/Mars/other symbol better), but in certain niches of the internet it feels like some people (mostly young and very online) feel the need to create a name, flag and colour scheme for every tiny variation of human sexuality and attraction, like you're not legitimate until you have a brand ID. Very late-capitalist tbh, I'm sure there's a sociology paper to be written about it all.

[SetToStun]

step off homie, they made Lord of the Rings

And they think that being the background scenery for that interminable snore-fest somehow grants them colonial powers over Worcestershire? I'd say they were being "saucy" but that would demean us all.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Where's the fun in that?!

Fair, I was being a cranky bitch.

Real answer is that it varies wildly from country to country, but also if you type "Flag of [country]" into Wikipedia you'll get an article with a history of the flag and what it represents.

[dissolute ocelot]

The Austrian flag has a good origin story although it's reckoned to have been made up. Leopold V of Austria was in the middle east fighting the Muslims, and got almost entirely covered in the blood of the infidel, except for a white stripe where his belt was. So their flag is red with a white horizontal stripe.

Lots of flags have the sun because it represents energy, power, gods, rebirth, and lots of other shiny stuff; and eagles because they're big and fierce. Kazakhstan has the sun and an eagle against a field of sky blue because it's a tin-pot dictatorship taking the piss.

The other shit thing about flags is that they're not all the same dimensions. Some are twice as wide as they're high while others are much squarer. Every country should be required to fly a banner the dimensions of A4 paper with their ISO 2-letter country code in comic sans.

[jobotic]

Isn't there one country's flag that is different on each side?

I'm in a doctor's waiting room so not doing Internet research.

Anyway they should have that in England. One woke rainbow BLM side and one traditional Sports Direct No Surrender BWFC side.

[thenoise]

If Scotland ever gets independence I suppose we'll have to change the flag. Not if Wales leaves, obv.

Maybe we can get a child to scribble something out with a crayon? Like we did with the Olympics the Jubilee. They'd have to hand out a small prize, of course, but it'll be cheaper than hiring an actual graphic designer, and all the shit munchers will find it all terribly sweet.

[Shaxberd]

Maybe we can get a child to scribble something out with a crayon? Like we did with the Olympics the Jubilee. They'd have to hand out a small prize, of course, but it'll be cheaper than hiring an actual graphic designer, and all the shit munchers will find it all terribly sweet.

Following the example of the Laser Kiwi and Laser Loon, I propose a Laser Capercaillie.

[Dex Sawash]

Who decided what flags a country gets?

Chosen by an ensign

[gilbertharding]

The most on-the-nose flag, for me, was the one for the French protectorate of Annam, in what's now Vietnam. It's just amazing.

[studpuppet]

The other shit thing about flags is that they're not all the same dimensions. Some are twice as wide as they're high while others are much squarer. Every country should be required to fly a banner the dimensions of A4 paper with their ISO 2-letter country code in comic sans.

I'm certain this is one of China's reasons for not recognising Nepal as a state.

[Endicott]

Slightly vexed about aspects of this.

[mippy]

Chicago has a pretty cool city flag, Amsterdam's just makes me think of the booze you see cartoon hobos drink in 'the funnies'.

[madhair60]

if CaB had a flag i feel this would be it

[Jerzy Bondov]

New Zealand voted down this fucking peach in favour of their old shit flag. Proof democracy doesn't work. They should have this flag imposed on them by their betters, like the old one.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Black and white flags rule. Cornwall, Brittany, PIRATES.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Slightly vexed about aspects of this.

I was gonna say, it's a vexillologist not a cartographer.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

New Zealand voted down this fucking peach in favour of their old shit flag. Proof democracy doesn't work. They should have this flag imposed on them by their betters, like the old one.

Line of people with black heads and white bodies limbo dancing

[Incy Wincy Mincey]

Strongly recommend this book if you're interested in this stuff:

https://amzn.eu/d/c7VTSfH

[dissolute ocelot]

Following the example of the Laser Kiwi and Laser Loon, I propose a Laser Capercaillie.

Scotland should have an animated flag with a red grouse running across it. Or I guess a capercaillie though we'll look pretty stupid when they're extinct. Surely an animated flag is possible in this day and age.

Or else a flag depicting a gamekeeper poisoning a golden eagle and the eagle shoots laser beams at the gamekeeper and the gamekeeper is on fire.

[Dr M1nx PhD]

The most on-the-nose flag, for me, was the one for the French protectorate of Annam, in what's now Vietnam. It's just amazing.

I'll raise you an even more on-the-nose flag, the flag of revolutionary Haiti:



Sometimes it was flown with text sewn on like so:



Why is it on-the-nose? Well, it's the French flag with the white removed.