Flags of the World

[Switch]

In our case, I like the symbolism of the white in the middle : the white was the color of the king and blue and red are the colors of Paris so it's the people of Paris surrounding the king and it's quite a dangerous position

And here I thought it was Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.

 

[Canadave]

Well, firstly, I'm a huge fan of our own flag. It's pretty unique, as far as flag design goes, is easily adoptable into a national symbol, and is quite symbolic of the country as a whole. The two red bands represent the Atlantic and Pacific, and there are 12 points on the leaf, one for each province and territory when we adopted the flag. Nunavut has to be the stem, since it was created in 1999.

Within Canada, I think British Columbia has a neat flag, as does New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the rest of the world, the USA and United Kingdom both have fantastic designs. Nepal's is interesting because it's so unique. I'm also partial to all of the Scandinavian cross flags, though I have to go against the grain a bit and call Norway my favourite. Another I like is the Welsh flag as dragons are badass creatures for your flag.

And finally, I always have to give props to Libya for their straightforward "Screw it, we'll make it green" approach.

 

[Nociod]

I like the Canadian and Norwegian flag the best.

 

[BolianAuthor]

My favorite flag is the Betsy Ross flag... IMO, it has all the things that make the American flag great, but I like having only 13 stars arranged in a circle much better than the fifty all lined up in rows.

 

[6079SmithW]

My favorite US state flags are Maryland's, South Carolina's, and Hawaii's. I think I like Hawaii's best.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I like the Seychelles; it's very festive!

I couldn't figure out what that reminded me of until I did this:

 

[Trekker4747]

Call me whatever, but I'm sticking with loving Old Glory.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I'm also a fan of the good ol' Tricolour, especially with white as the middle field (France, Italy, and their horizontal variations: Netherlands, Hungary).

In our case, I like the symbolism of the white in the middle : the white was the color of the king and blue and red are the colors of Paris so it's the people of Paris surrounding the king and it's quite a dangerous position

There are so many legends about colour symbolism in flags: I was told in school that in the Italian flag, green stood for the fertility of the land, white for the snow-capped Alps guarding against invaders, and red for the blood of patriots who died building and defending it. Then I read a history book and discovered that we just copied the French design, using instead the colours of the flag (white and red) of many Northern Italian cities (Milan, Bologna, Genoa, and others), and the colour of uniforms worn by civic guards during Napoleonic times (green). Talk about a downer.

My favorite US state flags are Maryland's, South Carolina's, and Hawaii's. I think I like Hawaii's best.

There are other places in the world outside the US, you know.

 

[Count Zero]

I forgot to say that I also really love the flag of the European Union, especially if the stars are really embroidered on the flag, not just printed.

 

[Chaos Descending]

There are other places in the world outside the US, you know.

Next you're going to tell us that there's food other than steak! The nerve of you!

My favorite flags are the US flag, the UK flag, the State of Arizona flag, the well known Confederate flag, the flag of Barbados, the flag of Iceland, and the flag of Norway,

All in no particular order, except for Arizona. That one's #1 for me.

 

[JarodRussell]

I really like the distribution of colors around the world. Africa has so much more green than anywhere else!

Islam.

Is that it? I don't really keep up on my religious color schemes. I just figured that back in the day they had easier access to green dye or something.

Green is also the color of envy and greed.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I like the Canadian flag, but then again I'm biased.

 

[Canadave]

All in no particular order, except for Arizona. That one's #1 for me.

Arizona does have a really nice flag. Especially by the standards of US state flags, as well, where the average seems to be really, really terrible. So many are just that awful blue background with some sort of crest or writing in the middle. Writing on a flag is just a fail.

 

[Switch]

I forgot to say that I also really love the flag of the European Union, especially if the stars are really embroidered on the flag, not just printed.

It's not bad, but I think I'd like the EU flag better if the circle was a little wider.

 

[Franklin]

Among flags with a long history: the Union Jack.
Among newer national flags: South Africa.
U.S. state flags: Arizona (also New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii).

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Especially by the standards of US state flags, as well, where the average seems to be really, really terrible. So many are just that awful blue background with some sort of crest or writing in the middle. Writing on a flag is just a fail.

Hey, California's flag has writing but it kicks ass. It's got a friggin' bear on it. Steven Colbert put our flag on notice.

 

[Roger Wilco]

There are so many legends about colour symbolism in flags: I was told in school that in the Italian flag, green stood for the fertility of the land, white for the snow-capped Alps guarding against invaders, and red for the blood of patriots who died building and defending it. Then I read a history book and discovered that we just copied the French design, using instead the colours of the flag (white and red) of many Northern Italian cities (Milan, Bologna, Genoa, and others), and the colour of uniforms worn by civic guards during Napoleonic times (green). Talk about a downer.

The mythology behind the Austrian flag is, that one of the early Austrian kings in some battle in one of the crusades (I think the 3rd) slaughtered so many heathens and heretics that he was covered in his enemies' blood from head to toe, but when he took off his belt there was a white stripe underneath and he was so happy with that look that he used the red-white-red colour scheme as his flag. Beat that!

 

[RoJoHen]

Especially by the standards of US state flags, as well, where the average seems to be really, really terrible. So many are just that awful blue background with some sort of crest or writing in the middle. Writing on a flag is just a fail.

Hey, California's flag has writing but it kicks ass. It's got a friggin' bear on it. Steven Colbert put our flag on notice.

The eagle in Illinois' flag will gouge that bears' eye out and then shove an olive branch in the socket!

 

[Roger Wilco]

The Illinois eagle looks like it's vomiting while inhaling a joint through its nose, I don't think that's a match for a bear.

 

[Canadave]

Especially by the standards of US state flags, as well, where the average seems to be really, really terrible. So many are just that awful blue background with some sort of crest or writing in the middle. Writing on a flag is just a fail.

Hey, California's flag has writing but it kicks ass. It's got a friggin' bear on it. Steven Colbert put our flag on notice.

See, it would be a good flag if it didn't have the writing. Flags are all about symbolism, and writing the name of the place they're supposed to represent is like saying they don't expect people to get it.

It'd be like if Shakespeare wrote:

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Because summer days are really, really awesome, and I think you're awesome. So basically, I'm just trying to say you're awesome, because you're like a summer's day. Get it?"