Flag trivia
What two countries in the world have the same flag? Yes, identical!
The answer is Monaco and Indonesia.
They are both half red (top) and white. This is purely coincidental.
Given the potential alternatives, I never thought that two countries would have the same flag.
What country has this flag upside down (white on top)? The answer is of course Poland.
If you knew the answers to these questions go to the top of the class.
What is the difference between the Jordanian and Palestinian flags?
They are identical (black, white and green stipes with a red isoceles triangle on the left) except that the Jordanian flag has a 7-pointed white star in the red triangle! Why? It has to do with the Hashemites, the Jordanian Royal family, and represents their connection to the Koran.
What is the difference between the Australian and New Zealand flags? They both have the Union Jack in the top left corner, and a blue background, but the stars in the Australian flag are white and there are 6 of them in a celestial pattern, while the New Zealand stars are red with a white edge and there are only 4 of them. (Aren't you glad you know that.)
The Dutch flag is the French flag (the "tricoleur") turned sideways. When Holland achieved its independence with French help they showed their gratitude by adopting the same flag, but on its side. The Russian flag and the Serbian (and Montenegro) flags are essentially the same as the Dutch, but with the red, white and blue horizontal stripes rearranged.
The Union Jack was adopted in 1801, when the flag of St. Patrick (a diagonal red cross on a white background) was added to the Union Flag of the crosses of St. George of England (a red vertical cross on a white background) and the Scottish flag of St. Andrew (a white diagonal cross on a blue background). When all three crosses are added together you get a (mess - no that's not the right answer) you get the Union Jack (a "Jack" being among other things a maritime flag), the flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (although it was the whole of Ireland once). But, the Irish cross is in fact virtually made up, since the true Irish flag is green, and there is no green in the Union Jack.
The flags of Libya and Saudi Arabia are green, which is the color of Mohammed the Prophet (not St. Patrick). The Saudi flag has a verse in Arabic from the Koran ("there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger") and beneath it, in case you missed the point, a sword! Talk about religious intolerance!
Of course, the Stars and Stripes, the flag of the US, has undergone many changes with time. It was a matter of dispute whether the stripes or the stars would represent the number of States, but the simplicity of adding stars won out over thinner and thinner stripes. So there are many such flags representing different numbers of States added with time, up to the present 52 (just checking, there are in fact 50) stars. The original flag of the thirteen colonies at independence was the thirteen red and white stripes with a Union Jack (the British flag in the upper left hand corner). This was replaced with thirteen white stars in a circle on a blue background, that happens to be identical to the flag of the EU (although it now has 25 members the number of stars has not been increased). But the blue "canton" of the US flag has also been flown separately (without the stripes) as a maritime flag and as such was also (confusingly) called the "Union Jack" (i.e. representing the Union of States).
Don't ask me why I wrote this, it has no symbolic significance, its just my strange mind.
The answer is Monaco and Indonesia.
They are both half red (top) and white. This is purely coincidental.
Given the potential alternatives, I never thought that two countries would have the same flag.
What country has this flag upside down (white on top)? The answer is of course Poland.
If you knew the answers to these questions go to the top of the class.
What is the difference between the Jordanian and Palestinian flags?
They are identical (black, white and green stipes with a red isoceles triangle on the left) except that the Jordanian flag has a 7-pointed white star in the red triangle! Why? It has to do with the Hashemites, the Jordanian Royal family, and represents their connection to the Koran.
What is the difference between the Australian and New Zealand flags? They both have the Union Jack in the top left corner, and a blue background, but the stars in the Australian flag are white and there are 6 of them in a celestial pattern, while the New Zealand stars are red with a white edge and there are only 4 of them. (Aren't you glad you know that.)
The Dutch flag is the French flag (the "tricoleur") turned sideways. When Holland achieved its independence with French help they showed their gratitude by adopting the same flag, but on its side. The Russian flag and the Serbian (and Montenegro) flags are essentially the same as the Dutch, but with the red, white and blue horizontal stripes rearranged.
The Union Jack was adopted in 1801, when the flag of St. Patrick (a diagonal red cross on a white background) was added to the Union Flag of the crosses of St. George of England (a red vertical cross on a white background) and the Scottish flag of St. Andrew (a white diagonal cross on a blue background). When all three crosses are added together you get a (mess - no that's not the right answer) you get the Union Jack (a "Jack" being among other things a maritime flag), the flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (although it was the whole of Ireland once). But, the Irish cross is in fact virtually made up, since the true Irish flag is green, and there is no green in the Union Jack.
The flags of Libya and Saudi Arabia are green, which is the color of Mohammed the Prophet (not St. Patrick). The Saudi flag has a verse in Arabic from the Koran ("there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger") and beneath it, in case you missed the point, a sword! Talk about religious intolerance!
Of course, the Stars and Stripes, the flag of the US, has undergone many changes with time. It was a matter of dispute whether the stripes or the stars would represent the number of States, but the simplicity of adding stars won out over thinner and thinner stripes. So there are many such flags representing different numbers of States added with time, up to the present 52 (just checking, there are in fact 50) stars. The original flag of the thirteen colonies at independence was the thirteen red and white stripes with a Union Jack (the British flag in the upper left hand corner). This was replaced with thirteen white stars in a circle on a blue background, that happens to be identical to the flag of the EU (although it now has 25 members the number of stars has not been increased). But the blue "canton" of the US flag has also been flown separately (without the stripes) as a maritime flag and as such was also (confusingly) called the "Union Jack" (i.e. representing the Union of States).
Don't ask me why I wrote this, it has no symbolic significance, its just my strange mind.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:50 PM
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