NationStates Jolt Archive

What is with those three colours? Why are they so popular for flags? You know how many countries have red, white and blue flags? Not counting colours appearing of coats of arms, thirty-seven: Iceland, Norway, Finland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Luxenbourg, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Serbia & Montenegro, Russia, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan, North Korea, Australia, Somoa, Wallis & Futana, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Anguilla, Paraguay, Chile and Liberia.

What is with those three colours? Why are they so popular for flags? You know how many countries have red, white and blue flags? Not counting colours appearing of coats of arms, thirty-seven: Iceland, Norway, Finland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Luxenbourg, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Serbia & Montenegro, Russia, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan, North Korea, Australia, Somoa, Wallis & Futana, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Anguilla, Paraguay, Chile and Liberia.

*shrug* Idunno?

Is it because Monsanto claimed to own the colour green?

Tis a conspiracy :(:mad: :(:mad: :(:mad: :(:mad: :(:mad:

They were quite easy to dye in the olden days, back when Europe was still made of various great Houses rather than proper nation-states.

Any kind of dye marked you out as somewhat noble, so lots of people spent a fair bit of money doing it. Green was something of an easy dye to make, so it wasn't really used much, due to it not looking pricey enough, and orange wasn't really used for quite a while.

This is why the countries using green and orange together are usually the newer countries, such as the ROI, because nobody cares about the colour of their flag much any more, and it certainly marks them out as different, and fairly recognisable.

Tada!

They were quite easy to dye in the olden days, back when Europe was still made of various great Houses rather than proper nation-states.

Any kind of dye marked you out as somewhat noble, so lots of people spent a fair bit of money doing it. Green was something of an easy dye to make, so it wasn't really used much, due to it not looking pricey enough, and orange wasn't really used for quite a while.

This is why the countries using green and orange together are usually the newer countries, such as the ROI, because nobody cares about the colour of their flag much any more, and it certainly marks them out as different, and fairly recognisable.

Tada!
Well, that makes sense. Hooray for you.

37 out of 194 (193 if you don't count Taiwan) - that's not even a fifth.

That means more than 80% don't use red, white, and blue or only those three colors. *shrugs*

I'm sure glad we don't. Black, red, and gold, yeah baby!

They were quite easy to dye in the olden days, back when Europe was still made of various great Houses rather than proper nation-states.

Any kind of dye marked you out as somewhat noble, so lots of people spent a fair bit of money doing it. Green was something of an easy dye to make, so it wasn't really used much, due to it not looking pricey enough, and orange wasn't really used for quite a while.

This is why the countries using green and orange together are usually the newer countries, such as the ROI, because nobody cares about the colour of their flag much any more, and it certainly marks them out as different, and fairly recognisable.

Tada!
Mmh. Nice. Who told you?

37 out of 194 (193 if you don't count Taiwan) - that's not even a fifth.

That means more than 80% don't use red, white, and blue or only those three colors. *shrugs*

I'm sure glad we don't. Black, red, and gold, yeah baby!

Gold?! You mean yellow, like that other dysfunctional European state on your borders….

Mmh. Nice. Who told you?
Actually, it was purest speculative bullshit, which sounded about right. Who knows, I might actually be right!

Is there a similar effect (and answer) as to why a lot of football clubs in the UK are usually have reb, blue or white shirts?

Blue is a terrible color.

FinlandHas a blue & white flag. No red innit.

Marshall IslandsDull orange is not red.

I'm pretty sure there are other mistakes but check them yourself:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sovereign-state_flags

Because these colours never run, or some other such jingoistic garbage.

Because these colours never run, or some other such jingoistic garbage.
*inserts ludicrous joke about France here as a countermeasure*

Gold?! You mean yellow, like that other dysfunctional European state on your borders….
No. When I said gold, I meant gold.

Don't try to tell me which colors my nation's flag has without having any idea whatsoever, a'ight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany

So before you know anything about a topic, research it and shut yer mouth till then - anything else makes you look incredibly dumb and ignorant.

Actually, it was purest speculative bullshit, which sounded about right. Who knows, I might actually be right!
Which makes it even better. :p

No. When I said gold, I meant gold.

Don't try to tell me which colors my nation's flag has without having any idea whatsoever, a'ight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany

So before you know anything about a topic, research it and shut yer mouth till then - anything else makes you look incredibly dumb and ignorant.

Don’t sweat it, I believed you the first time. No offence, just always looks like yellow to me. ;) I am indeed sorry if I have offended you.

37 out of 194 (193 if you don't count Taiwan) - that's not even a fifth.

That means more than 80% don't use red, white, and blue or only those three colors. *shrugs*

I'm sure glad we don't. Black, red, and gold, yeah baby!That isn't black, but just a really really dark blue.

Which makes it even better. :p
It wasn't quite Lord Of The Flies level bullshitting, though. That was truly my finest hour, if you remember that.

A lot of it also might come from French flag, which was originally a revolutionary symbol (red and blue of Paris, plus white of the monarchy, this was back when constitutional monarchy was still an option).

A lot of it also might come from French flag, which was originally a revolutionary symbol (red and blue of Paris, plus white of the monarchy, this was back when constitutional monarchy was still an option).
Yeah, but as you've just shown, most national flags are simply the condensation of the monarchy's coat of arms, plus some of the more powerful provinces.

That's true of just about every flag, really.

Don’t sweat it, I believed you the first time. No offence, just always looks like yellow to me. ;) I am indeed sorry if I have offended you.
Okay, let's forget about it. I'm in a dire mood and easily upset. Don't think anything of it.
That isn't black, but just a really really dark blue.
You mean really really dark blue as in a black eye? http://www.studip.uni-goettingen.de/pictures/smile/droh.gif
It wasn't quite Lord Of The Flies level bullshitting, though. That was truly my finest hour, if you remember that.
Sorry, I must've missed that completely. Oops. :eek:

It wasn't quite Lord Of The Flies level bullshitting, though.What about Lord Of The Flies ??

Sorry, I must've missed that completely. Oops. :eek:
Schade.

Some guy wanted to know what the Lord Of The Flies was about because he was doing an essay about it for the next day.

So I made a post telling him, in great length, that it was about a plane crash where only the children lived (true up to this point) and that after setting up camp, they found an enormous hornets' nest, hence the name of the book.

At this point, they formed into two factions, those who wanted to rid the island of the hornets, and those who wanted to coexist. Eventually, the anti-hornet group attacked the nest, but they all perished, leaving only the pro-hornet people left.

After this, internal conflicts arised in the pro-hornet faction and a boy named Tubby was fed to them as a sacrifice, so that they wouldn't sting the boys.

This left only two - and they each made plans to kill the other - late on the fifth night of them being on the island, the ex-leader of the pro-hornet group was stabbed to death by the other member.

The book then ends on the sole remaining boy covering himself in honey, about to embrace a swarm of hornets, and his fate stemming from this action is left for the reader to decide.



Or so my version went.



Sadly, other people then chipped in, and it led me to have to pretend there were loads of different versions of the book, including one with a really graphic cover, the Durham 1990 Edition, only 400 of which were ever printed, due to the presses being shut down by the police after they heard what was going on.



But eventually (we're talking page 20 here) people were telling him not to listen to me any more, at which point the topic was deleted under the 'no homework help' thing anyway.

Originally posted by German Nightmare
Okay, let's forget about it. I'm in a dire mood and easily upset. Don't think anything of it.

A Deutschelander in a bad mood? What's this world coming to ... ?

And that's not red on the German flag. It's the blood of smart-aleck Americans like me who aggravate otherwise calm and reasonable Germans for fun and profit. Of course, I work for Mercedes-Benz, so I have Germans aggravating the snot out of me on a daily basis. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.:p

And though I know that's supposed to be gold, it's always looked like orange to me. I just wanted to throw that out there.

Schade.
Some guy wanted to know what the Lord Of The Flies was about because he was doing an essay about it for the next day.
So I made a post telling him, in great length, that it was about a plane crash where only the children lived (true up to this point) and that after setting up camp, they found an enormous hornets' nest, hence the name of the book.
At this point, they formed into two factions, those who wanted to rid the island of the hornets, and those who wanted to coexist. Eventually, the anti-hornet group attacked the nest, but they all perished, leaving only the pro-hornet people left.
After this, internal conflicts arised in the pro-hornet faction and a boy named Tubby was fed to them as a sacrifice, so that they wouldn't sting the boys.
This left only two - and they each made plans to kill the other - late on the fifth night of them being on the island, the ex-leader of the pro-hornet group was stabbed to death by the other member.
The book then ends on the sole remaining boy covering himself in honey, about to embrace a swarm of hornets, and his fate stemming from this action is left for the reader to decide.
Or so my version went.

Sadly, other people then chipped in, and it led me to have to pretend there were loads of different versions of the book, including one with a really graphic cover, the Durham 1990 Edition, only 400 of which were ever printed, due to the presses being shut down by the police after they heard what was going on.

But eventually (we're talking page 20 here) people were telling him not to listen to me any more, at which point the topic was deleted under the 'no homework help' thing anyway.
Oh. Hehe. Well, that schoolpaper would've been a sight to behold, I guess!

Oh. Hehe. Well, that schoolpaper would've been a sight to behold, I guess!
You had to be there, really.

Everyone was getting really into it and making their own versions up, all of the while this guy was completely clueless to the whole thing.

Fun times.

You'd think he'd have had the mental acuity to go read SparkNotes.

Schade.

Some guy wanted to know what the Lord Of The Flies was about because he was doing an essay about it for the next day.

So I made a post telling him, in great length, that it was about a plane crash where only the children lived (true up to this point) and that after setting up camp, they found an enormous hornets' nest, hence the name of the book.

At this point, they formed into two factions, those who wanted to rid the island of the hornets, and those who wanted to coexist. Eventually, the anti-hornet group attacked the nest, but they all perished, leaving only the pro-hornet people left.

After this, internal conflicts arised in the pro-hornet faction and a boy named Tubby was fed to them as a sacrifice, so that they wouldn't sting the boys.

This left only two - and they each made plans to kill the other - late on the fifth night of them being on the island, the ex-leader of the pro-hornet group was stabbed to death by the other member.

The book then ends on the sole remaining boy covering himself in honey, about to embrace a swarm of hornets, and his fate stemming from this action is left for the reader to decide.



Or so my version went.



Sadly, other people then chipped in, and it led me to have to pretend there were loads of different versions of the book, including one with a really graphic cover, the Durham 1990 Edition, only 400 of which were ever printed, due to the presses being shut down by the police after they heard what was going on.



But eventually (we're talking page 20 here) people were telling him not to listen to me any more, at which point the topic was deleted under the 'no homework help' thing anyway.

For some reason that reminded me of this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=392259)

Happy times :)

No. When I said gold, I meant gold.

Don't try to tell me which colors my nation's flag has without having any idea whatsoever, a'ight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany

So before you know anything about a topic, research it and shut yer mouth till then - anything else makes you look incredibly dumb and ignorant.

It's still yellow.

A Deutscher in a bad mood? What's this world coming to ... ?
WWIII.
And that's not red on the German flag. It's the blood of smart-aleck Americans like me who aggravate otherwise calm and reasonable Germans for fun and profit. Of course, I work for Mercedes-Benz, so I have Germans aggravating the snot out of me on a daily basis. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.:p
I don't see how it's mutually beneficial unless you supply me with a shiny new Mercedes-Benz.
And though I know that's supposed to be gold, it's always looked like orange to me. I just wanted to throw that out there.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/GermanNightmare/Disgruntled.gif
Makes me want to just throw you out of somewhere... :p
It's still yellow.
Says the Kaskopp... :cool:

No. When I said gold, I meant gold.

Don't try to tell me which colors my nation's flag has without having any idea whatsoever, a'ight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany

So before you know anything about a topic, research it and shut yer mouth till then - anything else makes you look incredibly dumb and ignorant.

Hmm. I'd say it's closest to #FFCC00, Tangerine Yellow (http://www.web-site-tools.com/s/ffcc00.htm) (although the colour is really #FFCE00).

/pedantry

Hmm. I'd say it's closest to #FFCC00, Tangerine Yellow (http://www.web-site-tools.com/s/ffcc00.htm) (although the colour is really #FFCE00).

/pedantry

I think you're right, but your link made my head explode, so you lose.

1650 x 1080 resolution + full screen yellow =

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e142/leftyflecken/ScannersExplodingHead.gif

Gold?! You mean yellow, like that other dysfunctional European state on your borders….

The Danish flag is red-white. :confused:

WWIII.



Now THAT was funny :p

I like my humor very, very dry. :)

Ha, but the red-white-blue of the dutch flag is the oldest tricolour still in use today :D So we win at least from those french who stole ours and turned it 90 degrees ;)

It wasn't quite Lord Of The Flies level bullshitting, though. That was truly my finest hour, if you remember that.

im still bitter that that thread got locked

you were genius in that one.

im still bitter that that thread got locked

you were genius in that one.
Why, thank you kindly!

The colors, presumably, are symbolic.

Supposedly

Red means courage
White means purity of purpose
Blue means nobility.

Whatever.

Ha, but the red-white-blue of the dutch flag is the oldest tricolour still in use today :D So we win at least from those french who stole ours and turned it 90 degrees ;)
QFT
Says the Kaskopp... :cool:Yellow, as cheese:p

*insert bicycle joke here*

Now THAT was funny :p

I like my humor very, very dry. :)
Thank you. I thought it was, great you can appreciate that humor as well. :)

They were quite easy to dye in the olden days, back when Europe was still made of various great Houses rather than proper nation-states.

Any kind of dye marked you out as somewhat noble, so lots of people spent a fair bit of money doing it. Green was something of an easy dye to make, so it wasn't really used much, due to it not looking pricey enough, and orange wasn't really used for quite a while.

This is why the countries using green and orange together are usually the newer countries, such as the ROI, because nobody cares about the colour of their flag much any more, and it certainly marks them out as different, and fairly recognisable.

Tada!

Makes sense. Very interesting...

Makes sense. Very interesting...
You didn't read the rest of it, eh?
Actually, it was purest speculative bullshit, which sounded about right. Who knows, I might actually be right!

Has anyone also noticed that a lot of Middle Eastern/Northern African flags have green, red, white, and black (or some combination of those) in them? Are these colors symbolic to Islam somehow?

Has anyone also noticed that a lot of Middle Eastern/Northern African flags have green, red, white, and black (or some combination of those) in them? Are these colors symbolic to Islam somehow?
Green is.