here's your odd thought for the day.

[katster]

If one is supposed to signal distress by turning the flag upside down, what does one do when one's flag has horizontal symmetry?

I'll be pondering this one for a while. :)

Comments

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Or what if your flag upside down is the same as another country's flag right-side-up?

hmm...

[vacheestfachee.livejournal.com]

Can you just turn it sideways? :)

Re: hmm...

[katster.livejournal.com]

Well, what about the countries that have both vertical and horizontal symmetry? :)

-kat

Re: hmm...

[archangelbeth]

Ummm.... Inside out??

O:D

Re: hmm...

[vacheestfachee.livejournal.com]

hmm, that's true... isn't there a country with a square flag? I think that one is about the epitome of flaggish symmetry.

Maybe they should fold theirs in half. ;) Or only attach one corner. Or paint it black or something.

*silly from it being exam week*

Re: hmm...

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out what Libya would do..

Re: hmm...

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Okay, that has to be the world's most boring flag !

[fb.livejournal.com]

You mean like France or Italy? When was the last time one of them wasn't in distress during a war? ;)

[salinn.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's why they made them that way...so they could always receive help...

Ummm

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, that convention is purely American, and not something more universal. Didn't that become the convention because it was once used by some fort the Indians captured?? TTBOMK, there is no such convention regarding using the flag itself as any sort of signal here. We have a nicely vertically symmetrical flag.

[ankhenet.livejournal.com]

From my stint at sea, what we were always told was that flying a flag upside down meant the ship was being overtaken by enemy forces. as for run aground, not at command, adrift, restricited movement ect... There are day shapes, night lights and special flags flown.

[smcwhort.livejournal.com]

Paint "THIS SIDE UP" with an arrow pointing up before you invert the flag. :-P

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

IRC, ship's flags are not the same as national flags for exactly that reason. They are usually the national emblem quartered [ie it's in one corner] with some field.

For example, the british ensign, is a the union jack, [which although not symetrical, is damn difficult to tell], in one quarter of the St Georges cross, [ie a red cros on a white field]. The result is non-symetrical about any axis.

I think other countries ensigns are the same, by maritime law.

[fearghaill.livejournal.com]

Is this why the american military flew our maple leaf upside down as the Blue Jays were winning the World Series?