Should New Zealand Change its flag?

[DarthFishy]

They also did it an a fundamental time of change, which included the National Anthem as well, as the Old South Africa and Apartheid was supposed to be left behind and the New South Africa emerged from its ashes.

We're not going through any such changes.

You finally lost a rugby game against the Springboks. Is that not enough change?

Seriously though you are correct. Is there a specific reason for this current desire to change the flag? Any kind of event that is precipitating it?

 

[a_unique_person]

I'm a kiwi and I definitely say yes, and would happily go for the silver fern on black.

I hope the Kiwis do it, just to show Australia it is possible to change your flag and the world won't end.

 

[Information Analyst]

Mozambique, now there's a flag with some balls!

You only like it because it's got an AK on it!

 

[Information Analyst]

Rugby?

Never mind, some Bears fan's grandmother will probably kill them.

American Football: A game of Rugby played between two teams of motorcycle messengers

 

[TragicMonkey]

You have the contract. I have a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill* that I'm willing to put up.

* wrapped in plastic for its own protection

It will be a dignified, simple, and elegant flag: a field of fluorescent orange, on which a skeletal monkey is depicted, defecating. The feces is shaped like Australia.

 

[Ladewig]

I like distinctive flags, so I would like to see it change. And even if it doesn't change, as an American I find it fascinating to watch a first-world country discuss flag design without widespread violence and shooting.


....................

It will be a dignified, simple, and elegant flag: a field of fluorescent orange, on which a skeletal monkey is depicted, defecating. The feces is shaped like Australia.

Now I want to emigrate to Tragicmonkeystan. Is the citizenship test difficult?

 

[angrysoba]

It will be a dignified, simple, and elegant flag: a field of fluorescent orange, on which a skeletal monkey is depicted, defecating. The feces is shaped like Australia.

That would be a beautiful flag.

I like distinctive flags, so I would like to see it change. And even if it doesn't change, as an American I find it fascinating to watch a first-world country discuss flag design without widespread violence and shooting.

Is this a common thing with discussions of flag design?

 

[Myron Proudfoot]

eh, it's just a ripoff of the Hawaiian flag. totally derivative.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...g_of_Hawaii.svg/1200px-Flag_of_Hawaii.svg.png

 

[Ladewig]

Is this a common thing with discussions of flag design?

In the USA, it most certainly is. More than 20% of US voters still believe that Barack Obama is not eligible to serve as president of the United States. Many of those people believe that he is trying to replace the democratic republic with an Islamic theocracy. I wish I were joking, but I am not.

Switching our currency from being printed on paper to being printed on plastic will not happen in our lifetimes. Too many Americans believe that anything other than paper bills (with all denominations beling the same size) is a plot to create a world government.

Actually, that might be a fun thread: "What would it take for America to change its flag and NOT have 13 red and white stripes and NOT have white stars on a blue background." Actually, I can make it simpler than that: "what would it take for the U.S. to add or remove one color in its flag?"

 

[megaresp]

It will be a dignified, simple, and elegant flag: a field of fluorescent orange, on which a skeletal monkey is depicted, defecating. The feces is shaped like Australia.

You certainly know your target market.

 

[rjh01]

It will be a dignified, simple, and elegant flag: a field of fluorescent orange, on which a skeletal monkey is depicted, defecating. The feces is shaped like Australia.

Not quite. The toilet bowl is shaped like Australia.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Not quite. The toilet bowl is shaped like Australia.

I hadn't realized toilet technology had reached Australia yet! I suppose next you'll tell me they have mastered gas lighting, and have shoed the horses that pull their scrapwood wagons along their gravel roads! Ho, ho, ho, most witticismical!

*drops monocle into his tea*

 

[Darth Rotor]

I realized too late that there was a missing poll option which would have been, "I'm not a Kiwi, so it is not my *********** business". But consider the Planet X option as containing that one.

I'd have voted for that, but went Planet X instead, as you did.

 

[Craig B]

A fern? Really? I have never associated NZ with ferns.

IMO this is no time to re-invent national identity. It's gotta be a sheep. But a sheep could also be Scotland, if the Scots ever succeed in their secession bid. Therefore NZ needs a flag with an upside-down sheep, to denote its location in the Southern Hemisphere.

In Scotland it would not be considered wise to depict a sheep on our flag, and especially an upside down sheep. The reasons for this attitude are too complex to elaborate upon.

 

[Myron Proudfoot]

shouldn't it have a Hobbit on it??

 

[Damien Evans]

But is associated with the "National" sports emblem, not generic sports. When people see that, they already think New Zealand. So why not extend it?

Its cool, its instantly recognisable, its different.

However, could someone explain how the fern came to be used in the first place? I believe there is a historical and heraldic connection for the English 3 lions emblem, what is the story behind the New Zealand Rugby fern?

I don't. I think All Blacks.

 

[Damien Evans]

They actually copied our flag. Besides, they keep suggesting changing theirs, so if we wait a bit longer, they will and it'll be sorted.

Out of curiosity, is there a Maori flag like our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags?

 

[FreshHat]

dupe post.

 

[FreshHat]

The fern won't work. As PhantomWolf says, it's too strongly associated with sports to be an effective national flag.

No problem!

Canada debuted its Maple Leaf flag in 1965, even though the Toronto Maple Leafs logo had been a national icon for about thirty years at that time.

 

[angrysoba]

The harp is supposed to represent Ireland, but for many people it just looks like the trademark for Guinness.