The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Big Olympic scandal: bogus flags on display!

    By acanuck on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 12:17am | Sports

    The Vancouver Olympic organizing committee has gotten a lot of unfair criticism, so I hate to pile on.
    But I've watched quite a few medal presentation ceremonies over the past few days, and I'm now fairly positive: that is not Canada's flag on display.
    Ours is a red maple leaf on a white central square, with two red bands half as wide on either side. Its proportions are therefore 1:2.
    All the flags I see raised at the medal ceremonies appear to be 2:3. And I'm making allowances for camera angles.
    That's fine for some countries -- like France, Italy or even Russia -- whose flags really have those proportions.
    Not, I would argue, for Canada.
    That central white square sets our flag apart. In heraldry, they coined a new term for it: "a Canadian pale." By definition, it's square -- as wide as it is deep. Not 2 by 3!
    I can understand why the Olympic organizers would opt for a one-size-fits-all compromise. And there are other countries -- like the United Kingdom and Australia -- that are also being shortchanged.
    But we're the host country, dammit. At the very least, I want to see my own actual flag on display when we win. Or even take silver or bronze.

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    Comments

    Eh, quit you're sniveling. At least you don't have to stuff one of these bastards into 2:3...

    Switzerland
    Qatar Qatar Qatar
    Nepal

    by Michael Wolraich on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 12:03pm

    Thanks for illustrating my point so well, Genghis. The Swiss have actually made four podium appearances these Games, but I missed seeing what was done to their flag. I suspect they left the cross equal-sided, but stretched the red background.

    The Nepalese had two skiers competing, but they both seem to have been eliminated, so we'll never see how organizers would have treated their pennant. For some reason, the Qataris don't appear to be big on winter sports.


    by acanuck on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 7:24pm

    WHAT is this lil acanuck on about?

    Canada's real flag.

    Bloody Quebecers.


    by quinn esq on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 1:13pm

    You're quite right, quinn, the red ensign in its day was far less popular in Quebec than the current design is. Colonial overtones, you know. But the "new" one seems to have caught on pretty well, right across the country, don't you think?


    by acanuck on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 7:31pm

    Not in MY house. Harumph.

    by quinn esq on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 9:17pm

    Since no one's reading this post anymore, I might as well stir the pot by mentioning: "Hey, your flag got shrunk too. Old Glory! The Star-Spangled Banner!

    Its proportions are nominally 10:19, so the distortion is marginally less of an insult than what happened to the Canadian flag. But still! Are you going to take that lying down? Are you? Wusses!


    by acanuck on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 12:21am

    Silly Canadian. American self-confidence is built on more than the dimensions of our flag and the success of our hockey team. It's built on dropping a sh*t-ton of munitions on foreigners.


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 12:30am

    OK, as long as you're cool with the fact that ours is bigger than yours.


    by acanuck on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 1:53pm

    Have you looked at the typical flag pin found on many a (conservative or liberal) politician's lapel? Dimensions are the least of our concerns. Those flags:

    • Have too few stars
    • Almost always have too few bars (stripes)
    • Almost always are made overseas

    by Nebton on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 2:17pm