How common is it to fly your country's flag, and how is it seen by others?
My ex from Norway mentioned how unusual it was that so many places and people here fly our flag (USA), so I was curious to hear what it's like for others here on the fediverse.
Canada here, not very common until you get close to Canada day or Armistice day. Recently though; there have been people flying it a lot and they mostly seem to be the conspiracy/queen of Canada types.
So yes, it is unusual. Perhaps it can be seen as a symptom of American nationalism, and all the pitfalls it represents.
My Grandpa almost got mugged in ...Spain I think, but the guys seen that he had a tim hortons mug and a Canadian flag sowed onto his bag, so they left him alone lol.
German here. No, we don't do that here.
(Exceptions: Football World Cup and weird dudes on camp sites or allotment gardens. Usually a sign to avoid the area.)
Interestingly, the fascists don't show the German flag, but the one from the Germany before the current one...
That's kind of sad. It's getting that way in Canada. Trudeau has called people every ism and ist when they are carrying a Canadian flag that people don't fly it very much.
In the UK it's very unusual unless it's football or royal related. The union flag, the Welsh flag and the Scottish flag are ok most of the time but the England flag is seen as being a bit racist.
When I went to Norway I counted the flags I saw. I forget the exact number but I saw maybe 6 in the week I was there. Come back to the US I saw at least 20 coming back from the airport.
Here in the Philippines, it's generally around only on government buildings and schools. Some establishments and residences may opt to fly the flag as well, but most of us just don't bother at all.
Generally the flag doesn't have any negative (or positive) connotations. Both the leftists and rightists see the flag equally.
Canada: VERY common and considered standard practice, we like to make fun of the Americans for being obsessed with their flag but overall we're just as bad. It's also flown by Nazis as often as the American flag is.
Some small towns have a flag on every electrical pole on their main street. It used to just be around Memorial Day and the 4th of July, but a lot of towns seem to be leaving them up year round.
A huge proportion of houses in US suburbs and rural areas have flags flying. If you have wealth or a big chunk of land, it's pretty certain you also have a flag flying or prominently displayed on your property. Less frequent on the porches of more modest homes.
Pickup trucks fly flags (sometimes multiple) attached to their beds. These trucks often also have punisher stickers, human skulls, or "thin blue line" flag stickers on them.
Most medium to large businesses have a flag pole on their campus.
I definitely see fewer flags in cities, but still see a lot of flag stickers on storefront windows, and flags in apartment bedroom windows.
Northern Germany here. The German flag is usually only flown at government or other public buildings or, as another commenter said, when there's a special occasion such as an international football match.
Something a bit more common up here seems to be flying the state flag (blue, white and red), which can be seen in private gardens or on some residential buildings.
Here in the UK flags are rare, I don't think there is a single one in the entire village. I think people here on the whole, are intelligent enough to realise rallying behind a picture printed in a piece of cloth doesn't really say or achieve much. It's more something the ruling class encourage to distract you from their meddling in/with your life.
That hits my personal view on the matter fairly well.
There's no sense in being proud about the piece of dirt that i fell out of my mother on.
Not saying your piece of dirt isn't good, or that the people on it havent achieved good things, but it wasn't an achievement to be born here.
Nothing my piece of dirt has done in the past reflects on who I am as a person and what I do with my life.
Austria: not often and I like that. Not a fan of nationalism, so the less visible this is in my life the better. I see flags IRL mainly on government functions and when right wingers parade around, maybe also near football matches, that‘s about it.
I‘d like to think the history with Nazis made it less popular, but the actual amount of far-right voters makes me think I might just live in a happy little bubble and I’d be shocked if I looked into people‘s cellars.
In Scotland, it tends to indicate your political beliefs. People flying the Union Jack are normally unionists and supporters of the monarchy, whereas people flying the Saltire (Scottish) flag are normally nationalists (pro-independence). It's therefore difficult to fly a flag 'neutrally' unless you were to fly both.
Not all common in South Africa (can't ever remember seeing it at any private residence). Mainly flies at government buildings, and we see it in some clothing designs. It would not mean anything really at a private residences, as we are already all South Africans so what would it really designate?
I'm from Spain, it's not uncommon unfortunately, but that's because the flag is appropriated by the right and far right and if you see someone with one you can be 90% sure of the type (homophobe, anti abortion, bullfighting supporter, climate change denier, etc etc)
The problem that the origin of our flag is dated in 1785 but because we were under the Dictatorship of Franco for 40 years, young people identifies the flag with that regimen (extreme right). But not everydody things that way 😏 🙄
I lived in MD for a few years. The flag is everywhere. You can always tell someone from MD, no matter where you are, because the flag is incorporated into their clothing. I've never seen anything like it from anywhere else.
I am from western MA, USA. Other than outside of government buildings, I can't recall when the last time I saw a flag was. Occasional flag bumper stickers are a thing, but actual, flying flags? Not really.
Literally every single overpass in MA has a flag on both sides. I think you're just so used to them being everywhere that you tune them out. My partner is from MA, but we live in Canada now. They had never noticed until I started pointing it out. Now when we're south of the border they realize how omnipresent they are.
CGP Grey made a YouTube video on proper US state flag design etiquette that I personally agree with. Spoiler alert, most states failed the test. https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU
I'm from Indiana and we're more likely to see our national flag instead of our state flag here, but Indiana isn't known for much anyway.
That's a great video, being from PA our flag is pretty bad but at least I never have to see it. I only ever see it if I go by the courthouse or Walmart for some reason.
Pretty funny that coming from a Norwegian because they still have the flag out many places in my opinion :)
It's actually one of the things that stuck out the most after I had moved there.
Especially at "hytter" (vacation cabins) I think the majority has a flag out.
Same for national day, you'll see a bunch of flags.
Compare that to Belgium, where I'm from. Even on national day it's a rare sight to see a flag.
And it's only very fanatic people that will actually wave it around on the street.
The moment you'll see most flags out is probably during the world cup.
Not really. Vacation cabins are for vacation with Norwegians not acting like Norwegians, i.e. socializing with neighbors and having the flag up indicating their precense. More often than not, the flag is used as a celebration of either a national holiday or the birthday of someone in the household. Cabin, hiking and boat culture are weird albeit common outliers of Norwegian culture.