The Union Flag (or Jack). How cool or admired is it in CH?

World Cup, 2006:

Neighbour: "What for a flag is that?"

Proud Englishman: "It's the English flag."

Neighbour: "No. This is not the English flag. Is it Serbia?"

Proud Englishman: "No, it's definitely the English flag."

Neighbour: "No. I will check." (disappears inside)

Neighbour (five minutes later): "No. This is not the English flag. The English flag is more blue."

Proud Englishman: "No, that's not the English flag, that's the Union Flag. This is the English flag."

Neighbour: "Well, it doesn't look like the English flag to me..."

A friend has a variant of this t-shirt. I love it, and he gets the strangest of looks

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Northern Irland,if your a expert ,you would call it Ulster

A good start for the sales pitch then... The Union Flag is nice, but far from exclusive these days (except maybe for a cheese stall ). I'd use some bigger flags for the stall and tooth-pick sized one for the cheeses..

Hmm... all this talk, I guess I need to go there again soon, yam!

But this was in 2006

Sore losers.

Signed,

A Lancashire Lad

Yes, I think it has a very positive image. I am 50 and I remember in the late 60s everything British was very cool.

The Beatles... MGs....Jaguars....The movie Blow Up...Twiggy...

Even British cars were extremely popular in Switzerland while they were not that common elsewhere in Europe (Emil Frey made a fortune importing those).

Go for it.

ps:The wedding of Prince Charles and Diana was the first time ever we had television in the morning (before that programs would start in the afternoon). It was a big deal even here.

Ulster is quite different to Northern Ireland, politically speaking.

Ulster (Irish: Ulaidh / Cúige Uladh) is one of the four provinces of Ireland , located in the north of the island.

Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone comprise Northern Ireland, while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.

History of fashion. Best A'level of all. Here we go:

The flag has been made fashionable by British designers emmerging in the 70ies and on a bigger skale in the 80ies : Alexander McQueen is a name to know.

It came also in the music world already with the Beatles. Deconnected from Beatles only and reconnected to coolness of music world is a phenomenon of the punk mouvement in the 80ies and the Britpop mouvement in the 90ies have kept alive. Fashion got inspired by it at diverse occasions, with or without connection to the music world (from Spice-girl dress to DocMarten's shoes).

It seems to me like a double mouvement: long wave, as it is always present and never disappears long from the high lights, and short wave, as it is used again and forgotten again related to specific events/persons/products at certain times.

As a continental, I can only say that I don't see the connection in the mind of continentals between the flag and the real country UK and the real people Brits. It is the flag of certain kinds of "cool factor", but not because of their britishness. The one link between all of that is the rebelious attitude of anticonformism, without any reflection nor cultural content connected to it.

Just my view of it, you are invited to desagree and enlighten me with your knowledge. I am keen on learning experiences.

Thanks ! the flag is the red hand of ulster? I have to have a good talk with my wife,i mean a other one

Jaguar ,had one here in Canada,first car ,second hand ,would not run VW did [](http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cEMRYjNQhTA/TRD0QsbwgDI/AAAAAAAAAQI/86RJOZIN-0w/s1600/twiggy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://tieupalittlegoat.blogspot.com/2010/11/twiggy.html&h=668&w=686&sz=132&tbnid=yieKmqwd53gK2M:&tbnh=135&tbnw=139&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTwiggy&zoom=1&q=Twiggy&hl=en&usg=__GonwEEwefJr_anePbbL9SIBoL5w=&sa=X&ei=OZOLTaWcI9SCtgfJzJj8DQ&ved=0CEQQ9QEwCA) her Uhhhhh schudder Diana howe come she always look into the ground? Hand me a warm beer please

British products were pretty good (and very stylish) in the 60s. It all fell apart in the 70s though. But the fact is that British stuff was very popular here and even more so than in the rest of Europe.

I ride a Triumph and it is great...

Ha, I was just about to suggest this

How about a union jack design but in different colours? a friend of mine paints these and I think they are pretty cool, I'd like one in my lounge

http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/se....y=0&search=go

It's a fashion trend/statement that's been around in clothes shops since last year.

For example:

See La Redoute

and bedlinen by La Redoute

and 3suisses.ch

and, as mentioned before, Globus' selection of Christmas ornaments last year.

Go with the flow, I say!

I am wondering if it is a good idea to change the colors or the style. In the US, some people are deeply offended when the colors, shape etc... of the American flag are altered. The flag has to be handled a certain way, lit at night or has to be removed etc... Maybe Europeans are less uptight about it.

Rules do exist but they generally seem to be ignored now.

The Union Flag is unusual in that the design is not symmetrical. It is sometimes seen upside down in error. This was originally considered as a distress signal.

I'm not an expert. But the country is called Northern Ireland, at least where I live now, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

I was thinking that also about the toothpick flags. But the eyecatcher, the thing that would say "British cheese" or simply "exotic! whee!" would be the Union flag.

The English flag is quite well known as it makes a side-show appearance at football championships every two years (Euro/WC). The others less so...

Good point, but it doesn't really hold immediate recognition, or at least I don't think it would...

[QUOTE=evilshell;1147271]I'm not an expert. But the country is called Northern Ireland, at least where I live now, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

My wife ,which is from Belfast City,County Antrim,Northern Ireland /Ulster,told me to groan you back .But I am a too nice off a guy to do that She also told me that some people would be offended call Ulster Northern Ireland