Talk:Flag of South Africa

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Contents

[edit] Point of view

This article still incorporates biased points of view. To wit:

1. Apartheid's abolition in 1994 did NOT "make it necessary" for the flag to change. The flag was changed because a majority of people wanted it changed, but the article should eliminate faulty cause/effect clauses.

2. While the previous regime was widely seen as racist, the flag per se isn't necessarily offensive or "racist." There's no "swastika" or "death to black people" slogans on it. I'll grant that the flag may have been "unrepresentative," but then that's why it was changed. Too much political correctness is covering up history.

Any explanation as to what the various elements represent? --Corvus13

  • I believe there is no official meaning for the colours, although there are some things the colours are popularly taken to stand for (e.g. green for the land, black for the black people, white for the europeans). -- SJK
    • I remember an interview on television where they asked the creator what the colours meant, and he simply said that there was no significance to them whatsoever. ZyXoas 09:11, 11 Nov 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Previous flag

If someone could create or find a public domain flag of the previous naional flag. adding it would be great. - fonzyvgrty

[edit] Union Jack

The union jack in the second flag on this page is upside-down. Was this an intentional part of the original flag, or just a mistake by whoever made the picture?

It's a deliberate part of the design. The miniature Union Jack is displayed as if the miniature Free State flag served as a flagpole. When the real flagpole is at the left of the entire flag, the effective flagpole used for the miniature Union Jack is to the right of the miniature Union Jack. This makes the miniature Union Jack look upside-down to the uninitiated. —AlanBarrett 15:55, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)
This was done to avoid giving the Union Flag of Britain more importance than the Vierkleur flags of the old Boer Republics.
The three flags in the middle were designed in such a way that no one flag seems more important than the other. The Union Jack, to the left (honour position) is upside down. The Free state flag in the middle is vertical, the Transvaal flag, furthest away from the pole, is the right way up.

[edit] Removing intro paragraphs

I removed a few paragraphs from the intro. While this seems like a big change, I carefully checked and these paragraphs were explained later in the article at roughly the same level of detail, perhaps a bit more. They were really just redundant — but I welcome any dissent. Deco 03:18, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Colour specifications

Does anyone know what system the "Textile colour" CKS codes refer to? None of the Category:Color space entries seems relevant, except Pantone which has a separate column. Also, does anyone have the missing Pantones for black and white? At a guess, "black c" and 'white c" :) Joestynes 09:34, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I agree it would be useful to have RGB equivalents. I don't think pantone PMS has a number for white or black... most people can just figure them out. :-P --jacobolus (t) 18:05, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Proper display of the flag - nothing special

IMHO most (if not all) of the Proper display of the flag section should be removed or moved elsewhere. AFAIK rules described there (Respect for the flag, Traditional rules for handling the flag, Correct display of the flag, Showing the flag with other country's flags, Showing the flag with non-national flags, Showing the flag indoors, Parades and ceremonies, Half mast, Disposal) are universally accepted for all flags of the world - and it's also nothing special that South Africa has a law to cannonize them. Other countries have similar laws; nothing special about SA flag here. Illustrations are cool, though. Perhaps they can be moved somewhere appropriate; some subarticle of the flag comes to mind.--romanm (talk) 14:44, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I did rather like reading in the Respect for the flag section that it is not permitted to wear the flag as underclothes - particularly as the flag's design so closely resembles a pair of Y-fronts. 62.25.106.209 16:23, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


Distress, not Surrender

"The flag should never be depicted, displayed or flown upside down. Flying a flag upside down is the traditional sign of surrender."

While I can't be 100% certain, I'm sure the tradition of flying or displaying a flag upside down is a sign of distress (for whatever the flag represents, be it nation state, etc), and isn't as specific as signifying surrender. This tradition AFAIK is held almost worldwide. (Although of course a state of surrender would be a reason for someone to fly it in distress.)--Myfanwy 21:52, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Questionable revert

For some reason, PZFUN decided not only to revert my removal of the intro paragraphs, with an explanation that I don't really buy, but also all my other changes, right down to paragraphing fixes and correction of wording. Is this some kind of personal revenge against me, or just laziness? No justification was provided at all. Deco 17:45, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I apologise for removing the content, but I was trying to quickly change the intro paragraphs at a public comptuer station. Not revenge at all. I disliked your removal of the introparagraphs, but I did not have the time to discuss it, especially since I made my changes at 3 am my local time. Páll 02:24, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Okay, sorry if I was aggressive. I fixed them, and tried to briefen the intro somewhat, since it is described in more detail later. I hope it's alright now. Deco 05:57, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Isoceles or Equilateral?

Maybe I'm seeing things, but the flag looks like it has an equilateral black triangle (all sides being of the same length), not isoceles. At least, it's more correct to call it equilateral. --Doctorcherokee 00:01, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Though it's deceptively close, it is in fact isoceles. The diagram here and some scratch-paper trig indicate that the black triangle has side lengths proportionate to 1:0.9:0.9, whereas an equilateral triangle would be 1:1:1. This is due to the fact that the flag is presented in the (typical) height:width ratio of 2:3. If for some reason it was presented in a (somewhat bizarre) ratio of approximately 2:3.464, the triangle would in fact be equilateral. dkitchin 20:24, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
To be precise, the ratio of the triangle's sides is 1\,\!:x\,\!:x\,\! where x = \sqrt{13}/4 ≈ 0.901 387 819. You can see the construction diagram here.
Urhixidur 03:22, 2005 Mar 26 (UTC)

[edit] vexillological symbol

Which vexillological symbol is correct for this flag? now we've got two of them listed.--jacobolus (t) 18:02, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Two flags unique?

"Thus, South Africa was the only country in the world to have two official national flags."

[edit] Prinsevlag / Princenvlag

The Afrikaans for Prince's Flag is Prinsevlag - Princenvlag is Dutch, and would not have been used in South Africa, certainly not after Afrikaans replaced Dutch as an official language.

Quiensabe 00:58 UTC Jul 1 2005

[edit] Old Flag

Isn't it illegal to fly the old flag, not just offensive? Joziboy 12:06, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] merge from List of South African flags

There is substantial overlap between the two articles, I propose a merge. Chris 18:50, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

  • Reject List of is part of a series which will hopefully include all countries. Astrotrain 09:18, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
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