This is absolutely embarrassing. This makes Pennsylvania sound like land of the hicks.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312615,00.html

Pennsylvanians are having an identity crisis when it comes to their state flag: Hardly anyone in the state can identify it. Now state lawmakers are considering a proposal to remedy that by literally adding the word "Pennsylvania" to the flag.

I think a better idea would be to educate people. Why are they not teaching children in schools what the state flag looks like. Put this flag on things. Shove it in our faces. It is embarrassing to think we need legislation to help us identify our state flag.

As long as the folks in the state house know that they've flown the right flag, what does it matter? It's stuff like this that puts the flag burning nonsense on the table.

Just my two cents.

Given all the important things that people ought to be learning, recognition of state flags seems inane.

I'm more concerned that we still got people teaching our kids that pilgrims came here for religious freedom, that we don't teach them that Columbus was in charge of a genocide, that they learn basically nothing about the Vietnam war, that we still got people thinking Iraq attacked us on 911. State flags? Giant shrug of apathy here as well.

the state bird, state tree, state flower, etc.

I bet some state picked the Heath Hen or Passenger Pigeon as their state bird. Not up for the research though.

guess what? It STILL doesn't matter!

cartoon character?

President or, God forbid, both.

yes, SC wasted taxpayer money and almost 6 months of legislative time deciding that we should have a state dance and what it should be. Complete with demonstrations and lessons for legislators.

It's the 'shag', btw.

"The Shag" is the state dance? Sounds like my kind of place baby!

having your state dance be a euphemism for fornication is pretty damn funny. It is certainly clear who the state dunces are. I think every state should be required to have an official state ink blot, it would take them forever to decide on one and what it was, which would keep them from spending their time passing stupid laws.

Here's some old shipping company's flag

:D

Thanks to having the only swallowtail pennant-shaped flag, we rubes never have to worry about being unable to recognize it.

If I were Pennsylvania I'd really be worried. Putting the name on the flag might not solve the problem. What about the hicks who can't read?

Pretty hard to miss.

George Washington! Get it?

Sorry.

I'm from Virginia.

there...If you see them flying on all the government buildings, why would there be this problem..? It would seem kids would learn just by association...:shrug: Maybe if they gave all the school kids little replicas at say, 6th grade or so?

Pac Man for appropriating part of its flag? No peeking.

I think I was probably exposed to most of them when I had to learn state capitals long ago in school. But, as much as I am no expert on flags, I am even less of an expert on video games. I think I played Pac Man once many many years ago. So, unless you mean the little chomping figure resembling the C in the Colorado flag, you got me... :shrug:

Florida whose owner flew the state flags of all his guests while they were there. It was a great conversation starter around the pool. Sadly, the place was torn down and replaced with condos a few years ago. On the upside, that thoughtful owner is now a millionaire.

In the sixth grade we were required to learn all the countries on the planet and their capitals, places like "The Belgian Congo" and "French Equatorial Africa"-nothing like rote memorization for rote memorization's sake.

folks in the movies often fly it upside down. :eyes:

I swear the PA flag was on a Lego castle set one of my kids had years ago though....

They put Indiana on the flag, just to be sure they weren't Kentuckians!

:evilgrin:

:hide:

labled like kid's underwear at summer camp.

I've not seen any that have 'left leg' and 'right leg' on them!

:evilgrin:

that function.

and agreed. who fucking cares. of course our state flag really sucks.

The PA flag is BOR-ING. You can't identify it. It's dark blue with the state seal on it. I'd prefer something more recognizable, like the Liberty Bell.

Now Marylanders LOVE their flag. It's distinctive. We fly it everywhere.

Didn't know till now that we even had a PA flag.

Our song sucked....

... like Pencilvanya...

:rofl:

(Note: I lived in Philly for 5 years)

State flags aren't high on my list of "things people should know". In fact, it's not on the list at all, heh.

pride for a state, and that is a relatively good thing, citizens should be proud of where they live and respect where others live. Wasting time on whether or not to put the actual name on a flag is pretty stupid though.

Here's my reasoning:

1. You are in a state and the odds are, that another state is not going to fly it's flag over yours.

2. The flag is flying pretty high, you would need binoculars to read it.

3. You couldn't read it on a calm day or if the wind was shifting.

4. Every flag would have to be changed, at great cost, (taxpayers saddled once again).

5. Does anyone really care?

The last one makes the most sense to me. No one really cares about stuff like this, and when they see things like this coming out of their legislative bodies, they wonder why they voted for idiots, (that could be a good thing, they might vote them out in the next election!).

#4 is interesting as well. How many state flags would have to be replaced? One for each school, (add in schoolrooms if they are there; each municipal building; each post office; fire dept's; police dept's; all across PA. The private sector would have to purchase their own new flags, or most likely just decide not to fly one.

Symbols are often powerful things. They are often steeped in history and reveal a pride that people should get when they notice them. State lizards, fish, fowl and other things are fine...most people have nary the faintest of notions what their state insect is, if they even have one though.

This is all designed to relieve people from thinking about real problems though, and that is what is so confounding about all of this.

"This is all designed to relieve people from thinking about real problems though, and that is what is so confounding about all of this."

I have another take:

State flags, state birds, state songs, state flowers, etc. exist so kindergarteners will have material to learn until they can read. :) Every kid in Texas knows all this stuff and can recognize the Alamo before the end of the first semester. They make little books and color them. :)

of course, it is somewhat difficult to truly figure out the whole thing when it's surrounded by all kinds of relatively modern buildings, and getting through the hype before you actually enter, is somewhat daunting, but I had to admire those who fought there. I would have done a little better tactically, but Travis wasn't the shiniest hammer in the bag anyway.


I have always advocated the good w/the bad approach to history. People shouldn't be spoonfed "goodies" and not know of the "uglies". I was brought up in NYC, and for years, i heard about Washington being tossed off the Island at Brooklyn, but when I started to dig into the whole history, I learned that about 60% of the people in NYC were Tories, and supported the Crown. I found that somewhat disturbing, but it helped to explain a lot as I learned more. As for Washington, he lost almost every battle he was in command of, but his men did win the important ones, and in the end, that is what counted.

Just before the last election, I was at a Town hall meeting with some of the D bigwigs here in Nebraska, and I brought up the idea that we should have a "State Rodent", and I suggested Jeff Fortenberry(R) 1st District. For a while, I thought they might actually bring it up in Lincoln...:D

I can think of a few R rodents here in Texas who deserve the "honor."

:evilgrin:

:shrug: