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Flag mnemonics

Last modified: 2004-09-18 by phil nelson
Keywords: mnemonic |
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I suppose you could use "God is Number One!" to help differentiate Hungary, old Iran, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Mali, and Guinea thus:

I used to remember the flags of Hungary and Iran by recalling that Hungary was Communist and therefore the Red stripe was on top, and that Iran was Islamic and therefore the Green stripe was on top (God is Number One!). Now Communism is kaput (for the most part) and Iran has additional symbolism on their flag.

Similarly, Mali and Guinea are the same except for the order of the vertical stripes. In the early 1960's Islamic influence caused the "Kanaga" or human figure to be removed from the flag of Mali. Mali's flag is Green/Yellow/Red (God is Number One!) whereas Guinea is Red/Yellow/Green (if Guinea is an Islamic state then my theory is kaput.)

Since there is a greater probability of finding Islamic populations in Ethiopia than in Bolivia, the superiority of the green stripe and "God is Number One!" works here as well. However, now that Ethiopia has added the blue disk with central star to their flag, it is further distinguished from the Bolivian tri-bar.

The Netherlands has always had the saying "oranje boven" meaning "orange on top." It's not too hard to remember that the orange is now red. A horizontally striped flag of Blue/White/Red is, of course, Yugoslavia. (by the way why do some manufacturers insist on showing the red star with yellow fimbriation in the center of the Yugoslav flag?)

Speaking of orange, the flag of Ireland (the "Emerald Isle") has the Green stripe first and the orange stripe last. Cote d'Ivorie is the reverse. If Cote d'Ivorie is Islamic, then "God is Number One!" fits here, too.

The Boy Scouts in the UK are taught, so I'm tol