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Comment by tcbawo | Hacker News Reader

Speaking of different flags, the state of Ohio is the only US state with a non-rectangular flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ohio Interestingly, it had no official flag until 1902.

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Local flags can be quite interesting. That Ohio flag is beautiful, but a somewhat different result can be observed in the flag of Brown County, Nebraska: https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ne-br.html

I really do love the swallowtail flag. It's instantly recognizable. Few other states have such well-known flags; Texas perhaps with the lone star and California with the bear.

Some other instantly recognizable flags include Alaska (Big Dipper, though it’s hard to see from far away), New Mexico (sun symbol), Arizona (sunrise), South Carolina (palm tree), Tennessee (weird circle with stars), DC (white with 2 red bars + 3 red stars, Washington’s coat of arms), Maryland (nightmare that it is), and Puerto Rico (blue triangle with a star, 5 red/white stripes).

You named all the best US state flags; it goes downhill pretty fast from there. Hawaii is okay (but what country are we in again?), and Maryland is an acquired taste. Anything with text is a bad idea, as it’s supposed to be seen from a long distance. California’s flag is recognizable without the text, which can’t be said of the other fifteen with text plus circles on a field azure. Dishonorable mention to the corporate logo that is the Colorado flag.

> Hawaii is okay (but what country are we in again?)

Hawaii, and if you're of a mood to disagree I suggest doing it quietly, and maybe just around the other haole.

Corporate logo?

Looked up the California one. I think it’s ugly, but when you compare with flags of states of the USA, the bar isn’t high.

Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_U.S._states_and_t..., it’s so bad that at least 8 states feel the need to write their name in large print on their flags (Arkansas, Wisconsin, Oregon, Iowa, California, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma; Illinois IMO is borderline large print), presumably because they fear people wouldn’t recognize it without that help.

Countless others have lots of unreadable details and small print. Wyoming, for example, would be nice if they removed that seal.

Delaware seems to have had a few flags in history that looked so similar that they wrote the date on it to make it easier to distinguish them.

For those wondering: “California Republic” comes from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Republic. AFAIK, no such republic exists today.

Also on writing the name on the flag, North Carolina has its initials.

Honestly I'm not sure why Arkansas's flag has its name on it; it would actually be recognizable without it. It looks like the initial proposal didn't have the name written: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Arkansas

I live on the DC/Maryland border and I love both state flags.

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