Posted by Alan J. Flavell on 01/18/06 20:31

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006, David Segall wrote:

> Icons are necessarily special cases. Jukka Korpela's article
> acknowledges the universal use of the Union Jack as an icon meaning
> English.

You misrepresent him. Widespread, yes - he says "most commonly used"
(as compared to other national flags, presumably), but "universal",
no.

My American colleague gets very upset about that, too, muttering dark
imprecations about delusions of colonial grandeur, Boston Tea Party
and such. Naturally, he'd use the stars and stripes to denote the
language. And there's more of them, and they tend to have an even
narrower view of international relations...

And English is not the only indigenous national language spoken (and
written) in the United Kingdom.

> It is a triumph of misplaced logic and ethnic/national sensitivity
> over communication.

If it amuses you to think so. Which language does the Indian flag
represent in your universe, by the way?

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