Difference between the French and the Dutch flags

[Rum_Pirate]

A very good sailor once told this to me as we sailed past two yacht, one French and one Dutch, on his yacht,

The Dutch were better sailors than the French, or at least their flag designers were.

How is that I asked.

Well if you look at both flags and think of both of them after they have aged quite a bit, the ends will become damaged due to flogging in the breeze. Despite this even if a third or more of the flag is gone you will still be able to recognise the Dutch flag, unlike the French one, because with a third or gone it will be a Blue and White one or just a blue one. .

 

[jimbaerselman]

Fascinated by the reversal of P & Q in your pretty picture!

 

[Magaz97]

I dont understand the flags above, why are they different, am I missing something strikingly obvious?

 

[sarabande]

that is a pic of historical Code Flags. I think he has not linked to the pic he intended.

 

[Victoria Sponge]

The way I tell the difference between the French and Dutch flags is that the Dutch are more laid back, thus so is their flag!

 

[Twister_Ken]

The way I tell the difference between the French and Dutch flags is that the Dutch are more laid back, thus so is their flag!

The stripes:
France - fertical
Holland - horizontal

 

[Victoria Sponge]

The stripes:
France - fertical
Holland - horizontal

Yes, I always think of the Dutch as being pretty horizontal. What is this fertical thing?

 

[fantasia7628]

A very good sailor once told this to me as we sailed past two yacht, one French and one Dutch, on his yacht,

The Dutch were better sailors than the French, or at least their flag designers were.

How is that I asked.

Well if you look at both flags and think of both of them after they have aged quite a bit, the ends will become damaged due to flogging in the breeze. Despite this even if a third or more of the flag is gone you will still be able to recognise the Dutch flag, unlike the French one, because with a third or gone it will be a Blue and White one or just a blue one. .

The pennants above are confusing, if not just wrong for modern usage. Are they from a historic RN source?

 

[sarabande]

#4 (sigh)

 

[richgiddens]

The Dutch do it lying down, the French standing up.
Childish, but works for me

 

[DJE]

The Dutch do it lying down, the French standing up.
Childish, but works for me

Similarly Germans and Belgians?

 

[BlackPig]

Similarly Germans and Belgians?

but wrong way around.

 

[Liz_I]

Holland is flat

 

[Leighb]

but wrong way around.

German is horizontal, Belgian vertical. Just what he said, or implied anyway.

I have an odd way of remembering. There is a dialect of German "Plat-Deutsch" this means low or flat german. Thus German flag is flat. Works for me.

We see so many Dutch flags here I don't have trouble remembering them.

 

[reginaldon]

My own mnemonic is Vive (vertical) La France and French speaking Belgium, whereas both Holland and Germany are horizontal.

 

[sailor211]

Would you be so disrespectful to your national flag / ensign, as to let it fall apart so only 1/3 of it was left? Shamefull

 

[snowleopard]

In a discussion about flags I explained to an American colleague 'France is to Holland as Belgium is to Germany'. For some reason I still haven't worked out she thought I was insulting our European neighbours.

 

[Seven Spades]

Here is the originating page it is quite interesting. The flags above seem to have been in use during WW2

Code Flags history here

 

[john_morris_uk]

I was always taught that the way to remember the French Flag is the French Colours always come down. (ie the stripes are vertical - and in memory of Trafalgar....)

 

[Hayling]

The Germans invaded the Netherlands (Both Horizontal)
and down through Belgium into France (Both Vertical)

Not strictly historically accurate but good enough for my purposes.