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# we got black in the union jack
the mail would never approve.
yay!
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:04, archived)
# It's only a union jack if it's on a ship
otherwise it's a union flag. Racist twunts who sing that crap don't even know about their own flag.
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:07, archived)
# blah blah blah
/outdated pedantry
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:08, archived)
# Rose Tyler even says it
in Doctor Who FFS
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:09, archived)
# and this is a persuasive argument, why?
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:11, archived)
# Because Dr Who is real!
so there
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:12, archived)
# yup
the jack is the pole it's raised on!
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:09, archived)
# I have also seen that episode of Dr Who
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:09, archived)
# garrr
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:10, archived)
# There is no point in being pedantic about that,. as 9/10 people still call it the Union Jack.
Terminology: "Union Flag" or "Union Jack"?
The issue of whether it is acceptable to use the term "Union Jack" is one that causes considerable controversy. Although it is often asserted that "Union Jack" should only be used for the flag when it is flown as a jack (a small flag flown at the bow of a ship), it is not universally accepted that the "Jack" of "Union Jack" is a reference to such a jack flag; other explanations have been put forward [1]. The term possibly dates from the early 1700s, but its origin is uncertain. The word Jack may have come from the name of James VI, King of Scots who inherited the English crown, causing the flag to be designed, that is Jac from Jacobus, Latin for James. The size and power of the Royal Navy internationally at the time could also explain why the flag was nicknamed the "Union Jack" considering the navy was so widely utilised and renowned by the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries it is possible that the term "Jack" did occur due to its regular usage on all British ships using the "Jack Staff" (a flag pole attached to a ship on the bow). Even if the term "Union Jack" does derive from the jack flag (as perhaps seems most likely), after three centuries, it is now sanctioned by usage, has appeared in official usage, and remains the popular term. The BBC website disregards the term "union flag" because of its "great potential for confusion", preferring union jack (in lower case)[2] The term "Union Flag", on the other hand, is the term preferred in official documents by vexillologists. The Merchant Shipping Act 1995[3] refers to the national colours of the United Kingdom as "the Union flag (commonly known as the Union Jack)".

(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:15, archived)
# "Controversial"
Often another word for 'wrong'.

I'll go with the vexillologists on this one.
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:19, archived)
# either way it's not worth losing any sleep over.
Union Jack...Union Flag... everyone knows what it means.
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:22, archived)
# you could argue that for every pedantic argument ever!
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:30, archived)
# which does beg the question why do people love being pendants over things that really don't matter?
I mean, what's the point of kicking up a stink over stuff like this? Life is too short.
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:37, archived)
# I like that explanation.
It has Latin.
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:22, archived)
# pedantry denied
when the flag in question celebrated its birthday several experts denounced this urban myth. monsieur matazone you are indeed wrong
(, Thu 2 Nov 2006, 13:38, archived)