Trying to solve more flag mysteries (submitted by you!)

[@kosmischesynth]

Regarding the ancient kingdoms of England, I can definitely say that Portsmouth is not generally considered to fall within the bounds of Mercia (though the historical boundaries were quite loose) - the western south coast is more associated with Wessex. Mercia is synonymous with the Midlands region, and still features in the names of government institutions there (e.g. West Mercia Police, or the Mercian Regiment of the British Army). So I'd guess the flag comes from an expatriate midlander living on the south coast.

[@yogsothoth7594]

Mercia did establish overlordship over the kingdom of wessex at one point but yeah

[@togerboy5396]

Funny, I’m in Tamworth right now. It was the capital of Mercia back in the day.

[@andrewtonks6222]

The map defines the board between Wessex and Mercia on the Thames

[@bittenhare4493]

On the map J.J. showed at 2:30, Portsmouth (on the south coast) is clearly in Wessex not Mercia, whose southern border is the river Thames.

[@stratisgeorgilis7703]

Not entirely true, it’s considered part of Mercia pre Alfred the great, then after it is still part of Mercia, but Mercia itself was under Wessex’s sphere of influence

[@b9446_]

The third icelandic flag on the Icelandic woman's uniform actually looks to contain a Punisher skull, which is also a symbol used by law enforcement, similar to the thin blue line flag, that originated in the United States. In fact, you can often find the thin blue line flag integrated with the punisher skull.

[@azore1184]

Thin blue line is fine but the punisher scull is kinda cringé

[@b9446_]

@@azore1184 I think both are a little funky looking, but yeah punisher skull is a cringe and weird symbol, not only that but super inappropriate. A skull as a symbol for law enforcement? Especially with all the political stuff going on recently, a skull is not at all appropriate.

[@joeykauhi7938]

I saw that too

[@TheAmericanPrometheus]

it seems they're just adopting that symbol because it looks cool.

[@ByzantineDarkwraith]

The Punisher Skull certainly qualifies as a hate symbol added on to the Vinland flag, as the ADL says is often done. (The Punisher Skull is popular with US white supremacists and people who support police brutality).

[@inwalters]

Still hoping Hollywood will produce "J.J. McCullough, Flag Detective" in which J.J. is called in when the royal standard is stolen and replaced by a mystery flag just before the Queen's visit to Vancouver. Just get Adam Driver to grow his hair longer and and a mustache and we're all set. [cameo of Michael Buble as Justin Trudeau]

[@mrturnip6641]

Ngl that sounds like a good idea, and the sequel would be someone replacing the Governor Generals flag with the flag of the British Ionian islands before she gives a speech, and JJ has to find the culprit

[@inwalters]

@@WildBill1989 Love this idea, but you need to be more specific when using acronyms. Did you mean the "Hostage Rescue Team" that saves those being held against their will or the "Hair Restoration Team" that forces certain people to use hair gel?

[@mrturnip6641]

Part four is JJ at the Italian embassy in Canada as the Italian flag has been switched to the Newfoundland republic flag. As it turns out, a group of Newfoundland separatists are doing it to force the government to separate Newfoundland. When he finds them, there is a shootout near a pub in gander, and the rcmp arrest the suspects

[@antoniotoronto4132]

Fvck Scott Pilgrim that would be my favorite movie of all time

[@canadafirstdog9051]

Canadafirst wants a NEW FLAG For Canada . anyone want to take a shot at designing Canada a proper flag

[@ghostofabulletproducciones5748]

JJ talking about Type O Negative out of nowhere was incredible

[@OysterBoyo]

TON were the best, miss you Peter

[@maple494]

Saw this comment before I watched the video and I thought he was gonna talk about blood types lol

[@Pa_blito]

dude, how much i miss peter

[@oscartheamazing6745]

I wouldn't listen to what the ADL calls a hate symbol, they have got to be the most stuck-up progressive organization ever. They classify so many thing as hate symbols, you probably have one in your own home.

[@statesminds]

Hell yess

[@jagproductions1118]

As a Brit I can confidently say (probably) that the ancient English kingdoms have very little influence today - maybe with the exception of giving people the idea of being a ‘northerner’, ‘southerner’ or someone from the midlands - which includes parts of Mercia but honestly it was probably the football team Keep up the videos and greetings from the uk!

[@TheBreadthatcausedLesMis]

I'd say out of all the ancient kingoms the closest to any modern relevance would probably be Northumbria. Simply because of the Northern independence Party using that flag for themselves.

[@speedypichu6833]

I know there was time called the Mercian supremacy, where Mercia was the largest kingdom, but it has little influence on the modern world, and it was pre-1066, so probably a football fan or from that city

[@alancrotty904]

I was assuming the same. I'm Irish so haven't had the same history curriculum as you but this is the first time I've heard of Mercia. Is it a topic that's covered in secondary school at all can you remember? I wonder do most people have a familiarity with it... Side note; I recently saw a flag I didn't recognise in the wild, so I took a pic and asked the vexillology community on reddit. Turns out it was the Knights Templar flag according to most redditors but everyone from Brazil said it was the flag of a local football team, so perhaps the reverse of this scenario lol

[@bobhart677]

When J.J. mentioned Mercia, I was aware that at one time it was the largest kingdom on the island. But only because I am a fan of the TV show Vikings.

[@Croz89]

The most I hear about these kingdoms comes from the tiny minority of "federalists" in the UK, various groups who advocate for a "devolution from England" much like Wales, Scotland and N.I. have devolution from the UK, on the basis that the current system greatly advantages or disadvantages England, depending on your perspective. I assume in choosing names for these English "states", most tend to go for historical names for the regions, much like Germany has since that seems to be the model most adapt federalist ideas from.

[@celebalert5616]

That map was from the period of the Mercian supremacy and encompasses territory a lot wider than traditionally associated with Mercia which usually would be nowhere near Portsmouth, I honestly thing the St. Albans flag is more likely

[@JJMcCullough]

Maybe he was a Mercia supremacist

[@chegayvara1136]

@@JJMcCullough yeah when you said mercia included portsmouth i had a conniption fit

[@Saruman38]

I think J.J. misread the map, according to it Portsmouth would be located in Wessex, not Mercia, which is further north.

[@ByzantineDarkwraith]

@@JJMcCullough I'm so confused, doesn't the map show Portsmouth would be in Wessex ??

[@JJMcCullough]

@@ByzantineDarkwraith what’s a Wessex

[@jcrosenkreuz5213]

The "Colonialist" current flag of Hawaii was not forced upon them, King Kamehameha I was presented with a Jack Flag by James Cook, liked it, and wanted something similar, IIRC.

[@retronymph]

They never even were officially a British colony. Kamehameha was a fan of the British and they were friends, but they were a completely independent nation up until they became a US state.

[@Domhnall1989]

History isn’t important to far left revisionist racists

[@surprisedchar2458]

Yeah, the king just thought it was neat and told his flag guys to put it on theirs. Because of the trading relationship with the US before annexation, they included the stripe pattern of the US flag for similar reasons.

[@arjay4397]

@@Domhnall1989 nice joke

[@Saad-A16]

@@Domhnall1989 You are aware that JJ is a very staunch conservative, right?

[@sebastiantodd635]

I'm so focused on the fact JJ called Type O Negative "death thrashing metal" that I didn't even comprehend the rest of the video

[@Johnny.Picklez]

Nice Wu Tang pfp.

[@TheRealWilliamWhite]

They have definite thrash influence but not really death metal.

[@hunter458]

True, but the chances of him knowing they were a Gothic Doom band were so low that I had to give him a pass. Hell, I’ve seen seasoned metalheads who weren’t sure what to call them.

[@killerbug05]

You get used to it eventually, a lot of people don't even consider other genres of metal exist beyond metal heavy metal and death metal 😭😭😭😭

[@SocieteRoyale]

RE: the Mercian flag, I have a mate who lives in Dorset and flies the flag of the ancient Kingdom of Wessex, I think it's simply a sort of new regionalism that has developed recently separate from the generic sense of "Englishness" as people get more and more fragmented

[@Marylandbrony]

3:47 What a lost opportunity to put the Estonian flag their.

[@michaeldavis9190]

Blue is on the top, though. While the color pallet is right, the blue would not be in the middle

[@nickhawkes4508]

As a Manx person I felt both a sense of euphoria when JJ mentioned the Isle of Man and rage when it was described as a ‘non-country’. It’s the crown dependency life I guess…

[@dantaylor9665]

Noustalgia for the old English kingdoms isn't a common thing at all. There's an incredibly fringe Northern Independence Party, if they got their way they'd create a new nation of Northumbria, like the old kingdom, but I think that's rather just because they couldn't call a nation "The North". There's an earl of Wessex, which is a recently made up title based on the old kingdom that doesn't seem to mean anything, as no-one refers to what was the Kingdom of Wessex as Wessex anymore. A handful of the old kingdoms are now just single counties, or ceremonial counties, so if you display those flags you're simultaneously flying the flag of your home county and the old kingdom. I'm from Sussex, which is just a ceremonial county as administratively it's divided into three counties (each with their own flags), I have up the one that represents the whole county, and the old kingdom.

[@jacobseager4897]

I’d say the only exception there is Cornwall, we still have a large Cornish identity

[@dantaylor9665]

@@jacobseager4897 True, I rather neglected that as it isn't one of the Anglo Saxon heptarchy. Kinda a special case.

[@thomaswarriner2344]

I recognized St Alban's cross immediately! Going to 'Alban Academy' middle school, I had the symbolism very much drilled into me. On that authority I declare that it's pronounced Awl-bn.

[@geznicks]

Is that the one in great baaarford? Another Bedford boy out ere

[@jmasters7515]

I never thought I’d see the flag of my tiny English “city” (only counts as a city because by the English rules all settlements with a cathedral count as a city) on JJs channel

[@katashworth41]

That’s not strictly true, Blackburn has a cathedral and isn’t a city.

[@boass]

A “City” in the United Kingdom is… very strangely, something the Queen/King has to hand out… Once the title of city is given to a place it remains a city… You can look it up, I’m not kidding in the slightest.

[@jmasters7515]

@@boass maybe, I guess nowerdays it’s the Prime Minister who actually decides though

[@dwaynepeters4520]

The Hawaii state flag was also the flag of the historical Kingdom of Hawaii, before it was annexed by the US. So the Union Jack and the stripes are not actually colonial influences; they're the result of the Kingdom of Hawaii's tight relations with Britain and the US.

[@thecampverdekid806]

the tight relations between the hawaiian monarchy and these states, not the Hawaiian people.

[@shrimpflea]

@@thecampverdekid806 They should do someting about it instead of just complaining.

[@Heyitsann]

I've been waiting for another one of these flag mysteries forever now, I'm so happy it's back!!

[@DTChapman1]

Can I just say in regards to the current Hawaiian flag, speaking as a Brit, we didn't put the Union Jack there. Hawaii was never a part of the Empire. They just liked the design.

[@Revolution1975]

There was a brief episode called the "Paulet affair" where this was attempted. IIRC it was not authorized by the Crown.

[@tomtomtrent]

It’s kind of an interesting case on what represents Native Hawaiian culture more. The current flag was one that was actually designed by the Hawaiian king, so should you use that to honor him? Or does it represent Hawaii falling under European influence and the beginning of the decline of Hawaiian culture?

[@JonahNelson7]

I think it was more out of respecting the UK not just liking the design

[@zjzr08]

@@tomtomtrent It seems more like an anti-monarchist flag to me on that context and maybe now anti-Western sentiment and a push for a more Polynesian-focused culture.

[@boomshanka8743]

The last queen of Hawaii (shortly before it was annexed by some businessmen from the USA) reached out to Queen Victoria to become part of the British empire. She was under house arrest at the time, and I guess she saw the brits as the lesser of two evils. The brits weren't interested, and the rest is history.

[@corruptedcola393]

I live in St, Albans and it's amazing to me that the city's flag ended up on here. The city was originally a roman settlement until it was sacked by the Iceni Queen Boudica. The ruins of the fort walls can be seen to this day; however, most of it was torn down to construct a cathedral around a millennia ago.

[@mahatmarandy5977]

The American flag in black and white started out as a military thing. It is referred to as a "subdued" coloring, which simply means that it is dark and monochromatic rather than red white and blue. The reason is that bright colors make an easy target in a combat situation, so you don't want to go running off into combat with a bunch of primary colors potentially drawing the eye of a well armed enemy. At the same time you were sort of expected to wear the national symbol, so this was the compromise. I think originally it was used Night mission special ops types, with a different subdued design (green and dark khaki) later used by some other teams during the day. Other countries eventually copied this, and now yeah there's a whole bunch of them for different countries all over the world, with no particular significance to most of them. I would assume that this one has IS on it because it is monochromatic and the Norwegian,Sweedish, Finnish, and Icelandic flags are identical, except for coloring.

[@JJMcCullough]

I saw a similar German one that was three Monochrome stripes with a big DE in the middle

[@switchplayer1016]

3:47 So should we find some way of incorporating the thin blue line naturally into the flag? Nah lets just slap a blue line across the middle despite how ugly it looks.

[@EliF-ge5bu]

It’s not ugly at all. I kinda like it.

[@TheSpectacleIsCapital]

The middle beam not being the blue line annoys me to no end

[@samhansen9771]

@@TheSpectacleIsCapital I guess it's to emphasize it's thin

[@SRQmoviemaker]

You'd think they'd take a Scott the woz approach [blue borders around the flag]

[@MrWackoVIII]

As a half-Niuean who watches this channel religiously I have to say this felt like a special shout out! I honestly am not used to seeing any depictions of Niue even about its admittedly weird flag

[@hsmk-zd9hv]

The Icelandic flag part reminds me of how one of the redesigns of Germany’s flag after WW2 became a Nazi symbol because of its status as an uncommon alternate flag of Germany

[@2wodrqwoa]

Cross flag?

[@elvish-visionary6828]

@@2wodrqwoa he is talking about the Wirmer flag

[@symon4510]

It was literally an anti Nazi flag lol

[@surprisedchar2458]

@@xunqianbaidu6917 probably because people who didn’t recognize it handed it to them. Because people are usually morons.

[@budgetlifter]

i mean it looks cool but why would germany have a nordic cross flag i wouldn't consider Germany Nordic except for maybe the northern most edges

[@ChessedGamon]

One of these days I'm going to make my own flag and put it in random places in the hopes it drives this community crazy.

[@nathanielcrawley1]

Hey JJ as a native Hawaiian I actually prefer the current state flag which has been the official flag since the days of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The flag is called in hawaiian Ka Hae Hawaii. Although it appears to evoke a British past Hawaii has never been part of the British Empire. Although it can be argued that it was very briefly a protectorate(look up the paulet affair). The Hawaiian monarchy also enjoyed very good relations with the British crown one heir to the Hawaiian crown the son of Queen Emma was named as a godson to Queen Victoria, and given the name Albert. It is not known exactly why the union jack was used in the flag. It was reasoned by historians that Kamehameha 1 liked the flag of the east India company ships and incorporated into his flag. The stripes represent the 8 major islands in the chain Hawaiian Archipelago. It's my personal opinion that this flag represents the Hawaiian people better than a flag which was created in the 2000s and incorporated colors associated with the reggae movement which is popular in the islands and in my view appropriates Hawaiian symbols such as the kahili and the paddle. The flag itself claims to be the "true" Hawaiian flag which was destroyed by the British in the paulet affair however that claim is highly dubious and lacks evidence. I'm not an Anglophile by any standard and I also agree that the union jack needs to be removed and replaced with something that represents the Hawaiian people and nation as a whole and not just represent a single aspect of the sovereignty movement.

[@StoneMTNboy2009]

JJ's moustache deserves it's own flag

[@johnransom1146]

Quirky smile with the killer stache

[@PixelWolv]

I know this has been said before, but i just want to tell you how appreciative we are of you JJ! I love how EVERY person who sends you something, or is part of a discussion you make a video about, etc, they are all your "friends" and not just "fans". Truly makes it feel like a community here. :)

[@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN]

Side note about the "Vinland" flag and Type O Negative. It first appeared on Type O Negative's 1996 album "October Rust", with the message "Product of Vinland" underneath the flag. It would appear on every studio album after, from 1999's "World Coming Down", 2003's "Life Is Killing Me" and their final 2007's "Dead Again". The band would also come up with a fictional history of the country of "Vinland" with October Rust containing a track titled "The Glorious Liberation of the People's Technocratic Republic of Vinnland by the Combined Forces of the United Territories of Europa". And in 2005 during the Roadrunner United project Peter Steele would create a fictional language called Vinnlandish, and would sing the song "Enemy of the State" in this fictitious language.

[@BradyPostma]

Nuie's capital is Alofi, and Guadeloupe's capital is Basse-Terre. St. Kitts and Nevis's capital is also Basseterre, but without the hyphen. Different city, same name. I've been learning capitals lately.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

I believe Niue is also known from minting interesting ceremonial coins, they put Pokémon on them once.

[@TurtleMarcus]

Like many tiny islands, Niue issues a lot of coins and stamps and sell them to collectors. For some islands, this is even an important source of revenue. Although Niue coins and stamps are actually minted and printed in New Zealand.

[@theobuniel9643]

Yeah, that’s how I knew about Niue in the first place.

[@Chrnan6710]

3:50 What a great way to distill a nuanced conflict into a one-way shallow jab. Nice.

[@BinglesP]

Love watching these so much. JJ really does a good job with classifying and explaining the meanings of these flags!

[@dode3614]

Fun fact: dark mode flags aren’t just for looking cool, it’s so a cop or soldier can display their flag without the bright colors standing out and giving them away to a potential enemy

[@r.ndomperson]

what happens with Iceland and Norway, or Denmark, Sweden and Finland?

[@dode3614]

@@r.ndomperson Well hopefully those nations don’t go to war

[@romulusnuma116]

​@Random Person they would probably have letters to identify themselves

[@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva]

The official Hawaiian flag is, despite superficialities, the opposite of a colonial flag for Hawaii. It was based on a flag given to King Kamehameha by a British admiral who was helping the then independent Hawaii organize its navy along modern standards (for the time).

[@FimiliarGalaxy9]

Interesting enough.. King Kamehameha’s fleet possessed two former American schooners, one of which was his flagship “the Fair American”

[@ChrisTheFreedomEnjoyer]

4:00 Let's be real, the Anti-Defamation League lost all credibility after they declared Pepe the Frog to be a hate symbol.

[@afgone]

Wasn't it the ADL that also bought 4chan's trolling about the "ok" symbol being "hate speech?" The ADL has become a joke.

[@modmaker7617]

That's sounds like declaring the Sonic the Hedgehog fictional media franchise as pornography not suitable for kids.

[@Seth9809]

@@afgone Yeah, but there are a lot of pictures of far right people doing the "okay symbol". It's inception. It was a joke, that people co-oped, so they could claim deniability. "Oh, I'm not a far right guy, I'm just doing the funny joke".

[@Croz89]

Sounds like they're turning into the PETA of hate speech (though I believe the two aren't on speaking terms since the latter likes to equate livestock farming to the holocaust).

[@johnchessant3012]

Sizes of legislatures might be an interesting topic for its own video! Here in the US we have only 435 House members for 330 million people; meanwhile the state of New Hampshire has 400 state House members for 1.3 million people.

[@alphabettical1]

400! I have so many curiosities to google now.

[@Psyk60]

The US has 435 House members for 330 million people, while the UK has 650 MPs for about 70 million people. And we also have the House of Lords with 800+ members. But maybe that's not too relevant as the House of Lords isn't elected and has limited power.

[@firmi_2119]

Chinese Parliament (even if it's just a rubber-stamp thing): *Pathetic*

[@thehounddogger8396]

It’s always a good day when another JJ flag video is published.

[@SJBreland]

You skipped talking about the Punisher skull on the Icelandic flag, that it self can lend itself to interpretation of context.

[@josharcher7073]

Fun fact about the Hawaii state flag, Hawaii was never actually a British colony, the king at the time just thought the Union Jack looked cool and just kinda slapped it on there. Hawaii was though once invaded by a rogue British naval commander, which almost started a war between Britain and the US.

[@JJMcCullough]

Sounds like a pretty thoughtlessly designed flag

[@josharcher7073]

@@JJMcCullough apparently he once received a Union Jack as a gift from a British trader and liked it so much he used it as his royal standard.

[@neallong2480]

Thank you so much for your videos. I love them so much! Everyday I hear KZbinrs say that they are going crazy from all the awful posts, that’s not something that should be happening. We who are watching videos need to show support and good vibes (and occasionally constructive feedback, but with kindness!). Hope you have a great day. And know I’m a subscriber for life.

[@JJMcCullough]

Well not ANY

[@neallong2480]

@@JJMcCullough sorry 😞 I don’t understand

[@djatawesome2572]

Vinland is what the Norse explorers who likely discovered North America for Europe called the Fertile lands of Northern Canada. And the Vinland flag is supposed to represent Paganism and Earthly connectedness.

[@FairyCRat]

It's really weird that Guadeloupe doesn't have an official flag of its own. As far as I know, our mainland French regions do have their flags officially recognized (although some, like my region of Occitania, are butchered bureaucratic versions of the original flag).

[@ignemuton5500]

i suspect this goes back to french colonial flag policy where almost all french colonies never had official flags that weren't the tricolour, french colonial policy was after all heavily involved in bringing french ideals and trying to turn those colonies into just another part of france, so this is probably a part of it.

[@gamermapper]

The fact that Occitania have been given so little territory is so horrible. The real Occitania is all of the homeland of the Occitan people where people speak Occitan. All of Southern France, except for Basque Country and Catalonia is Occitania.

[@ignemuton5500]

It is very sad, because french policy seems to have not shifted away from trying to erase non french cultures, like grand est for example whose entire german heritage has been almost destroyed.

[@FairyCRat]

@@ignemuton5500 Yes, the post-revolutionary jacobinist policies are one of the most extreme cases of forced assimilation. And I hate to see that our overseas regions are still being neglected, even though they're technically integral parts of our country and not colonies. At least they have the right to vote, unlike US territories.

[@ignemuton5500]

@@FairyCRat it's very frustrating to see indeed, Guyane for example has been reduced to the level where it could theoretically never be self sufficient, it will always have to rely on the central government which is probably why their independence movement hasn't really caught on as much.

[@lighbuldchannel8131]

6:43 i felt so exited when i instantly recognized the indigenous flag, i remember doing an activity about it in class long ago

[@EspiritualidadCiencia]

I'm genuinely more impressed by your Google skills than by your knowledge of flags 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼

[@ceciliaalfaro3998]

10:46 bro rizzed up the Guadeloupe Islands 🇬🇵

[@creativeflagger2371]

Love your flag videos JJ. Cool to see people promote vexillology and make people be interested about flags! 💪💪💪 P.S.: Guessed all of them correctly 💁🏼‍♂️.

[@meilaoshi9439]

Fun Fact! The current state flag of Hawaii used to be the flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and was designed by King Kamehameha! The Union Jack canton wasn’t because they were colonized, but as a gesture of friendship to the British! Unfortunately, they did end up getting colonized… by the US…

[@noahguerra8847]

the return of my favorite JJ series is here boys

[@Hoheinohonryo]

Yep it my favourite too

[@emizerri]

One of my favourite videos from you J.J! Thanks!

[@michaeldavis9190]

I am a Pacific island enthusiast, even hoping to move to American Samoa. I actually run a Pacific island culture appreciation server on Discord. I am proud to say, I actually recognized the flag of Niue. Sadly, I did not recognize the Hawaiian flag.

[@adanactnomew7085]

E te iloa tautala fa'aSamoa?

[@michaeldavis9190]

@@adanactnomew7085 Fa'amagalo mai fa'amolemole. I am Palagi. I do not speak Samoan, at least not yet, but I am studying the language on Sa'olelei...

[@michaeldavis9190]

@@adanactnomew7085 By the way, may I ask what that said? All I recognize is "fa'aSamoa" which I understand to mean "the way of Samoa" or "in the manner of Samoa"

[@adanactnomew7085]

@@michaeldavis9190 it means Do you speak Samoan. Fa'aSamoa means the language too. Same rules as in English (demonym can mean the language)

[@michaeldavis9190]

@@adanactnomew7085 Ah, thank you. No, I don't speak it, and I'm learning very slowly. Work and life get in the way of my ability to study. If you do not mind me asking, are you either Samoan or American Samoan?

[@criminal_real]

I was for some really really excited to see the Niue flag lol

[@xtrateej]

(Brit here) Mercia was the kingdom ruled over by King Arthur and the location of his famous round table, so perhaps the St Albans flag belongs to a history/folklore buff?

[@billytompkins6694]

King Arthur was mythical, but if we pretend his story was real he is usually referred to as a celtic man fighting off the anglo saxon invasions of England. Mercia was an anglo saxon nation so 100% not true

[@Seth9809]

@@billytompkins6694 Wasn't Mercia one of the last Anglo kingdoms to fall, hence the fact that it's not named like the others?

[@ericwiddison7523]

Mercia is mentioned by Arthur in the Monty Python film, which I'm sure is a peer reviewed piece of scholarly excellence. Actually, I went to a great talk at a university about the film. It has a lot of historical details that it either got right or deliberately modified for comedic effect. However the emphasis was on literary history and political philosophy, not political history.

[@billytompkins6694]

Well if Monty Phyton mentioned him he must be true 😁 Ive not seen many phytons. Life Of Brian and the Holy Grail I think

[@lw3705]

8:20 Gladstone only went there so he could finish a book he was writing about Homer. He was obsessed with the ancient Greeks.

[@PokéDude83]

Love ya JJ MUCH respect brother! Keep that smile brother it’s priceless! Edit: Niue is a BEAUTIFUL island!

[@jeremysanchez5545]

Please someone should help here...I lost $30,000 on live trade ,I thought I've trade is the same as demo trade, because I was winning with demo account account, please this is quite frustrating, what should I do?

[@PokéDude83]

@@jeremysanchez5545 don’t have a clue what you’re talking about mate!

[@wallywallendo]

@@jeremysanchez5545 idk

[@meh23p]

2:31 You’ve got that wrong. Wessex and Mercia are two separate entities on that map. You see they share a border in the west near Bristol. The rest of the border tracks what I assume is the entirety of the river Thames, so it’s not clearly marked. 3:10 the Vinland flag on her uniform looks gray. 3:58 it looks green but then immediately gray again.

[@snan9402]

I find it interesting that even thogh the Guadeloupe flag is unnoficial you can still type it as an emoji 🇬🇵

[@incognito_.]

500k subs. Congrats man

[@vathek5958]

From St. Albans here; I was excited to see the St. Albans cross (long ‘a’ in Alban, btw) and am horribly offended that it has been besmirched as less likely to be flown in Portsmouth than the Mercian flag, not least because Portsmouth isn’t in Mercia. As the map shown in the video clearly shows, modern day Portsmouth is in the ancient kingdom of Wessex.

[@In_Our_Timeline]

love your flags videos J.J.

[@EliF-ge5bu]

10:24 JJ just butchered the word archipelago. Again.

[@Loguer]

Arkipehlago(w)

[@anugrahdinesan2297]

One of my favorite series :)

[@jrko0]

Fun fact: Mercia was one of the "angle" kingdoms and not one if the saxon kingdoms

[@darkraven5106]

Fun fact, the Hawaiian state flag is basically a redesign of the flag for the Kingdom of Hawaii. From what I understand, the flag was designed when Hawaii's first King, Kamehameha 1, sent a trip to China under Alexander Adams, a scot who served as Hawaii's Commander of the Navy (though as far as I know there is no proof it was yet made, only that Adams gave his ship an ensign to use at port). The Flag is meant to have the colors and th Union Jack because at that time, the US, UK, France, and Russia where the other states that usually docked at the harbor in Honolulu. Oddly enough for being as you sawy "Agressively Colonial Design" it was originally never used to express Hawaii as a colony, and only could arguably play that role once the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown by mostly American Businessmen to be annexed into the US.

[@JJMcCullough]

Well from what I understand the flag was designed with the goal of appeasing the leading imperial powers of the 19th century because the kingdom feared them.

[@darkraven5106]

@@JJMcCullough To an extent that is true. The whole reason Kamehameha went through the trouble of unifying the HawaiianIslands into one Kingdom is so they would be strong enough to defend against the Imperial powers. But I wouldn't say it was competently out of fear. After all these powers were the same ones Hawaii was mostly trading with, so appeasing them for trade benefits would not be out of the question, especially since trade allowed him access to the firearms and western vessels he used to unite Hawaii. But Kamehameha was also not to afraid to defy western powers. When the Russian Governor of Alaska set up a fort in Hawaii, he sent troops to force them out peacefully, taking the fort over. He also kept a strict watch on foreigners to prevent them from basically taking over the islands (something which unfortunately his ancestors failed to do) However Kamehameha also liked some foreigners. As stated they brought valuable trade to the islands, but he also brought foreign advisors into his court and military, as seen with his navy being led by a shot. He also had a respect for King George III, and exchanged gifts with him. So fear isn't probably the best or only word to use. The flag had some appeasement for trade reasons and was obviously effected by the importance of flags in the age of western dominance, something I believe you discussed before, but fear played likely more of a role in unifying the Kingdom then the creation of its flag. Then again my history on Hawaii is admitted limit, and there are probably other people who understand the situation better. So admittedly I could be completely wrong about this.

[@markhill3285]

It looks like the Vineland flag on the cop has the punisher skull which I've seen cops also use with the thin blue line

[@JJMcCullough]

Is Punisher considered a good guy?

[@markhill3285]

@@JJMcCullough in the comics he's a sort of anti hero vigilante who takes the law into his own hands usually pretty violently, a lot of people who don't like the thin blue line also don't like police using someone like the punisher as a symbol, including the original creator of punisher I hear

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

I believe the association of the Punisher with "law-and-order" right-wing vigilante types comes from "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, who used it as a symbol since he liked it and the Punisher was also a sniper.

[@markhill3285]

@@TheAlexSchmidt I think so, it became popular in the military, and a lot of ex military guys become cops so it took off with them next

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

@@markhill3285 Yeah here's a video on it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2rSZ3V-qZx6pdE

[@LeJunny]

I don’t always click on your videos when they’re on my feed, but when I do… I start binging your channel

[@lensy6]

The modern hawaiian flag isnt colonial, the king of hawaii literally chose it just because he liked the look of the union jack

[@brokenland5154]

As well as wanting strong ties to the British empire for protection and strengthening their navy.

[@ShadowRavenscraft]

Always good value, J.J. Exactly the kind of content I needed today!

[@ludogibson7067]

I’m from England (it’s 1:30 here at the moment) and I believe the mystery Portsmouth flag is more likely to be a poorly photographed Scottish flag (it is not unimaginable that a patriotic Scot living in England might fly the saltire) rather than the flag of mercia, simply because I am a history buff but barely know anything about Mercia in spite of that. Furthermore flags didn’t really exist in ancient kingdoms so the Mercia flag is probably pseudo-history anyway

[@LucasBenderChannel]

Sweet color grading! 🤗

[@lawden210]

Can we about JJ's pronunciation of "archipelago"

[@saintwumples4403]

Nice video, you have a talent for finding these flagsteries

[@theonefromenceladus]

If J.J. McCullough's channel had a flag, what would it be?

[@kunalns]

On a field of yellow, a red gym ball with the motto, "Hello Friends!"

[@danchalkley1991again]

Shout out to St Albans - we used to be called Verulamium and were the third biggest town in Roman England

[@knuckl6972]

Fun Fact: The study and principles of flags is called Vexillology

[@no1fanofthepals]

I think if someone is watching this channel, they would probably know

[@shubhamkaushik5906]

JJ knows this, he doesn't like the word I guess

[@JJMcCullough]

It's called Flagspertese

[@gamermapper]

Putting the lol in vexillology

[@knuckl6972]

@@JJMcCullough yeah, I guess you're right

[@Liam-cp8eq]

mercia is associated with the midlands, an area often ignored when people talk about the british north-south divide

[@jonhanson8925]

The Hawaiian flag is interesting because while Hawaii was colonized and the Union Jack is almost always a symbol of a state's colonial past, in this case Hawaii was never colonized by the UK and it's flag predates the overthrow of Hawaii's indigenous kingdom.

[@JJMcCullough]

My hot take is that the Hawaiian flag isn't very good. It requires too much explaining, and its symbolism is very dated.

[@Kaizoku_Zoro]

@@JJMcCullough I agree and as a US State it feels intentionally Unamerican like the flag of Georgia or Alabama.

[@jonhanson8925]

@@JJMcCullough Fair points. However, I personally think it's one of the more attractive state flags and what it lacks in meaningful symbolism, it makes up with history.

[@gamermapper]

@@Kaizoku_Zoro well it makes sense. Hawaii isn't in America, it's in the Pacific.

[@Kaizoku_Zoro]

@@gamermapper yes but something from the US or is part of the US is called American

[@kroxzul]

So I looked into what you said about the Hawaiian flag. It turns out the King of Hawaii, Kamehameha had a British flag that he flew. However, the war of 1812 ended up in some miscommunication because Hawaii was neutral. So Kamehameha made an amalgamation of the two flags.

[@LukeCarvillDesign]

Speaking as a "Mercian", "Mercia" is sometimes used as a geographic description for the English midlands, rarely though, there are plenty of business that reference the name "Merica" and there's a Mercian Regiment in the British Army, but it's not so commonly used that any English person (or indeed any English midlander) will know what Mercia was. Portsmouth wasn't really in Mercia though, it was only briefly so during the "Mercian Supremacy" period where it held the southern Kingdom of Wessex, this time is what that map illustrates. In general Mercia spread from London to Manchester, so was a very large kingdom but didn't hold nearly all of England as that map implies. So, the person flying that flag in the picture is likely a history buff originally from the midlands.

[@arpdadawg1536]

mercia 😎

[@quidam_surprise]

I think that you meant... « that will reference the name *'Mercia'* ».

[@eskil8775]

Iceland black flag with IS is their flag but in military colours. Usual military uniforms use in other Nordic countries 3 different variants of flags. 1. Real colours for barracks, training or parade. 2. Black and grey. For urban warfare or swat missions. 3. Green camo colours for forest. Police usually use those 1 and 2.

[@eskil8775]

+peacekeeper force sometimes uses yellow sand camo colours.

[@Kelly_C]

3:01 ah don't you just love it when the *law* enforcement self-identify with a hyper-violent extrajudicial vigilante whose entire purpose is to critique the criminal justice system

[@teewecknativ8980]

Forget Batman, JJ Is The Best Detective In The World

[@chadborisiii1591]

Mercia was as you stated, one of the 7 kingdoms of Anglo Saxon England. It's geographic area roughly corresponds with what would today be considered "The Midlands", between the North and South of England. Perhaps this person was flying the Mercian flag as a symbol of midland pride? Also, Portsmouth was not a part of Mercia but rather the Kingdom of Wessex. Excellent Video JJ!

[@ff_crafter]

Finally new video of this series

[@emilynelson5985]

The black and white/grey-scale national flag is somewhat popular with certain American right-wing types and seems to have gained a real following after the thin blue line flag was introduced. Some say it’s a black flag of no quarter but that’s up for some debate

[@Arthas30000]

JJ, Flag Detective. Can you do some more of a these - this was super awesome :D

[@ethanpolley1085]

St Albans is pronounced Saint all bans. I hate English names too. And Mercia doesn’t really have any significance today. It is from when England was split into many different kingdoms (murcia, Dummonia, east anglia etc.) this was in the early 1000s, when William the conqueror came in, he United all the kingdoms into a single of England.

[@natxian7236]

To be super nitpicky, this isn't strictly true. The unified kingdom of England predated the invasion of William the Conqueror, and the Anglo-Saxon earldoms (of which Mercia was one) continued past the Norman Conquest.

[@DrRiq]

*remember that he's got a North American accent, so for him it'll be better transliterated as "Saint All buns"

[@bagaboiebailey]

I respect your commitment to continuing to make vexology content on KZbin in spite of the inevitable comment wars that follow (cough *blue line* cough)

[@Tom_Hillman]

Brit here. The ancient kingdoms of England weren't really taught in our schools. We are taught of Rome's invasion of England, and then almost the entire of the dark ages (from 400-1000AD) is glossed over and our education skips to william the conqueror, the first true King of all of England. The ancient kingdoms in the time before this are lost on most Brits. This is probably as a result of the fact spoken word was more common than writing at that time, and so stories from this era have been somewhat deligitimized and are considered fanciful.

[@ourresidentcockney8776]

William the Bastard was certainly not the first king of "all of England" as you put it. Furthermore, "true King" is utterly laudable!

[@Tom_Hillman]

@@ourresidentcockney8776 yeah man I'm just explaining what we were taught in school

[@ScottBorder]

A lot of people don't realize that the official Hawaiian flag does not have the Union Jack for the usual colonial reason. Hawai'i was never the official colony of the UK but was an independent kingdom under an indigenous monarchy until 1893. It seems that the Hawaiian government simply used familiar symbols from naval flags of Europe to make their own flag, basing it mostly upon the naval ensign of the East India Company which was one of the first flags that the Hawaiians encountered.

[@adanactnomew7085]

The ironic thing about the Hawaiian flag is that it was actually the flag of Hawaii pre US colonialization. The newer one is just revisionist and ignorant.

[@ixamisus]

Well one person decided it was the flag for everyone, so you cant say its a flag that represents the people

[@adanactnomew7085]

@@ixamisus As opposed to the other flag designed by one person appointed to an entire group of people

[@ixamisus]

@@adanactnomew7085 its not offical

[@TheDustyForest]

As a Brit, the only thing I know or relate to Mercia is Offa of Mercia, who was an 8th century king purported to have ordered the construction of Offa’s Dyke, which is basically a very long ditch originally meant to cleanly define the border between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms. It is not a significantly deep or wide ditch any more but it is still visible and you can visit it and walk along it’s route and stuff.

[@John_Theobald]

If one still takes the ADL seriously, stop. Just stop

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

Yay flags!! Hearing JJ say hello friends is so comforting. :) These are some of my favorite videos from our resident flagspert! Happy Saturday everyone!!

[@edwardshobbies]

First

[@b__c7538]

Shut up

[@chewy7626]

@@b__c7538 no u

[@b__c7538]

@@chewy7626 No

[@SirCaIIum]

As a Brit from middle England, the Mercian flag is the unofficial flag of the Midlands. There’s a strong northern and southern identity which the Midlands don’t feel wholly part of either- as well as having our own unique identity. Whenever you go north they think you’re a southerner and whenever you go south you’re considered really northern. Mercia’s traditional borders are that of the midlands, The south’s traditional borders are that of Wessex and the North is what was once Northumbria. We’re all English but due to different industry, cultural hubs and localised history and geography there are subtle differences. Take for example how most of the midlands has no sea border and until recently very little transport links out of it

[@bruin730]

The part with the Icelandic cop is stupid, just let her wear the flag patches if she wants to

[@jrr6947]

Some people want to find ways at being angry at cops for no reason.

[@Kaizoku_Zoro]

I agree, I can see how the third one is controversial but it’s dumb to get mad about the other 2 and they PD could’ve politely asked to remove the flags instead of making a nation hysteria about it.

[@gabrieldabriel]

"I'm a bit of a flagspert" HE DID IT, HE SAID THE THING

[@itapi697]

The Hawaiian State flag was the original flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii. King Kamehameha I who was the king at the time saw the British flag when the British were exploring in the Hawaiian islands. He really liked the British flag and it was a huge inspiration for the Hawaiian flag.

[@fdajax5107]

Absolutely love this channels videos

[@Mei0naise]

2:06 as a resident of St Albans (pronounced: saint ulbons) this is probably a Mercia flag because I have never seen anyone fly the flag like that in St Albans, it’s usually flown as the coat of arms the shield design

[@sah5450]

The Mercia flag along with the flags off the other ancient kingdoms are used to represent vague cultural areas - Northumbria for the North, Wessex for the south and Mercia for the Midlands. Not really sure what it was doing in Portsmouth tho (which is firmly in 'Wessex')