The Hawaiian flag makes it look like a colony of the UK, so I wouldn't worry about that aspect of it too much

It's a shame about Commonwealth citizens no longer being able to work freely in other Commonwealth nations, but I suppose that was done to limit immigration to the UK.

How very curious Erinja. I never realized that the Hawaiian flag incoporated the Union Jack.

erinja:The Hawaiian flag makes it look like a colony of the UK...

Does the US government know of that fact? Perhaps Hawai want to defect...

Miland:

ceigered:And Miland, what do you mean by "jail"? (Or gaol as is the official way downunder ).

Nu, bv. lumigi min, ho Jodo:* at the corners of Monopoly boards made down under and used by Ozzies, does it say "Go to Gaol"?

*Trans: "Here's a question, then:"

Indeed that be so! I never realised that before!

(Ho Jodo = Oh Iodine? )

3rd Blade, what does that pink stand for? I never understood the colours of all the countries on the map, and with the rise of things like Google Maps, I must admit I've gone the way of my generation Z side and completely adapted to using Google maps etc.

ceigered:(Ho Jodo = Oh Iodine? )

Indeed that be so! I never realised that before!

Or rather, I did once, but forgot it. Besides, I always use more modern antiseptics myself.

ceigered:3rd Blade, what does that pink stand for? I never understood the colours of all the countries on the map, and with the rise of things like Google Maps, I must admit I've gone the way of my generation Z side and completely adapted to using Google maps etc.

The British Empire used to be enormous, and they'd indicate the parts of the world that were British with pink, or crimson. It really stood out and made the Empire look impressive, as well as looking intimidating to rivals such as France or Spain. It was easy to see who had the biggest empire. I remember one map at primary school, a Mercator which may have dated to the 30s. It indicated the the pink parts, and left the rest of the world brown. My guess is they chose pink because it really 'pops' - to test this, look at a large crowd and see how much the pink-wearing people stand out! Nowadays the tradition of colouring the Commonwealth countries (as well as the scattered remaining British colonies around the world) pink has lingered on in some modern maps. It can be handy, I suppose - the pink places are usually where they speak a lot of English.

Another political use of the world map has been the placement of the continents. Either Europe or North America is at the top left hand corner, the 'start' position for reading it, for those of use in western cultures. My old geography teacher at school rebelled against this this by turning the classroom globe upside-down. "Now we're on the top half," he said.

3rdblade:My old geography teacher at school rebelled against this this by turning the classroom globe upside-down. "Now we're on the top half," he said.

I like to think of it that anyone in a plane or high rise building or in the himilayas is on the top of the world . I did always find it funny though how Australia was downunder, when really, why weren't we "up over" (so far that we went around the globe one) or "far east"?

Thanks for the explanation though, that explains the colourful representation of the world - I guess ever changing alliances and different cultures means that unlike Cold War era maps with Blue vs. Red, it's much harder to give everyone a colour and have the map make sense!