评论
打印
Poor no-flag Northern Ireland. While England Scotland and Wales all have flags, as countries in the United Kingdom, not her.
可怜的北爱尔兰没有国旗。虽然英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士都有国旗，但北爱尔兰作为联合王国的一员却没有。
But rather than a transparent skirt of technical correctness, which would be weird, BAM!
但这条裙子严格来说不是透明的，那样会很奇怪，BAM！
These videos use this flag that's often used to represent Northern Ireland in the real world. If it's good enough for sports, it's good enough for skorts.
这些视频使用了这面在现实世界中经常用来代表北爱尔兰的旗帜。如果它适合运动，那么它就适合穿短裙。
But why isn't this flag official, and why do some people prefer not to use it? To discuss this, we must follow a narrow path through the forest of all knowledge.
但为什么这面旗帜不是官方的，为什么有些人不喜欢使用它？要讨论这个问题，我们必须沿着一条狭窄的道路穿过所有知识的森林。
And be careful not to stray. It's easy to get lost in these woods, for there are always distractions and dangers to pull us aside. Focus on the flag, don't leave the path.
小心不要走偏。很容易在这片树林里迷路，因为总有干扰和危险把我们拉到一边。专注于国旗，不要偏离道路。
This flag is the Ulster banner named after Ulster, one of Ireland's traditional regions.
这面旗帜是阿尔斯特旗帜，以爱尔兰传统地区之一阿尔斯特命名。
The flag first flew above the Northern Irish parliament in 1953, as part of a visit by the then-newly-coronated queen.
这面旗帜于1953年首次飘扬在北爱尔兰议会上空，当时新加冕的女王访问了这里。
But straight away, there was a bit of an asterisk, as, quote: "The Minister of Home Affairs announced that while the Union flag was the only officially recognised standard those who wish to have a distinctive Ulster symbol might use the banner."
但马上就出现了一个星号：“内政部长宣布，虽然联合王国国旗是唯一官方认可的标准，但那些希望拥有独特阿尔斯特象征的人可以使用该旗帜。”
Which is a bit "Here's your new flag, but not really." And the new flag wasn't new either, designed in 1923 along with the Ulster coat of arms.
这有点像“这是你的新旗帜，但不是真的。”而且新旗帜也不是新的，它于1923年与阿尔斯特徽章一起设计。
Coat of arms are symbolic objects, so let's talk about the parts. The Irish elk represents the local Irish and the red lion represents the Ulster Scots.
徽章是象征性物品，所以让我们谈谈它的各个部分。爱尔兰麋鹿代表当地爱尔兰人，红狮代表阿尔斯特苏格兰人。
Wait, why are there so many Scottish people in Northern Ireland to warrant half the coat of arms? Have we wandered off the path?
等等，为什么北爱尔兰有这么多苏格兰人，需要占一半的徽章？我们是不是走偏了？
The shield design is a red cross which is totally not at all the St. George Cross England uses plus the crown of the UK and this red hand
盾牌设计是一个红十字，这完全不是英格兰使用的圣乔治十字，加上英国的王冠和这只红手，
which is a defining Northern Irish element as it's unique unlike the crown and the cross which are on everything.
这是北爱尔兰的一个典型元素，因为它是独一无二的，不像无处不在的王冠和十字架。
The hand comes with a Lady Godiva style story about how the first to touch the land of Ulster would own it.
这只手有一个戈黛娃夫人风格的故事，讲述了谁第一个触碰阿尔斯特的土地，谁就拥有它。
So, of course in the race someone cut off his own hand to win on technicality, which can't possibly be true.
当然，在比赛中，有人为了获胜而砍断了自己的手，这不可能是真的。
Not because people haven't been yelling "First! - technically" since the dawn of time, but because one: Have you ever tried to cut off your own hand?
不是因为人们从一开始就没有喊过“第一！”，而是因为：你曾经试过砍断自己的手吗？
It's a lot harder than it sounds - and two: While several important Northern Irish families claim creation of the hand the stories go back to the 13th century where the paper trail runs cold.
说起容易做起难——其次：虽然几个重要的北爱尔兰家族声称是这只手的创造者，但这些故事可以追溯到13世纪，当时英国还没有文字记录。
So let's spin the wheel of historical claims and just say it was the O'Neill's because they're the easiest ones to pronounce and they're going to show up briefly later.
让我们转动历史主张的轮盘，姑且说是奥尼尔家族吧，因为他们的名字最容易发音，而且他们稍后也会短暂地出现。
From creation until now, there's been debate about if the hand switched from a sinister version.
从创世到现在，人们一直在争论这只手是否源自邪恶的版本。
No, seriously. That's what you're supposed to call the lefty version - to a righty version.
不，说真的。你应该把这叫做左撇子版本——右撇子版本。
But any flip-flop might just have been the whimsy of Individual flag makers, same with the thumb position - which is all over the place.
但任何反复无常可能只是个别旗帜制作者的一时兴起，拇指位置也是如此——到处都是。
There wasn't exactly a vexillological standards board a thousand years ago keeping consistency.
一千年前并没有一个旗帜学标准委员会统一标准。
Anyway, sometime after the 1300s the hand of the O'Neil's was added to the symbol of another important Northern Irish family a red cross on a yellow background to form the Ulster coat of arms.
无论如何，在14世纪以后的某个时候，奥尼尔家族的手被添加到另一个重要的北爱尔兰家族的象征中，即黄色背景上的红十字，形成了阿尔斯特徽章。
Oh, it really is the St. George Cross. Earlier sarcastic remark withdrawn. The designer of the new arms and flag 400 years later changed the color for reasons no one knows.
哦，这确实是圣乔治十字勋章。先前的讽刺言论被撤回了。400年后，新徽章和旗帜的设计者出于无人知晓的原因改变了颜色。
The flag was then modified with a crown and a star and made sort of official from 1953 all the way until 1973,
这面旗帜随后被修改，加上了王冠和一颗星星，并从1953年开始成为官方旗帜，一直持续到1973年。
when the Northern Irish parliament ceased to exist during the Troubles gurgling screech from an ambush by the Troubles face sucking noises.
当时，北爱尔兰议会在北爱尔兰纠纷期间不复存在，一片混乱。
The Troubles were - are - an 'Irregular conflict' around Northern Ireland. Is she part of Ireland or is she part of the United Kingdom?
这次“不合常规的冲突”即：北爱尔兰归属于爱尔兰还是联合王国？
The dispute started when Great Britain 'colonized' Northern Ireland, confiscating the land from local families such as the O'Neils.
争端始于大不列颠“殖民”北爱尔兰，没收了奥尼尔等当地家族的土地。
With the goal to "pacify, civilize and develop the land" redistributing it to English and lots of Scottish settlers. Oh, so that's why the lion is there.
此举旨在“平息动乱、教化民众和开发土地”，将北爱尔兰重新分配给英格兰和许多苏格兰定居者。哦，所以这就是狮子在那里的原因。
So just like other places Great Britain 'colonized' there's a modern muddle of ownership and identity.
就像大不列颠“殖民”的其他地方一样，北爱尔兰的所有权和身份认同也陷入了现代的混乱。
In these islands the conflicts build across them for so long that it's represented in Ireland's flag with the white stripe being the hope for peace.
在这些岛屿上，冲突持续了很长时间，以至于爱尔兰国旗上也体现了这一点，白色条纹象征着对和平的渴望。
Ireland's flag still uses the 2:1 ratio of former UK places rather than the more common 3:2 ratio of most flags.
爱尔兰国旗仍然沿用前英国属地2:1的长宽比，而不是大多数国旗更常见的3:2比例。
Interesting: The US is a former UK place but it goes with a 10:19 ratio. Very unusual! Ah, we got pulled off the path. We need to get out of here.
有趣的是：美国之前也是英国的殖民地，但它采用的是10:19的长宽比。非常不寻常！扯远了，言归正传。
So though the flag is composed of traditional Northern Irish symbols (mostly) it's not official because it never really was 100% and the government that used it doesn't exist.
尽管国旗（大部分）是由传统的北爱尔兰符号组成的，但它并不是官方的，因为它从未真正达到百分之百的认可度，而且使用它的政府已经不存在了。
And when the most divisive issue in your land is: Should it be part of a kingdom; having a crown on your flag isn't exactly neutral and is also why there are periodic calls for a new Northern Irish flag.
当你的土地上最有争议的问题是：它是否应该成为一个王国的一部分；在你的国旗上有一个王冠并不完全中立，因此人们定期呼吁新的北爱尔兰国旗。
But the power of flags is less about if they're official or not and much more about do people use them and do other people recognise them.
但旗帜的威力并不在于它们是否是官方旗帜，而在于人们是否使用它们以及其他人是否认可它们。
And within these fair Isles it's fair to say that - at least currently - the flag is used and recognized.
在这些美丽的岛屿上，这面旗帜可以说是被使用和认可的，至少目前是这样。
