pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)
Philip Newton ([personal profile] pne) wrote2004-03-29 01:37 pm

Blazoning the US flag

Barry gules and argent of seven and six, on a canton azure fifty molets of the second.

(From an email .sig of John Cowan's.)

[identity profile] so-haleza-grise.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
About time, is all I can stay. Are they really molets though?
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Default)

molets

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I have no idea what a molet is.

Re: molets

[identity profile] so-haleza-grise.livejournal.com 2004-03-30 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
A molet, or a mullet, originally represented a spur, but I went to check my heraldic dictionary and it says that they're more frequently used for stars these days, what with the depiction of stars being in vogue.

Actually, I think Old Glory could be the first ever use of stars on a flag, the one that started the trend. Before that, stars were hardly ever used as in vexillology (the usual heraldic star has six wavy arms)

I prefer this one....

[identity profile] robnorth.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 02:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Gules on a Canadian pale argent a maple leaf of the first.

[identity profile] cadenzamuse.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool! But don't we need to specify the...err..."molets" as...err...argent?

*goes to find blazoning for own coat-of-arms* Ahh, here we go:

A field gules and or parted per fess bearing an azure chevron, on which an or key, a distaff border azure and argent.
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Default)

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2004-03-29 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool! But don't we need to specify the...err..."molets" as...err...argent?

Well, it says "molets of the second", which (I suppose) means "of the second colour mentioned"—i.e. argent (from the "gules and argent" mentioned at the beginning).

*goes to find blazoning for own coat-of-arms*

Ooh, you have a coat of arms? Nifty.

A field gules and or parted per fess bearing an azure chevron, on which an or key, a distaff border azure and argent.

Do you have a picture of that?

I confess I have no idea how to read blazonings :p

[identity profile] cadenzamuse.livejournal.com 2004-03-30 01:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I do have a picture, but...err...no webspace provider.

Basically, in English, it's a background that is yellow (which is gold) on top and red on bottom, with a big blue chevron in the middle, pointing up. On top of that is a golden key, "business end" down. Around the edge of the shield is a border that's a blue stripe on the outside and a white (which is technically silver) on the inside, closest to the shield proper.

The border, a distaff border I picked up from fantasy (because my friend and I made my coat-of-arms up...it's not my family's or anything...my family would have a tartan, probably :) ). "Distaff" is of or relating to a lady knight--and as you know, [livejournal.com profile] charismitaine knighted me. ...And I confess I don't know what my coat-of-arms means...I did at the time, beside that it looks cool, but now I just know that it looks cool and it identifies me.
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Default)

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2004-03-30 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I do have a picture, but...err...no webspace provider.

Photobucket?

Or if you want, send it to me by email and I'll host it on my webspace. (Or just send it to me by email so I can see it :D)

as you know, [livejournal.com profile] charismitaine knighted me.

I was not aware of that.

I'd seen the "Lady Knight" in your displayed name but had not attached any significance to it (or rather, about as much as to "Queen of Not-Much").

[identity profile] cadenzamuse.livejournal.com 2004-03-31 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll send it to you.

Technically "Lady Knight" has basically as little significance as "Queen of Not-Much," in that it allows me to play-act with my friends on occasion and is not a recognized title of any countries legally existing in a geographical space on this earth. But being a lady knight is...well, more to me, I guess. Because there is a philosophy that governs knightly actions that isn't present (or isn't as clearly present) in queenly ones. Queens are just, y'know, supposed to be good rulers, and they sorta have to guess about that. But as a knight, it's my job to 1)love God, 2)be loyal to my allegiances, and 3)protect and aid anyone who needs it. It's also my job to keep my heart and mind and honor clean. (Sounds rather like Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting, come to think of it.)

But anyway, funny as it is, putting "be a good person" in terms of being a good knight just works for me. And because I hold importance to my knighthood and, through it, my integrity as a human and a child of God, it's definitely got more significance than the tongue-in-cheek "Queen of Not-Much."