Vexillolinguistics of the Flag of the United States

The Flag of the United States, known as “Old Glory” or “The Stars and Stripes,” is characterized by thirteen horizontal stripes of equal height, alternating red and white, starting with red at the top and bottom. These stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that declared independence from Britain. Overlaid on the top left corner of the flag is a blue rectangle, known as the union, and also known as a canton, which extends to the seventh stripe from the top. Within the union are fifty, white, five-pointed or six-pointed stars arranged in nine rows of alternating numbers starting with six stars (six rows of six stars and five rows of five stars), symbolizing the fifty states of the Union.

Vexillolinguistically, the description could be rendered as follows:

“Thirteen ‘Old Glory Red’ (#B22234) and white (#FFFFFF) horizontal stripes, beginning and ending with red, with an overall aspect ratio of 10:19. A canton in ‘Old Glory Blue’ (#3C3B6E), which occupies two-fifths of the flag’s width and extends down seven stripes, hosts fifty white stars, of five or six points, each with a diameter of four-fifths the stripe height, in alternating rows of six and five.”

Certainly, it can, and will, be made more precise with fewer words. Standard to vexillolinguistic descriptions, however, is starting with “A field of…”. Optional is including official names for specific colors. Each major component should be described in a single sentence with the least possible number of words. Play it like a game of golf.

Python

The following Python code is an example of how an SVG file can be created for the specification for the Flag of the United States, without requiring any input.

import svgwrite

def create_us_flag_svg(filename="us_flag.svg"):
    # Flag dimensions and colors
    width = 1900
    height = 1000
    red = "#B22234"
    white = "#FFFFFF"
    blue = "#3C3B6E"

    # Create SVG drawing
    dwg = svgwrite.Drawing(filename, size=(width, height))

    # Draw the stripes
    for i in range(13):
        color = red if i % 2 == 0 else white
        dwg.add(dwg.rect((0, i * height / 13), (width, height / 13), fill=color))

    # Draw the union
    union_height = 7 * height / 13
    union_width = 0.76 * height  # Approximation based on flag proportions
    dwg.add(dwg.rect((0, 0), (union_width, union_height), fill=blue))

    # Draw the stars
    star_spacing_x = union_width / 6
    star_spacing_y = union_height / 9
    star_radius = height / 130  # Adjust size of stars
    for y in range(9):
        for x in range(6 if y % 2 == 0 else 5):
            cx = x * star_spacing_x + star_radius * 2 if y % 2 != 0 else x * star_spacing_x + star_radius
            cy = y * star_spacing_y + star_radius * 2
            dwg.add(dwg.star(center=(cx, cy), points=5, outer=star_radius, inner=star_radius / 2.5, fill=white))

    # Save the SVG file
    dwg.save()

create_us_flag_svg()

Like the vexillolinguistic description itself, the code can always be made shorter, cleaner, more organized, more simple. Further, it indicates the need for a vexillolinguistic Python library specifically for translating flag description to SVG images or SVG images to vexillolinguistic flag descriptions.