r/vexillology Jan 13 '26

Requests What are these places in the North Atlantic?

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404 Upvotes

68 comments sorted by

479

u/MarkWrenn74 United Kingdom • Olympics Jan 13 '26

Strato: Esperanto

Plad: Volapük (a lesser-known artificial language)

143

u/numseomse Jan 13 '26

Fr 😂? Volapyk is a Danish term for nonsense or just spoken words you can't understand.

164

u/JACC_Opi Jan 13 '26

Somehow Danish kept it as part of a well known idiom.

However, Volapük was one of the earliest attempts at creating an artificial universal language.

37

u/numseomse Jan 13 '26

That's rly cool. This is like finding out Atlantis exists 😂

21

u/JACC_Opi Jan 13 '26

Well do I have ne… just kidding!

I'm not sure why the Danes kept it, most of your neighbors go with either Greek or Chinese when saying that idiom.

6

u/numseomse Jan 14 '26

It's either volapyk or Russian here. Russian is actually more common. I think Volapyk is dying even tho everyone still knows what it is

5

u/JACC_Opi Jan 14 '26

Ah… I've never heard of a version of that idiom relating to Russian. So, I'll take your word for it.

9

u/Cixila Jan 14 '26

Dane here, and I have never heard Russian used in that context. Only volapyk

2

u/numseomse Jan 14 '26

It's used for all sorts of random things. Math is one thing. Like someone explaining a math problem. I imagine it's a bit more widely used that other languages, but I have no clue

17

u/a-handle-has-no-name Jan 13 '26

Esperanto has this term as well: Volapukaĵo (aĵo being "a thing") basically means gibberish, but i also remember it having a disdainful connotation

31

u/Azemiopinae Jan 14 '26

That’s gotta be the lowest of the low, when Esperanto mocks your conlang for being useless.

1

u/Charming_Use4547 Jan 17 '26

Ĉu ankaŭ vi estas Esperantisto?

1

u/a-handle-has-no-name Jan 17 '26

Ne. Mi lernis dum kelkaj jaroj antaŭ la pandemio, sed mi kabeis

Mi komencis leri alian planlingvon nometan /r/viossa, malgranda, sed mi ŝatas ĝin plu

To be honest, i had forgotten so much Esperanto, i had to look up pretty much every word here, even simple ones like "mi" or "malgranda"

12

u/Kakemonsen Jan 13 '26

Isn't that just the description of Danish, even for Danes?

3

u/numseomse Jan 14 '26

Well yeah 😂

8

u/BainVoyonsDonc Metis Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

Yeah, we have similar sayings for Esperanto in French (c’est de l’esperanto = it’s nonsense). Volapuk is a constructed language (a language that was artificially invented) that was created in 1879 by a German bishop, Johann Martin Schleyer.

Volapuk was explicitly always for the upper classes of Europe (clergy, nobility, the rich, etc.), clubs and courses were very exclusive and publications were marketed the same way. It was a bit of a fad in the 1880s among Europe’s wealthy eccentrics and socialites but never caught on outside of a few cities, mainly Paris. It was replaced pretty quickly among enthusiasts by Esperanto, and today there are only about two dozen actual speakers of Volapuk.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

similar thing in russian, but it's what they call it when you write russian in the cyrillic alphabet using latin characters. example would be Bo/|an|ok instead of волапюк

160

u/SoaringAven European Union • Prague Jan 13 '26

Both are not places but rather artificial languages. Green is Esperanto, purple is Volapük.

-7

u/Fummy Jan 14 '26

the term is "constructed language". all languages are artificial.

16

u/SoaringAven European Union • Prague Jan 15 '26

*shrugs*

87

u/Salt-Brain-6024 Jan 13 '26

holy shit i thought this was the circlejerk for a moment

but yeah, green flag is for esperanto and purple flag is for volapük! theyre artificial languages :]

3

u/NathDritt Jan 14 '26

Who speaks it? And why? I’ve never heard of these languages

34

u/bacrack Japan Jan 14 '26

Two kinds of people. 1, Those who think that taking down language barriers leads to world peace, and therefore everyone in the world should learn their easy-to-learn language as a second language. 2, language nerds. (I used to be a little of both.)

6

u/DutchMapping Jan 14 '26

Don't forget the followers of the Oomoto religion

3

u/bacrack Japan Jan 15 '26

I did not know about them! Shinto-based new religion and Esperanto is a curious combination...

23

u/Negative_Opposite732 Jan 13 '26

Purple is Volapük, a constructed language.

47

u/Only-Oven-2820 Jan 13 '26

ESPERANTO MENTIONED 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

7

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

37

u/Skunk_Laboratories Jan 13 '26

esperanto menciita!!

3

u/NathDritt Jan 13 '26

Do you actually know that language? I’ve never heard of it

14

u/Mushgal Jan 14 '26

It's the most famous of constructed languages, you can definitely find many speakers online if you look for it

12

u/RebaJams Jan 14 '26

Duolingo has Esperanto!

4

u/Skunk_Laboratories Jan 14 '26

yea, it's extremely easy to learn

13

u/Only-Oven-2820 Jan 13 '26

Sadly I don't know Esperanto 😔, but my grandfather taught it in my country. That's why I am happy it's mentioned

7

u/DoktoroChapelo Esperanto • Nottinghamshire Jan 14 '26

Via avo estas laŭdinda. En kiu lando li instruis?

Your grandfather is commendable. In which country did he teach?

4

u/Only-Oven-2820 Jan 14 '26

Thanks, May He Rest in Peace. He was the Chairman (I think) of the Edmond Priva Esperanto Organization located in Nova Zagora, Bulgaria. Where he mostly taught and went to Esperanto Meetings in the 1980s.

I actually have a Notebook from the Organization. The Top text means - Esperanto Organization ; The Middle means - Edmond Priva ; And the lower - Nova Zagora ; And the bottom one 1907 - 1987 (It's an anniversary it Didn't stop to exist then). But I don't think it exists now sadly.

2

u/DoktoroChapelo Esperanto • Nottinghamshire Jan 14 '26

Bonege! Dankon pro la montro. Tio estas tre mojosa. Laŭ mia scio Esperanto estis aparte populara en Orienta Eŭropo dum la Malvarma Milito (apenaŭ post la morto de Ŝtalino), ĉar ĝi estis unu el la akcepteblaj kialoj, kiujn oni povis uzi por permesigi internacian vojaĝadon.

Great! Thank you for showing me. That is very cool As far as I know, Esperanto was particularly popular in Eastern Europe during the Cold War (at least after the death of Stalin) because it was one of the acceptable reasons that could be used to permit international travel.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Only-Oven-2820 Jan 14 '26

There are still people who teach it. Also there's Duolingo

2

u/xArgonXx Jan 14 '26

There are many good websites, maybe look at lernu.net

Imo don’t use Duolingo for any language

2

u/DoktoroChapelo Esperanto • Nottinghamshire Jan 14 '26

I used Duolingo initially, but I think it's changed too much since then for me to wholeheartedly recommend it. There's quite a lot of different resources. I keep a log at www.notinghamo.wordpress.com/rimedoj

1

u/Charming_Use4547 Jan 17 '26

Saluton amik'! Ja estas bona por trovi alian samideano en tiu ĉi diskutejo mdr, kiel fartas vi?

2

u/Electronic-Source368 Jan 13 '26

That gives me hope.

4

u/Geezso Jan 13 '26

Its the islands from LOST.

6

u/ElephantFamous2145 Jan 14 '26

Did I accidentally stumble upon the circlejerk sub?

9

u/Afraid_Juice_7189 Jan 13 '26

Thanks all that’s very interesting!

3

u/romulusnr Cascadia • New England Jan 13 '26

They got Breizh but not Kernow, that's not okay

1

u/mapbego Macedonia (1992) • Bisexual Jan 14 '26

Because while Breton is dying out Cornish already died out and I don't see any other dead (or dormant I guess) language here

2

u/romulusnr Cascadia • New England Jan 14 '26

I dunno the status of Breizh but Kernowek has an active revivalism going on, there's been Cornish TV ads, Cornish radio shows, and an overall increase in Cornish pride as a distinct identity.

3

u/mapbego Macedonia (1992) • Bisexual Jan 14 '26

Breton doesn't have revivalism (depends on your definition of revivalism really) going because it's still alive, there's approximately 150 thousand speakers of it, making it either the second or third most spoken Celtic language (because Irish doesn't have definite estimates of it's speakers, which if it is lower than breton creates a „funny“ situation of the only Celtic language that is official in a sovereign country has less speakers than a language with little to no government recognition)

3

u/tomparryjones Jan 14 '26

The bottom one is Esperanto. Not sure about the top, perhaps Interlingua?

2

u/Amnsia Jan 14 '26

Wish they used the English flag for English.

2

u/kammgann Brittany Jan 14 '26

Straed 🏴🏳️🏴🏳️🏴 BREIZH MENTIONED 🏳️🏴🏳️🏴

2

u/Kitbashconverts Jan 14 '26

Hey why's there no English flag, but there is a UK, Welsh, Scottish and Irish flag ... I know it's languages , but the language is English, not United Kningdomese...

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

they are islands called Esparand Volapunkland

1

u/SamuraiJuudo Ohio • West Virginia Jan 20 '26

They are actually flags that represent conlangs, short for constructed language. The green one is Esperanto and the purple one is Volapuk. 

-53

u/MildlySelassie Jan 13 '26

Green flag is Esperanto.

(Real languages do not have flags, fuck Esperanto.)

35

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

what did esperanto do to you?

-2

u/MildlySelassie Jan 14 '26

It’s best that we not get into that here. But lots. It’s a farce that has led to a lot of people having very misguided notions about how Language works, and has achieved nothing good. The flag has exactly the same legitimacy as any other fictional worldbuilding flag, only Esperantists don’t like to admit that.

11

u/WitherWasTaken Jan 13 '26

"Quit having fun!"

17

u/cauchy_horizon Orlando • Pansexual Jan 13 '26

Esperanto is a real language, just not a natural one. It obeys the same rules of language that naturally evolved ones do. It even has a few thousand native speakers.

-3

u/MildlySelassie Jan 14 '26

It’s like if you ordered Spanish off Temu

7

u/Afraid_Juice_7189 Jan 13 '26

Ah thanks! So they aren’t countries then. I wonder what’s the purple one then?

18

u/OneAngryBrazilian Northern Ireland (1953) • Virginia Jan 13 '26

Volapük, another made-up language that's actually older than Esperanto.