The other day I went on a wiki-wander and discovered vexillology (flag history, not to be confused with vexillography, which is flag design), coined in 1956, before which the topic had been folded into heraldry.

Today I find out that paddywack, from the this-old-man song, comes from the meat industry and refers to the nuchal ligament, a tendon-like structure that developed in mammals to support the head while running, which therefore is not present in animals that don't do a lot of running, including a lot of the great apes!

It's considered offal because it can't be softened enough for human consumption, but makes a good natural dog chew, which is thought to be the origin of the line "knick-knack, paddywack, give the dog a bone."

Exactly!

The etymology goes back to paxwax, originally faxwax (Old English compound of "hair" + "to grow"), and can be traced with this meaning back to 1886, while the song can apparently be traced to a 1937 book which refers to it as dating back to at least the 1870s.

That song is so ubiquitous, it feels weird that it's so recent.

Vexillology, meanwhile, comes from vexillum, a type of Roman flag or banner (which itself comes from Latin velum [sail]), plus Greek logias (to study). Unsure why the guy who coined it decided to use two languages, but it's firmly in use now.

Oh, that's neat!

Yeah!

Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you'v...

JessPrime This explains so much about all the terrible city flags I've seen!

I’m glad you found it interesting- I thought you might like it!

"Seals and words belong on paper documents where you can actually read them" really hits home.

It makes sense that these are important design elements for other things too. "Can it be distinguished clearly from x feet away" especially.

And "make it so a child can reproduce it from memory" is both kind and strategic; people will spend longer being exposed to a recognizable symbol.