Talk:Half-staff

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The link for this should be called "half-staff." Mast is used only when refereing to a flag flown on a ship.

A search of the New York State Governor's website turns up both terms. Schizombie 14:07, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Eh, this is a bitter controversy. The United States Code (Title IV;Chapter 1;§ 7) dealing with the flag uses "half-staff," not "half-mast." http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode04/usc_sec_04_00000007----000-.html The Canadians, on the other hand, seem to use half-mast in their government publications, as well as the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/flagflap.html So, given the widespread American usage, plus the fact that the BBC seems to use "half-staff," though "half mast" may also be found, I think the article belongs at "half staff." We do not want to take away our Canadian friends' la différence after all, and make them miss out on yet another chance to bemoan American insensitivity. VonWoland 08:04, 8 March 2006 (UTC)


Any chance of having a list of the different times the American flag was flown at half-staff at the White House, say?

I suspect that list would be fairly long—BenFrantzDale 23:27, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] 9/11

Can anyone point me to a US presidential proclamation indicating that the flag should be flown at half staff today, 9/11/2005? I get the sense from this page that the president proclaimed the flag should be flown at half staff on 9/11 every year since 2001, but I am unable to find that proclamation. —BenFrantzDale 23:27, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

Answering my own question. The president declared 9/11 as Patriot Day [1], including that the flag should be flown at half staff. —BenFrantzDale 23:27, September 11, 2005 (UTC)


Is there a webpage that gives the reason why a flag is flown at half-staff on aany particular day? I was wondering why in the US today, February 1, 2006 it is at half staff. I'm guessing because of the death of Coretta Scott King but I'm not sure. Schizombie 21:48, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

The place to get information when the flag is lowered under order of the president is http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/. Otherwise it is left up to each state governor. Assawyer 23:40, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. I searched the NYS Governor's website and didn't turn up anything on why they were at half yesterday. Schizombie 14:07, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
What I would do is call the governor's office and inquire if it was an official act or people put the flag at half staff on their own, if you really want to know.Assawyer 15:40, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Half-staff for Princess Diana

I'm a little puzzled by the references to Diana's death in the UK section. How could there be "public outcry" that no flag was flying at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, if flying flags at half-mast was previously unheard of in the UK (even for the death of a monarch)? 217.155.20.163 22:12, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Flying a flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace was unheard of. The problem was that the public (probably largely whipped up by the media) wouldn't differentiate between the proper protocol to be observed in that particular case (ie, no flag), and the ad-hoc half-masting that was going on elsewhere within minutes of the death of someone who was no longer a member of the royal family (and therefore not entitled to automatic half-masting) being announced. Ghughesarch 15:03, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Does this only happen in Finland?

This is in Finland...

On a normal "no holiday, no celebration" day the flag should not be raised at all (ships, diplomatic vehicles, government buildings etc are a different story).

But when a person who lived in an apartment dies, it's customary for the property manager to hoist all the flags (s)he is responsible for at half staff for the day. Of course the same applies for owners of any kind of house/estate/whatever, but they are definitely forgiven if they forget the task while mourning.

But I do not know what the tradition is when a holiday (say, the Finnish Independence Day) and a death occur on the same day. Any other Finns here to shed some light on this?

Also, after reading the examples it seems no other country has the same tradition; i.e. local half-staff hoist after the death of any person, royal or not. Is this a weird Finn thing? :)

--Shigataganai 00:04, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Half Staff Email notifications

This site will email you when to fly the flag at half staff [www.aflag.com] Looks to be a great reminder for those of us who forget. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.251.191.22 (talk) 02:42, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] half-mast vs half-staff

The article includes this line: "The terms half-staff and half-mast are generally considered synonymous, despite common folk theories that half-mast should be reserved for nautical uses." While maybe most civilians consider them synonymous, they certainly are not. If you mention half-mast on a US Army installation you will be corrected as there are no masts located on the grounds, same as saying half-staff on a boat. It's definitely not a common folk theory. Jrssr5 17:09, 18 April 2008 (UTC)