But strangely, national flags are pretty similar.

但奇怪的是，國旗大部分都長得差不多。

44 have three horizontal stripes, 10 have one five pointed star on the left side, and only 11 flags aren't red or blue.

有 44 面國旗上面有著三條水平的條紋，10 面在左側有著五角星星，而只有 11 面的顏色不是紅色或藍色的。

And sure, maybe these are just popular colors, but then where is the much-loved purple?

當然，這可能只是因為紅色和藍色廣受大家歡迎的關係，但是那同樣受到喜愛的紫色呢？

The necessary coloring wasn't always easy to come by.

的確，紫色染料所需要的原料並不容易取得。

But it's 2016, and this is still the most purple flag; you've got to be kidding me.

但現在都 2016 年了，世界上最「紫」的國旗竟然長這樣；你在跟我開玩笑吧。

Of course there are a few oddball flags, but they're mostly different for the same reason: weird shapes.

當然世界上還有其他特別標新立異的國旗，但它們大多是因為另一個原因而顯得特別：它們奇怪的形狀。

So let's settle this: why are flags so similar?

所以就讓我們來好好探討一下這個問題：為什麼國旗都長得差不多？

The idea of a flag is to reflect its country; take the national history, identity, or even appearance.

國旗的意象會反映該國的特色，例如果佳的歷史、認同或是地貌景觀。

Transfer it to a rectangle and, voila! A flag!

把這些元素轉換成長方形之後，大功告成！國旗做好了！

But this means that similar countries conveying similar things can have similar flags.

但這也代表著想要傳達相似概念的國家們，最後可能會設計出相似的旗子。

The Arab Revolt was a pretty big deal.

阿拉伯起義是當時的歷史大事。

Its flag became the inspiration for much of the middle East.

而當時起義的旗幟最後變成了絕大多數中東國家國旗的致敬對象。

Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, Syria, the UAE, Palestine, Yemen, Somaliland, and Libya share a history, and thus similar flags.

埃及、伊拉克、科威特、蘇丹、敘利亞、阿拉伯聯合大公國、巴勒斯坦、葉門、索馬利蘭與利比亞共同分享著這段歷史，因此有著相似的國旗。

Cyprus, a master of copy-paste, has no overlap to worry about.

而身為複製貼上大師的賽普勒斯，則不用擔心會和人家「撞旗」的問題。

With no restraints, flags could easily all be unique.

要是沒有限制的話，所有國旗都可以更輕易地變得更加獨特。

But countries often follow rules of design, and with everyone, the pool of possible flags shrinks.

但國家在設計國旗時大多會遵循一些設計規則，而隨著國家越來越多，能夠設計出的國旗樣式也變得越來越少。

Simplicity is a common recommendation, which makes for a pretty flag, but not always a distinct one.

很多國家會遵循簡化的原則，創造出優美但是不太特出的國旗。

Monaco, Indonesia, and Poland accidentally sacrificed originality for elegance.

摩納哥、印尼與波蘭三國則意外地在追求優雅風格的過程中，犧牲了原創性。

Other countries take inspiration from their neighbors. The story of the Nordic Cross goes something like this:

其他國家則會從鄰居們身上擷取靈感。北歐十字旗的故事大概是這樣的：

Denmark found this design and announced "Hey look! We have a new flag!"

丹麥發現了這個設計後，便向大家宣布：「嘿各位快來看看！我們有新國旗了！」

To which Sweden replied: "How odd! We also have a new flag..."

而瑞典對此則回應到：「唉呀這麼巧！我們也有新國旗了...」

Finland, Norway, and Iceland, not wanting to feel left out, all nodded along.

芬蘭、挪威與冰島為了不被大家拋下，也跟著一起附和。

And, Greenland pretended not to hear.

而格陵蘭則假裝沒聽到這回事。

But perhaps, all this isn't so bad.

但這個結果或許也沒那麼糟。

If the rectangles which represent us are so similar, maybe we're all more alike than it seems.

如果這些代表著我們的正方形圖樣全都這麼相似的話，或許我們彼此之間也並沒有那麼不同。

Or, perhaps, we're just not very creative for the flags.

又或者是，我們只是單純沒什麼設計國旗的創意吧。

Can someone create a purple flag? Just one, please? Just need one...

可以有人來設計一個紫色的國旗？一個就好，拜託？只要一個就好...