Americans Unable To Recognise Singapore Flag, Mistake It For Other Countries
After TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi revealed he was from Singapore during his highly publicised United States (US) Congress grilling session, you might think that people around the world would be more familiar with our Little Red Dot.
However, this does not seem to be the case — at least for the Americans in a recent clip.
In a TikTok video posted by @evryjewels, passers-by on the street were tasked with identifying the country flag shown to them.
@evryjewels do you know which flag this is?ππ€ #fyp #foryou #college
β¬ sonido original – β« βͺ π΄πΆππΏππππΆππ β« βͺ
It was obviously the flag of Singapore. However, many of them failed to give the correct answer, naming other countries like Argentina, Pakistan, and Croatia.
Ultimately, one girl answered correctly — but it was only because she lived in Singapore for 10 years.
Americans mistake Singapore flag for Argentina
In the video, which was shared by jewellery brand Evry Jewels, the interviewer showed people on the streets of Wisconsin a flag and asked them to name the country it belongs to.
If they guessed it correctly, they would win a piece of jewellery.
It turned out to be the Singapore flag — but many of the interviewees failed to guess it correctly, naming a whole bunch of other nations.
One of them guessed Pakistan, which also has a crescent moon. However, it is green, has only one star, and a vertical stripe.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
Another girl even guessed Argentina, which is on a completely different continent and has a sun and blue stripes instead.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
In fact, her friend was shocked by the girl’s answer, dumbfounded at how she could get it so wrong.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
However, she too failed to guess correctly.
She said it was the flag of Afghanistan, which also looks very different from Singapore’s.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
Other incorrect guesses included TΓΌrkiye, Cambodia, and Croatia.
Thankfully, the girl at the end of the clip finally managed to guess Singapore correctly.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
She shared that she had lived in Singapore for 10 years, which is why she managed to recognise the flag immediately.
Netizens shocked at poor geographical knowledge
Naturally, Singaporeans were shocked that the Americans could not recognise their country’s flag, expressing their disappointment in the comments.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
Some TikTok users added that it might be due to our small geographical size as a country.
Thus, Singapore — or at least our flag — may not be very well-known to Americans.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
However, there were those who found humour in this situation.
After being mistaken for Argentina, one user joked that the Lion City houses a football legend called “Messi Tan”, combining the name of the iconic footballer with the most common surname in Singapore.
Source: @evryjewels on TikTok
Hope Singapore’s flag is more recognisable now
While Singaporeans would naturally be able to recognise their own country’s flag quickly, that won’t always be the case for foreigners on the other side of the world.
After all, how many of us would be able to accurately identify the flags of all 195 countries on the planet?
That said, with the video getting over 233,000 views at the time of writing, we hope more people will now be familiar with Singapore’s flag.
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Featured image adapted from @evryjewel on TikTok.
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