President-elect Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Friday to complain that the American flag will be flown at half-staff for his inauguration due to the period of mourning for the recently deceased former President Jimmy Carter.

  • Ben Hur Horse Race ( JudahBenHur@lemm.ee ) 
    46·
    2 years ago

    In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast," he continued. "Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it.

    So, as usual, wrong about basically everything- It will be the second time: it was already flown at half mast during Nixon’s 1973 inauguration due to Harry Truman’s death in Dec., 1972

    • gramie ( gramie@lemmy.ca ) 
      17·
      2 years ago

      And “half-mast” is a term only used on ships (that is, things that have masts). On land, where we have flagstaffs (a.k.a. flagpoles), the correct term is “half-staff”.

      • GreyEyedGhost ( GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca ) 
        4·
        2 years ago

        In America.

        Edit: it looks like it’s time to school some Americans on English, a particularly easy task.

        Let’s start with the definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, descendant of arguably the definitive American dictionary, certainly one of the first, created by Noah Webster.

        1. A slender vertical or nearly vertical structure (such as an upright post in various cranes).

        Now, from the American Heritage dictionary.

        1. A vertical pole.

        Going farther field, from the Cambridge dictionary.

        A pole that holds a flag.

        Note that both the Merriam-Webster and Cambridge dictionaries list half-mast as related phrases.

        • Clent ( Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English
          2·
          2 years ago

          Using a dictionary to prove two words are similar is not relevant here. The American terminology is half-staff not half-mast.

          If you had done even some basic research on American flag ceremony and the terminology we use, you wouldn’t be so confidently incorrect on the subject.