Today's Story Headline That It's Hard To Look At Without Having A Rude Thought

[dianeduane]

Where To Put Your Hand During The National Anthem

Also: fellow writers: Are they dissing our babies? (OK, I am not biologically a mom. I've done all my mothering in bulk. Approximately 1500 babies during my stint of pediatric nursing.)

Comments

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Not being a USAian, I find this deeply bizarre. As far as I'm concerned, when one's national anthem is played, one stands up, shuts up, and refrains from fidgeting. (If one knows the words, one may sing along.) Rules about how one stands up are an alien concept.

(This is why I was quite annoyed a few months back when the breakfast DJ decided, for some unfathomable reason, to play the Irish national anthem while I was getting dressed. Standing up and staying still when semi-clad in a chilly bedroom is annoying.)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I don't stand up when I'm driving, not even when the Proms are on the radio and the Queen is in attendance. There are limits... On the other hand, I have stood almost bare (in pyjamas, often) in a chilly bedroom for the anthem, many times, I remember when they used to play it at closedown in the days before radio stations were 24 hour. We didn't have central heating in those days.

I do generally stand "to attention" during the anthem and then "stand easy" at the end, but that's my early training and I don't expect anyone else to do the same. Having laws about what you do with your hands, for civilians, strikes me as bizarre, particularly for "the land of the free".

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Trying to stand up for the national anthem while driving would be at best silly and at worst criminally dangerous. As you say, there are limits.

Whatever about radio, it is still largely the custom here to signal the end of the night's entertainment (at a wedding, trad session, etc.) by playing the national anthem. And everyone does, generally, stand up and be quiet for it.

I do, personally, stand at attention for my anthem, but that's what 5 years in the Civil Defence will do for you. I don't expect anyone else to do other than stand still and stay quiet.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

"it is still largely the custom here to signal the end of the night's entertainment (at a wedding, trad session, etc.) by playing the national anthem"

It isn't any more here (England). It used to be when I was a kid, in cinemas and theatres for instance, but I haven't heard that done here for a long time except at special events when there are royalties[1] present.

I don't really mind if they don't stand, as long as they are quiet during the anthem. I don't now even get upset about them hanging the flag upside down...

[1] To continue with the theme of the strike...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Odd bit of trivia: On US Army bases, at least the one I lived on, the drivers' equivalent of standing with hand (or hat) over heart is pulling the car over. The only example I can think of is what is done every morning when the flag is raised and every evening when the flag is lowered. Pedestrians not in uniform stand with right hand or hat-in-right-hand over heart; pedestrians in uniform keep their hats on and salute; drivers pull over and keep the vehicle stationary. When I first lived on base, it was decidedly odd to get used to all this twice daily.

[(Anonymous)]

Being Italian, even just standing up sounds bizarre. In fact, I would have said "sounds surreal" if I hadn't lived in Ireland long enough by now...

(Still, I'm hearing the anthem at the end of the evening a lot less than say 10 years ago -- and a lot fewer people stand up for it. But maybe it's only Dublin...)

[cill-ros.livejournal.com]

I remember reading an official publication about (possibly defunct) protocol for the Irish national anthem. I think for women it's holding the hand over the heart, and for men it's holding the hat over the heart. Of course that dated from the time when men wore hats.

Whenever I've gone to a match which the President has attended, at least half the crowd stands at the presidential salute thinking it's the national anthem.