Mallorca’s Flag Pun

The town of Manacor on the island of Mallorca off the coast of Spain is famous for being the home of Rafael Nadal, the big tennis star.

But there’s another thing that’s really remarkable about that town, and that is the town flag.

You can look it up on the internet.

It’s yellow with four horizontal red stripes.

And in the center, there is an image of a human hand holding a red heart.

And we’re not talking like a Valentine’s heart.

We’re talking about a human heart, a red human heart, which forms, as it turns out, a visual pun.

It’s like a rebus of the town’s name.

Because the Catalan word ma means hand, like Spanish mano, and cor means a heart, like corazon in Spanish.

So it’s mana cor.

It’s a pun on a flag.

Oh, that’s a great flag.

You know, I’ve never seen that.

I follow the Vexillology subreddit.

Of course you do.

I’ve never seen it.

Yeah, it’s a lovely group filled with amazing people who always post real flags and plus ones they’ve made up.

And they’re always really fantastic.

Yes, vexillologists.

But I’ve never seen that one.

I’ll have to post that one.

Take a look.

It almost looks like a cartoon, but you won’t forget it once you see it.

But, yes, vexillology.

So that’s manicure.

That’s fantastic.

Well, what’s your interest?

What’s your sideline?

And how does it plug into language?

Because you know they all do.

Let us know words@waywordradio.org.