Do you say "hoist a flag", "fly a flag" or something else? Aug 15 is Independence Day in India. We don't have fireworks but they hoist flags. So I was wondering whether "hoisting a flag" is standard

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Mak

Do you say "hoist a flag", "fly a flag" or something else? Aug 15 is Independence Day in India. We don't have fireworks but they hoist flags. So I was wondering whether "hoisting a flag" is standard English or Indian English. What do you call the action of putting up a flag on the pole? Is there any difference in American English and British English?

Aug 13, 2014 5:25 PM

Answers · 6

In America, we will say both "hoist the flag" and "fly the flag," but they mean different things. "Hoist the flag" would be said about the action of raising the flag. (We also say "raise the flag.") "Fly the flag" is not the action of raising the flag, but simply the idea that the flag is already raised.

August 13, 2014

"Hoist the flag" is common throughout the English speaking world, though perhaps "raise the flag" is more often used. "Fly the flag" is the least common in my opinion.

August 13, 2014

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