This was not the only time that someone confused the Slovak flag I had with the Slovenian one. It was a pleasant surprise for me, when someone who was neither Czech nor Slovak, asked, if I am from Slovakia. But it is not only at Tour de France that people confuse these two small countries. Several years ago, a man in New Zealand killed his neighbor and started eating him. At first the man was said to be Slovak. Thank God the media corrected themselves, as the guy was from Slovenia.
These two states are too similar. Both have almost the same name. Both have the same flag only with two different emblems. Their largeness is also comparative. Even the same currency, the Euro, is being used in Slovenia and in Slovakia. A foreigner would not even recognize the languages of the two nations from each other. So what is the difference?
The most basic one: Slovakia lies in the central Europe, while Slovenia can be considered as a part of southern Europe. While Slovakia has no access to a sea, Slovenia has one. As compensation Slovaks have really nice mountains and a large number of castles. Also the languages: Slovak is similar to Czech and Polish, while Slovenian is close to Croatian and Serbian languages. We also have conflicts with different nations: Slovenians have problems with Croatians and Slovaks with Hungarians. Of course there are different traditions, different mentality and so on.
So how shall we fix this problem? I would recommend that one state should change its flag. For example it could be Slovakia. The problem is what kind of flag would be the best. Almost all good ones are already taken. If we would remove the emblem, our flag would be the same as the other tricolored ones, like Russia, the Netherlands or Luxembourg. It is not easy to find a new one as around 180 flags already exist. I took the effort and found a possible Slovak flag. It could have a dark blue background and in the middle a big white S for Slovakia. That is not all. Our Slovak emblem should also be there and directly in the middle of the S.
So one problem is solved, but still one remains. I will use an example to illustrate it. Even though Australia and Austria in are two different states with two different flags sharing only a similar name, in the USA you can encounter this kind of a reaction:
“So you are from Austria? Cool. Must be amazing leaving with kangaroos, dude!”
Therefore we should also change the name of our state as Slovenia and Slovakia basically mean the same thing: land of the Slavs. But to what should it be renamed? I am no etymologist so I am not able to find a new name. This job should be done by someone else. There should not be a big difference between the old and the new name, but one that should differ these two states.
The thing is that even if we would change the name of our country, people are still going to confuse us with our neighbor, the Czech Republic. I give up. Slovakia and Slovenia are just too small and unimportant countries, which are noticed by the big nations only when something negative happens or when there is nothing else to write about. For that reason we are always going to be confused. A change of a flag or a name would not help. That is how it is.
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