Why Does the Flag at MacKay's Hardware Have Blue Toenails?

Recently, one Westford resident asked Westford Patch why the flag on the wall at has a blue tongue, toenails and fingernails, but after researching the issue, it appears there is no one consensus answer on the topic.

The flag, better known as the “Lion Rampant” or the Royal Standard of Scotland, has been used by royalty in Scotland since 1212, and it is technically illegal to fly it in Scotland since 1672 with the exception of the monarch, the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, and several other royal lieutenants.

Although the flag can still be seen at soccer matches and King George V gave permission for Scots to fly small versions of the flag in 1935 for patriotic reasons, 100 pound fines put forth in the 1672 legislation are still levied upon anyone in Scotland that tries to fly the flag on a flagpole or post it from a building.

As for the blue tongue and talons of the lion, better known as the “armed and langued Azure”, we found multiple theories ranging from a link between the blue on St. Andrew’s Cross (the national flag of Scotland) and the fact that Scotland can get very cold and the blue may have indicated frostbite.

No one theory was able to be corroborated and according to the representatives of the office of the Lord Lyon, Scotland’s official office on all Scottish heraldry ranging from this flag to tartans to clan crests, the true symbolism of the armed and langued Azure has been lost with time, although they noted that any Lion Rampant flag without it was inauthentic.