Quote:
Originally Posted by Preston327
Lol, comments written late at night may not always make full sense. My family has a coat of arms which I know the meaning of having had it explained to me but as far as technical terms go I only know some of the colors and metals.
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Beware -- Here comes the geeky heraldist in me. (Sorry, this thread just is bringing it out.
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It's
very common in America to refer to a family's coat-of-arms -- my family has a coat of arms, too.
But in European countries where there are actually legal authorities that grant coats of arms and regulate their usage (and where the families of most of those of us who have "family" coats of arms came from), there is no such thing as a family coat-of-arms.
In countries like England and Scotland, coats-of-arms are the personal property of an individual. They belong to one person only, and it is illegal for anyone else to use them. If dad is noble and armigerous (entitled to a coat-of-arms) and dies, then it is possible that his eldest son will inherent the arms along with dad's title. But, despite the many companies that will try to sell us Americans the Smythe coat-of-arms, there really ain't no such thing.
[/nerdy heraldist]
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