Hoisting a flag upside down is an old navy signal that a ship is in distress.
And after the nightmarish opening weeks of Sean Spicer's stint as White House press secretary, he can be forgiven for sending out that same signal.
Spicer was giving a routine briefing in the press room overnight when one eagle-eyed journalist spotted something was wrong.
Spicer's flag pin, which politicians in America have begun habitually wearing on their lapels in recent years, was upside down.
"Happy Friday," he said as he took to the podium.
"Two more days until the work week's over."
Spicer gave a statement to the press corps, then asked if the journalists had any questions.
"Your pin's upside down," one reporter said at the first opportunity.
"Is that a distress call, Sean?"
Spicer smiled and turned red as he corrected the error.
It may have been a mistake made because of weariness or clumsiness, or maybe just because that from his perspective, it was the right way up.
But the former Navy Reserve Commander would have known the traditional meaning of the inverted stars and stripes.
What makes the minor mishap all the more embarrassing for Spicer is knowing that it will soon work its way into one of Melissa McCarthy's Saturday Night Live sketches.