Page 2 | Dear Zoo needs a rewrite

fuffymeloncauli · 2024-08-31T17:10:40+00:00

Why are all the animals male? "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet." Is this gramatically correct?

Halloumiheaven · 31/08/2024 22:08

I wish we would all just drop this smacking hands of people that wrote books or made television programmes in times gone by....

Times have changed. If the tiger who came to tea was written today , I'm quite sure it'd read very differently indeed. But it's a book that's many years old- it was normal back then in most households for a woman to wear skirts, keep house, not work and have the tea on the table at 5pm for 'her man'. Eye roll inducing to today's world , but you know, as they say, the past is a foreign country.

Anyway...the dad did take them all out for a sausage and chip tea... ? Quite generous considering..😊

Original poster

fuffymeloncauli · 31/08/2024 22:05

Haroldwilson · 31/08/2024 21:41

For dear zoo, you can just pretend some of the animals are female.

I can. Until my child learns to read

OP posts:

Original poster

fuffymeloncauli · 31/08/2024 22:04

Sparae · 31/08/2024 21:32

If a zoo is running a breeding program, it makes sense to give away the male animals and keep the females. Just keep enough males to ensure genetic diversity.

Thank you. I can sort of accept this.

OP posts:

Ipompey · 31/08/2024 22:00

The Mr Men books have a lot of material to sort through...Tony Hawkes has dived deep

Ipompey · 31/08/2024 21:57

I always thought the Tiger was much darker although Judith Kerr down played it.
I think the tiger was the German military and the terrified Jewish mother was scared in her own home. Dad came home and they left Germany.

She also wrote when Hitler stole Pink Rabbit about getting out in a hurry.

LeatherJacketWedding · 31/08/2024 21:57

Redcliffe1 · 31/08/2024 21:00

I think the mum in the tiger that came to tea was an alcoholic with the tiger being the story she made up for not having food and drink in the house. The kid and dad just went along with it because no-one wanted to face reality.

🤣

reallyworriedjobhunter · 31/08/2024 21:50

I thought that the tiger was a sarcastic and pass ag story made up by the mum when daddy asked for his feckin dinner.

He takes the point that Sophie has been a little shit all day and so be gets them all out of the house for sausages and chips and ice cream.

On the way home he buys some nice wine for mummy and they all have a much better day tomorrow.

BarbaraHoward · 31/08/2024 21:50

Eggyleggy · 31/08/2024 21:43

This is exactly what I do. Down to the grumpy camel never being female. Also so pleased to hear my husband doing the same a couple of months ago.

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Ha!

Eggyleggy · 31/08/2024 21:43

BarbaraHoward · 31/08/2024 18:27

I alternate them when I read it - but do two male and then two female in a row so the grumpy camel is male and the perfect puppy is female.

This is exactly what I do. Down to the grumpy camel never being female. Also so pleased to hear my husband doing the same a couple of months ago.

Haroldwilson · 31/08/2024 21:41

For dear zoo, you can just pretend some of the animals are female.

Haroldwilson · 31/08/2024 21:40

IWillBeWaxingAnOwl · 31/08/2024 20:16

The inconsistencies in the stories bug me.

Blooming Goodnight Moon does not mention the socks and clock the first time round but then he says goodnight to them?! What an inconsistent little bunny (though the book never mentions that he is a rabbit).

I've been driven round the bend for years by the cake in spot bakes a cake. They open the oven and say it's ready but the cake is an irregular blobby shape. That's not how cakes work.

Pottingup · 31/08/2024 21:40

DS used to call giraffes ‘too talls’ because of Dear Zoo.

IWillBeWaxingAnOwl · 31/08/2024 21:34

Youre right, there's my internal sexism 😉 @Branconche - mentions that the other rabbit is elderly and female but not the sex of the child rabbit.

Monkeysatonthewall · 31/08/2024 21:33

Fink · 31/08/2024 18:36

Don't get me started on The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

But I agree about Dear Zoo too.

What about it?
Sorry, I want you to get started 😂

Sparae · 31/08/2024 21:32

If a zoo is running a breeding program, it makes sense to give away the male animals and keep the females. Just keep enough males to ensure genetic diversity.

BarbaraHoward · 31/08/2024 21:31

Redcliffe1 · 31/08/2024 21:00

I think the mum in the tiger that came to tea was an alcoholic with the tiger being the story she made up for not having food and drink in the house. The kid and dad just went along with it because no-one wanted to face reality.

This is an excellent interpretation.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 31/08/2024 21:28

The tiger drank "all the water in the tap". So, assuming the house has mains water, that's all the water in the reservoir? Aquifer? Always annoyed me that.

Branconche · 31/08/2024 21:13

IWillBeWaxingAnOwl · 31/08/2024 20:16

The inconsistencies in the stories bug me.

Blooming Goodnight Moon does not mention the socks and clock the first time round but then he says goodnight to them?! What an inconsistent little bunny (though the book never mentions that he is a rabbit).

Or that "he" is a he?!

Redcliffe1 · 31/08/2024 21:00

I think the mum in the tiger that came to tea was an alcoholic with the tiger being the story she made up for not having food and drink in the house. The kid and dad just went along with it because no-one wanted to face reality.

WizardOfAus · 31/08/2024 20:54

My sons used to have a book that said some shit like, “the farmer” plants the barley.

Then it went onto describe how….

The farmer’s “wife” harvests the barley.

Is she not a fucking farmer, too?! Or is she just a ‘wife’?!!

ZenNudist · 31/08/2024 20:52

I emailed the zoo to send me a pet
They sent me .... an alligator!
But they used Evri and the parcel was left out in the rain, its skin has shrunk
So I sent it back

I emailed the zoo to send me a pet
They sent me ... a dog
But it was an XL bully
So I sent it back

I emailed the zoo to send me a pet
They emailed back to offer me a penguin experience at £200 per person and child must be accompanied by an adult
It was too expensive due to the cost of living crisis
So I unsubscribed!

The End

WizardOfAus · 31/08/2024 20:49

katmarie · 31/08/2024 18:21

That did bug me, I used to read some of them as male and some as female. The kids had no idea, they couldn't read it!

This is exactly what I used to do.

Goldbar · 31/08/2024 20:38

BarbaraHoward · 31/08/2024 18:39

Daddy's home!

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This was my DC1's favourite book for a while so we've read it a million times. One time I remember mulling over the question of whether, rather than Mummy being singularly stupid and therefore unable to solve the problem of having no food in the house post-tiger visit, there wasn't some covert economic abuse going on here - silly Mummy couldn't possibly authorise a trip out to a cafe without the head of the family's say-so!

IWillBeWaxingAnOwl · 31/08/2024 20:16

The inconsistencies in the stories bug me.

Blooming Goodnight Moon does not mention the socks and clock the first time round but then he says goodnight to them?! What an inconsistent little bunny (though the book never mentions that he is a rabbit).

VestPantsandSocks · 31/08/2024 18:59

CurlewKate · 31/08/2024 18:47

@fuffymeloncauli "
You mean I can't phone them up and ask them to evri a giraffe to my house
You wouldn't be in. Even though you were.

😂