Getting the joke 30 years later - just me?

[HappySquid]

I have just realised that Shaun the Sheep's name is a play on words (Shaun/shorn). Feeling rather sheepish.

Has anyone else come across a joke that only sunk in many years later or is it just me?!

I’m from the north east and don’t pronounce my rs as ws but do pronounce Shaun and shorn the same way. I’d hate to have to learn English as a second language!

This makes me think of all the discussion about how Shakespeare's plays should be spoken, eg. "Talk like a pirate" https://fb.watch/wcKbPz0qO1/

Well???

Like in the show then?!

Omg!!!! 🐓🐓🐓

@HarlanPepper @marmamia 50 elephants ejaculating 🐘

Yes it's this

I also don't rhyme cross and sauce. The o in cross sounds to me like the o in pot and the au in sauce sounds like the au in Shaun, which for me sounds just like shorn because I don't pronounce the r.

I don’t understand Turning Japanese either? What is it?

I worked with someone whose surname was Onions pronounced... Onions.(Unyuns)

Google the word Fester.

Most people know what fester means…thought it was going to be more convoluted than that.

Oh jeez! I didn’t know that either 🙈😆

Thanks for that! Now you're not the only one, as I didn't realise either...I just presumed Shaun was just a name for the sheep🐑😆

It's slang for masturbation and refers to the facial expression you might pull at climax...

I discussed this thread yesterday with my family (Shaun & shorn rhyme in our accents), my 22yo just sat there looking confused and questioning what we were talking about even with explanations.
Turned out he'd never heard the word "shorn" so didn't have a clue what we were talking about!

Pronunciations for

Or

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/pUfupeA7/IGmq0nXm

Aw

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/gtVrpRo3/JrgYCCUp

Au

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/TlzjF0oc/Tgk0TPhR

So you can see how shorn and Shaun sound the same in some accents. Didn’t you hear it in the theme song?

"Didn’t you hear it in the theme song?"

@TheDowagerCountessofPembroke think this is all you need to say.

The word shorn isn’t in the theme song is it? Or did I miss it?😁

If not, how does the song help?

Shorn is the word that sounds different in different accents (it’s like Shaun in some accents, not in others).

Shaun the Sheep had his own tv series, where Shaun rhymes with shorn in the theme tune.

I think the thing is though that Shaun is pronounced the same in much of the U.K., but shorn isn’t.

Shaun and shorn as spoken by Peter Sallis sound the same.

I don’t think it matters really about where in the world they do or don’t sound the same, as Peter Sallis was the one doing the voices.

After about 10 years of Peppa pig in my house I had a light bulb moment recently. Madame Gazelle is a play on Mademoiselle

Yes that’s it. People for whom shorn doesn’t rhyme wilth Shaun will have no idea of the pun (unless they saw the original film apparently).

The words don’t sound the same in my accent so there’s no way I’d ever have thought of shorn on hearing Shaun. Obviously I totally understand it works for other people but I had to be told the joke (read about it on MN actually).

I’d seen episodes of Shaun the Sheep on tv for years with the kids and…no, not a clue. The word shorn just didn’t come up in the episodes I saw and it’s not something I’d just randomly guess or think of. It doesn’t matter who’s doing the voices unless they emphasise the word play aspect of the name and if Peter Sallis did that, well, I must have missed that bit.