to think that rastamouse is the best thing since sliced bread for pre-schoolers on cbeebies?

[semi]

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8293129/Rastamouse-CBeebies-preview.html

I hope it's on over the weekend so I can catch it.

Jesus, I'm not sitting DD down in front of the tv and saying "Here is an accurate representation of the whole Jamaican culture darling, isn't it wonderful, life is just like that where your Daddy is from!"

It's just good to be able to say "oh look, it's rasta mouse, he's Jamaican like you are" and it's on mainstream children's television - it is so rare to find anything mainstream that even makes reference to Jamaica, let alone a whole programme made up of entirely Jamaican characters!

DD isn't suddenly going to start talking with a Jamaican accent, but it's good for her to hear one.

Now, I get the piss taken out of me because I am so fussy about grammar and pronunciation, I'm always correcting DD, and she learns.
My friend thinks it's hilarious to get DD in the habit of saying 'paff, baff, laff' etc instead of 'path, bath and laugh', which is one of my pet hates.

But I really don't have an issue with children hearing Jamaican accents on television. If it was a pakistani, south african or even a bloody geordie accent, would you be complaining then? I doubt it very much!

does everything have to be absolutly correct to the t? whats wrong with your child using the word ting?

i think its funny, its not meant to be an accurate representation of a certain type of person, i mean its a talking mouse.

why has no one complained that mice dont actually speak english instead?

whoever said they dont know any black people? are you for real? i feel for you and your children if you are that socially segregagated from normal life

And hang on - Irish people say 'ting' aswell, just how they pronounce it, it's their accent.

Oh, but they aren't stereotyped as all being red stripe drinking, weed smoking rasta's are they?

no but they are often depicted in other negative ways

But why do the girl mice wear skirts and yet the boy mice don't wear pants?

KnittedBreast - I know they are, but there wouldn't be any complaints about mice with a thick Irish accent would there?!

DH is Jamaican, and I think he likes it more than DD does! I've bought one of the books so he can do the bed-time story without having to put any effort in for the voices.

Yes it's simplistic and this might lead to some stereotypes in there, but it's a TV show for pre-school children so I kind of expect a bit of that. If someone were to ask me to decribe the "stereotypical" rasta, it certainly wouldn't be someone whizzing about on a skateboard solving mysteries.

As for my in-laws living in Jamaica, I think they'd be really proud that their small nation has had such an impact on British culture.

I think it's nice that my daughter can watch a show where the characters sound a bit like her Dad and his family. I've obviously got no hope of her growing up speaking "proper" English

I think it's cute, dd adores it already and sings the theme tune, what's not to like?
It pisses on boring crap like Waybuloo (another one with 'incorrect' language)!

Interesting LDN and Harpy,
My DH told me about this yesterday. He thought it was off too (he's white, I'm mixed race) and was quite disappointed that this was the best the BBC could come up as a programme referencing black people and culture. Sounds as though DS will not be watching it again. I think you may be right that white middle-class progressives will like it most.

saying 'paff, baff, laff' etc instead of 'path, bath and laugh', which is one of my pet hates.
Seriously? The short vowel isn't wrong, it is a regional variation.

I think you seem to be overthinking it,it's a kids show ffs,if they had geordie accents and it was called geordie mouse would you still be moaning that it was full of stereotypes I doubt it.My kids are jamaican and they love it

I love it. We don't know anyone Jamaican (DD's grandfather is Guyanese but doesn't have much of an accent) but so far DD hasn't had any trouble understanding what's going on. She's already picking up a fine American accent from Bear in the Big Blue Sodding House, so why not Jamaican as well?

It's not about the accents in our house we just find the whole programme rubbish and Rasta mice a bit naff.

DD loves it and is at this very moment running round singing "Give It Up" as she tries to remember the theme song. She could watch Rastamouse and Octonauts all day, easily.

i am struggling to think of any other kids show where the characters have a really thick accent.A very light accent maybe but not your full on Glaswegian or Geordie.

olduninBoden - Driver Dan's story train, the camel is a proper brummy and the dinosaur is very geordie.

And Tinga tinga tales, the animals had african accents.

Big and Small were brummie because Lenny Henry was doing the voices.

DS got bored after 2 minutes and asked me to put shaun the sheep on.

all I really need to know really.

There are quite a lot of regional accents of one kind or another on CBeebies. They probably don't seem like strong accents to people who live in those particular regions but I'm guessing that the Jamaican accents in Rastamouse also wouldn't seem particularly strong to those who come from that part of the world. Plus there are tons and tons of American accents on other channels. Maybe those don't sound strong because we are so used to hearing them?

"Ferret-Exactly my point.The above programmes have been roundly ctiticised by educationalists because the characters do not speak properly."

princess party - hang on a minute - those programmes may have been "roundly criticised", but not by a majority of educationalists I'm certain. Ann Wood, who made the Teletubbies and Night Garden, is a speech and language therapist, (as am I), and the speech/language used within those programmes is entirely appropriate for the target audience. Brilliantly made programmes in my opinion.