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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be furious over 'ba ba spotty sheep'

217 replies

Littlesmiler · 20/12/2016 15:18

As the title really! My DD started school nursery in September, and this past week, when she has been at home and singing nursery rhymes with us, she's been singing baa baa spotty sheep as opposed to black sheep.

We have always sang the 'black sheep' version as it's what myself and DP learned when we were little and as it is the 'proper' version. All the family sing the classic version also, as is traditional. So the only place that's singing this ridiculous version is school.

I just can't believe they're changing a kiddy nursery rhyme that's been around for god knows how long, as someone somewhere has deemed it inappropriate? I'd love to know why- as black sheep are an actual thing! Would it be the same if it was 'white sheep'? Probably not.

Just so annoyed, probably being irrational as I've had the implant out after 3 years and having my first visit from Mother Nature 🙈

AIBU to just want classic nursery rhymes to stay as the classic version??

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 20/12/2016 15:40

If this upsets you, wait til you hear that you're not allowed to say Christmas any more, you have to call it Winterval........

hazeyjane · 20/12/2016 15:41

Did you ask the nursery why, if it made you so FURIOUS!?

Or was that tricky because the nursery only existed within the pages of the Daily Shite (and let's face it, none of us like venturing in there)

CancellyMcChequeface · 20/12/2016 15:41

I once worked with a nursery teacher who insisted on singing 'spotty sheep.' I thought it was utterly bizarre. If it started out as a myth, she must have heard it and thought that it was a good idea. The rest of the staff always sang 'black sheep' so the words changed depending on who was leading the singing - it was her personal preference and not some stupid policy from the school or LA, at least.

'Furious' is a bit strong, but yes, this sort of thing is annoying and unnecessary.

Footinmouthasusual · 20/12/2016 15:42

To the earlier posts can assure you we were told to sing white sheep but it's not a biggie really is ir? Could sing any colour and who cares

Serialweightwatcher · 20/12/2016 15:42

I think it's ridiculous .... it's a sheep and it was always a sheep and that's all

xStefx · 20/12/2016 15:43

So what happens if the sheep is actually fucking black? FFS

BertrandRussell · 20/12/2016 15:44

"'Furious' is a bit strong, but yes, this sort of thing is annoying and unnecessary."

and doesn't happen

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 20/12/2016 15:44

Spotty is completely the ridiculous - it doesn't scan!

hangry · 20/12/2016 15:44

my daughter really confused me when she was at nursery as she sang "thank you shadowmaster". it sounded very creepy. took me ages to work out it was actually "thank you said the master" from ba ba black sheep.

they also did the spotty sheep verse as well as the black sheep one.

OhhBetty · 20/12/2016 15:45

I don't understand things like this. Black isn't an offensive term or word. I think maybe some people think it is or something. In my school there was a ban on saying blackboard but not whiteboard. Some of the black students put a complaint in about the ban actually.

natwebb79 · 20/12/2016 15:46

"It's an educational setting for toddlers, not heritage songs preservation committee."

Grin
Ahickiefromkinickie · 20/12/2016 15:46

Just googled it and it is a bit racially dubious... Master? Black sheep? Yes, sir, yes sir?

Seems to be about the slave trade but not confirmed.

Footinmouthasusual · 20/12/2016 15:46

Winteval was an idea in my home city Brum around early nineties that started in Nov and went to Jan and included all religious and non religious celebrations so Divali Christmas etc. It was a lovely inclusive time and it's a shame it was completely lied about as trying to rebrand Christmas as it wasn't.

OrigamiOverload · 20/12/2016 15:47

It's just a different version, no reason to be furious. I sing it as : "Baa baa purple sheep, have you any spots? Yes sir, yes sir, lots and lots. One on my head and one on my tummy. One on my nose and that's not funny!" I was a nursery teacher and sang that version with all the colours of the rainbow as well as the traditional one.

Dakota1 · 20/12/2016 15:48

Are you sure that your child got the lyrics right, as in there might have been further discussion on the song and she liked spotty more? Eh, I don't know ...

sanityisamyth · 20/12/2016 15:49

My DS sings it as Baa Baa White Sheep - he's learned this at nursery - he's been at 3 since 8 months and it's in all of them. PC gone mad Angry

CancellyMcChequeface · 20/12/2016 15:49

and doesn't happen

There's no way to prove anything on an internet forum, but I hardly have anything to gain by lying about it. Confused My colleague did sing 'spotty sheep.' She was the only one. Everyone else thought it was a bit odd of her.

TaraCarter · 20/12/2016 15:50

This rhyme was first printed inTommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, the oldest surviving collection of English language nursery rhymes, published c. 1744 with the lyrics very similar to those still used today:

Bah, Bah, a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry have I,
Three Bags full,
One for my Master,
One for my Dame,
One for the Little Boy
That lives down the lane.[1]

In the next surviving printing, inMother Goose's Melody(c. 1765), the rhyme remained the same, except the last lines, which were given as, "But none for the little boy who cries in the lane".[1]

No-one sings the "merry" any more! It's an OUTRAGE!

FairNotFair · 20/12/2016 15:50

Gosh, I bet you're fumming, OP

JaniceBattersby · 20/12/2016 15:51

This has been a 'thing' at rhyme time round here for at least a decade. Three verses: black, white and pink. No offence taken by anyone; black, white or pink.

0/10 OP.

lyricaldancer · 20/12/2016 15:51

Just googled it and it is a bit racially dubious... Master? Black sheep? Yes, sir, yes sir?

Seems to be about the slave trade but not confirmed.

We were always told it was satirical and connected to the wool industry in England.

whoputthecatout · 20/12/2016 15:52

Never heard anything but 'black sheep' but then I am pretty old.

But we did enjoy a variation on Mary's little lamb.

Mary had a little lamb
Her father shot it dead
And now it goes to school with her
Between two lumps of bread.

lovelearning · 20/12/2016 15:55

she's been singing baa baa spotty sheep as opposed to black sheep

This is political correctness gone mad.

Baa baa pink sheep have you any spots?
Yes sir yes sir lots and lots
Lots on my fingers and lots on my toes
And lots on the end of my pink little nose

hahahahaha!!!!!

TheGruffaloMother · 20/12/2016 16:02

RE the blackboard & whiteboard thing...see my first comment. This is yet another example. It isn't a thing. The only people it is a thing to are those who've blindly believed it. Sadly, some of those people do work in schools, run rhyme time, etc.

ghostspirit · 20/12/2016 16:02

No one cares....