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AIBU?

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Original poster

To see nothing wrong in the traditional nursery rhyme "Baa Baa blck sheep"

120 replies

Reallytired · 29/05/2010 22:47

According to my daugher's nursery the nursery rhyme "Baa Baa black sheep" is racist. They have to sing "Baa Baa multi-coloured rainbow sheep".

Why is the traditional version considered offensive? It seems to me PC gone mad.

OP posts:
mumofthreesweeties · 29/05/2010 23:07

sorry I meant that in conjunction with the 'black sheep'

Nifa86 · 29/05/2010 23:08

TheNextMrsDepp what does a naughty sheep do in a nativity?? Just curious

PortiaNovmerriment · 29/05/2010 23:08

Can't believe this is still doing the rounds

longfingernailspaintedblue · 29/05/2010 23:08

I am deeply racist when it comes to animals.

For example I strongly prefer marmalade cats to white/black/grey ones.

TeamEdward · 29/05/2010 23:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PrettyCandles · 29/05/2010 23:11

I don't know - I haven't heard of Jacob sheep before!

Interesting about the origin of the song. If thatsthe case, thenblack must have been chosen fir alliteration, because there certainly wouldn't have been a lot of wool from black sheep. But was it really a 1/3 tithe to the chur h? I thought it was 1/10 - that figure being the source on the word 'tithe'.

bronze · 29/05/2010 23:11

In Russia they say white crow to mean the one who doesn't fit in.

AvrilHeytch · 29/05/2010 23:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bronze · 29/05/2010 23:12

Quite a lot of the welsh mountain breeds are black. They are most definitely not rainbow

juneybean · 29/05/2010 23:13

In the 6 nurseries I've had placements/worked in in the past 4 years it's never been banned. Don't be so ridiculous.

LordVolAuVent · 29/05/2010 23:15

Clearly the naughty sheep was unmentionably naughty! I can only imagine...

My DS is half North African Arab, I know he'll get cast as the (probably naughty) camel in the nativity

Missus84 · 29/05/2010 23:17

Are you sure it's because it's "racist" - did the nursery actually tell you that?

Lots of nurseries sing lots of different colours of sheep. Not because black is racist, but because the children enjoy the variety.

bronze · 29/05/2010 23:18

Lord- will he get the hump about it though?

MNHubbie · 29/05/2010 23:18

As others have said if your nursery is doing this you need to have a polite word with them about updating their diversity training and actually checking with one of the many appropriate charitable groups that promote racial diversity to see if they are acting correctly or as the Daily Mail would have them act.

This reminds me of the "ban" on having a "brainstorming session". In two schools I've taught in I was told explicitly that it was banned and we had to have a "thought shower" or some other garbage. The idiot at one school didn't even know why it was banned she'd just heard it was and decided to stop it to comply. I told her I wouldn't comply until she told me what the issue was...

...she came back later to tell me it was offensive to those suffering from fits or epilepsy. I retorted that she needed to go check her facts as the only thing the epilepsy society found offensive was having seizures called fits and that they often had brain storming sessions.

In the second school I just told the daft (nonteaching)person that she could take it up with the head (who I knew to be a fair, well educated and non-knee-jerk-reactionary type person). Strangely I never heard any more about it and it was dropped from the new staff briefing from then on...

LordVolAuVent · 29/05/2010 23:20

lol bronze - I will, I want Joseph and nothing else. Every sodding year. If they dare cast him as camel (even well-behaved camel) I will have them for racial discrimination before they can draw breath.

DuelingFanjo · 29/05/2010 23:21

OP, funny I love these pisstake threads.

Nifa86 · 29/05/2010 23:21

So many people believe these stories though juneybean as I said earlier my DD's nursery sing wooly sheep, even though I'm fairly certain this is an urban myth!!

MilkNoSugarPlease · 29/05/2010 23:24

Have had this sung in nurserys, playgroups etc

madness

toccatanfudge · 29/05/2010 23:25

mumofthreesweeties...........did YOU ever see any sheep in Zimbabwe?

I'm sitting here thinking of all the trips around the country I made, mombe's (cows) by the truck load, chickens, donkeys, goats......but I don't ever recall seeing any sheep..............or pigs for that matter - how odd

daisy5678 · 29/05/2010 23:25

Yep, J is 8 now but his nursery sang woolly sheep, not black sheep. Agree that the urban myth probably created the reality as a member of staff read it/ heard about it and thought, ooh, we'd better change too!

bronze · 29/05/2010 23:30

a lot of the time in really hot countries the sheep look like goats anyway not fat and wooly like here.

toccatanfudge · 29/05/2010 23:32

no the goats I saw were definitely goats.........

TheNextMrsDepp · 29/05/2010 23:33

Well, she was more "disobedient" than naughty, if you see what I mean.
In the event, she refused to go onstage because her trousers were a bit too long....

TheNextMrsDepp · 29/05/2010 23:34

WHITE trousers, of course (not black, no, not black).

bronze · 29/05/2010 23:36

I watched a program where they were doing tests on sheep and I'm sure that was in Zimbabwe. Red Maasais crossed with something. I remember it was to do with worms....