Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep

[Hulababy]

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4782856.stm\PC gone mad?}

Are people really offended by the traditional words to the nursery rhyme Baa baa Black Sheep?

Apparantly this time it isn't just for PC reasons either, but to further develop childreb's language skills.

"Pact has established that children sing a variety of descriptive words in the nursery rhyme to turn the song into an action rhyme," the charity said in a statement.

"They sing happy, sad, bouncing, hopping, pink, blue, black and white sheep etc and they also exchange boy and girl at the end of the rhyme.

"This encourages the children to extend their vocabulary and use up some energy.""

Now, I can see changing/replacing occassionally black for white. Yes, that makes sense. But I have never yet met or seen a rainbow coloured sheep. Very confusing!

Yes, absolutely baa-ing mad! DD2 sings black sheep and has a second verse:

"Thank you," said the master
"Thank you," said the dame
"Thank you," said the little boy who lived down the lane.

I rather suspect PAct is beinga bit optimistic.
My kids started nurery rhymes like most other kids with

bah bah baach ship
howwoo nenenee wooo
yetsir yetsir
free gags foo

By the time they hit colours, nursery rhymes were less important sources of vocabulary.

Anyway "rainbow sheep" doesn't scan, maybe the people who did this were language graduates and thus has depleted vocabularies ?

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1372&threadid=153553&stamp=060310102651\the other thread on this}

I cannot understand how this is at all offensive to anyone. After all there are black sheep and white sheep. I am actually a kind of pinky off-white colour. Perhaps I ought to sing bah bah bah pinky off-white sheep, have you any sense.

Ridiculous indeed. I had to laugh as my (exclusively asian) reception class was singing 'Baa Baa white sheep' to me last week. Why change it?