"On 7-03-2006 my daily
newspaper carried a story of a local authority that
banned the Nursery Rhyme about "Baa Baa Black Sheep," on
the grounds that the use of the word 'black' might
offend some people.
It was suggested
that the rhyme should be changed to 'Rainbow Sheep.'
Honest!!!
How daft can this
world get? This is my response.
Rainbow
Sheep
We're living in
such crazy times,
With some 'upset'
at nursery rhymes,
If this should
shock, that's tough: I'll risk it,
But 'Rainbow
Sheep? just takes the biscuit.
If black's
offensive with regard to sheep,
Did anyone bother
telling Little Bo Peep?
And, perhaps, Snow
White we should re-write,
Also Mary's lambs,
whose fleece was white.
There are also
matters of a different hue,
What comes to
mind? It's Little Boy Blue,
And how about
these other words,
Black spot is one,
blackout, blackbirds.
If I was in a
real, black mood,
Would I be
offensive, sick or rude?
It's the daftest
thing I've ever heard,
Much 'PC speak' is
just absurd.
Some Scottish
sheep I've seen were tartan,
Tell that to kids
in kindergarten,
Would some folk
start to shout and bellow,
Because Dorothy's
winding brick road's yellow?
Bobby Shaftoe,
it's said, was fine and fair,
When combing down
his yellow hair,
And are there any
further shocks,
In the ancient
tale of Goldie Locks?
Jack broke his
head when he fell down,
The paper
'bandage' used was brown,
Our world's
becoming ever duller,
With some obsessed
by words of colour.
Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!
should, surely, face a ban,
For smelling the
blood of an Englishman,
Why not someone of
a different nation,
Or would that,
too, be an abomination?
Finally, the child
born on the Sabbath day,
Is fair of face
and good and gay,
When reading that,
are some offended?
It's time this 'PC
lark' was ended.
I was born a
Sunday's child, and it's something I hold dear,
But I'm not fair,
or good or gay: now isn't that just queer?
And as for Rainbow
Sheep, when the Daily Express got wind,
Common sense
quickly prevailed and the daft idea was binned.
'George Kirby 2006
Rainbow
sheep
