We have definitely gone mad

[DTCwordfan]

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a bungee jump fall
All the King's horses and the King's men
made Humpty smile again"

The PC version of that old kids fav....... and yes,many others have been bastardised such as "What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor" - now we can't have references to alcohol can we - and the line "Put him in the brig until he is sober" has become "Do a little jig and make him smile."

We have truly lost it......

To the point that the Heritage Lottery Fund is putting up £585,400 to fund "The Full English" project with the English Folk Dance and Song Society to restore these classics - as not only is our English lit heritage being eroded by the PCites but many kids have a better knowledge of Euroepan or African songs, and those are being taught in schools.

On one hand, it's unbelievable, on the other we need to spend half a mill to preserve our culture, half a mill that could have gone elsewhere.

Source: Sunday Telegraph today

Open to your comments on this.....over to you!

[mushroom25]

the EFDSS themselves don't quite describe the reason for the heritage lottery grant in the same manner as the telegraph - here's a copy of their own press release:-

http://www.efdss.org/news/newsId/259

[DTCwordfan]

true, mushroom, that doesn't sell papers. There's a first in the ST today, the cover front page is a Christan Dior ad - the real front page is inside - how much have they paid for that?.....£150k at least I would think.

[mushroom25]

actually whilst searching for the EFDSS article on the telegraph website, I was hi-jacked by the piece on the business case for HS2 - very illuminating.

[sp1814]

Never understand why people get so upset about PC this and PC that.

Just teach your kids the songs from your youth and instill your values into them. If other people want to change the words to nursery rhymes (and by the way, I don't believe an act of parliament has gone through FORCING us to sing the updated version) - then let them do so.

I recently watched a documentary about life in the Sudan. I would lay bets that the majority of the people interviewed would LOVE it, if political correctness was the number one issue they had to deal with.

We are SO lucky that we live in a country where we have the luxury to spend time on piffle.

[Tilly2]

Exactly who are the 'PC brigade'? Is it a committee, a think tank, a gov. department. Who are they and how come they're able to tell us what to sing the our children?

[Kiki-frog]

Mr Frog does border morris, i.e. the kind where they paint their faces black, wear ragged coats and bash each other with sticks. His side were approached by the Royal Shakespeare Company with a view to doing a trailer for Romeo & Juliet. The idea was that they'd film a border side and a cotswold side (the ones dressed in white with bells and white hankies) having a sort of dance battle, representing the Montagus and Capulets. However, the RSC got cold feet about it because they thought the blacked faces would be offensive. How sad is that?

They were also booked to perform at a school fete, but the booking was cancelled at the last minute, in case the make-up caused offence. Interestingly it was one of the school dads, an Asian, who was quoted in the local paper saying that the decision was 'bloody ridiculous' and 'why can't the English stand up for their traditions and not be railroaded by political correctness?'. A good question.

[erin-x]

My brothers version of Humpty Dumpty that I still sing to the kids at the nursery...

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men said,
"Aww no! Not scrambled eggs again!!"

:D

[mushroom25]

humpty dumpty was an egg???

:-0

[lozzer50]

ten green bottle standing on a wall and if one green bottle should accidentally fall call 00328384747 to make a claim !

[sp1814]

By the way - I see that the infamous 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' story is still rumbling on, despite the fact that it is and always was...cobblers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk...education/4782856.stm

[Kiki-frog]

sp1814 - was that all untrue then? I'm sure I remember Birmingham City Council trying to introduce Baa Baa Green Sheep at one time. They were certainly daft enough to try to ban Christmas and introduce Winterval (cringe) instead.

[sp1814]

Nope - its a story that gained traction, and word of mouth gave it longevity...a bit like that story of a borough council who planned to rename Christmas, to Winterval.

It was never true.

[Kiki-frog]

Just googled the Winterval story. I must admit, I always believed it to be true, but it seems to have been a figment of the fevered imagination of the dear old Daily Mail!

[starone]

It is absolutely ridiculous - and frightening. But more to the point - what can you (or me) or anyone come to that - do about it?

[sp1814]

katiekonker

Please explain.

[anotheoldgit]

Seems strange that no one has bothered to provide the Telegraph link so that most of us can find out what it is all about.

http://www.telegraph....-childrens-songs.html

Someone asked who do we have to blame for all this PC nonsense, well regarding the 'Drunken Sailor' it appears it was the Government in 2009.

/// In 2009, a Government-funded song book changed the lyrics of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor? to remove any reference to alcohol or punishment. ///

Regarding the funding it is a money well spent if it preserves some of our English heritage.

Perhaps they should also consider preserving some of the old children's playground games.

[sp1814]

Do kids actually sing these songs anymore?

[mushroom25]

somebody must still have an interest in them - Peter & Iona Opie's 1959 book "The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren" was republished as recently as 2000.

[erin-x]

We sing them all the time at nursery, SP. For developmental reasons mostly. They go along with storytelling in my view. People criticize old fairytales just as much as the nursery rhymes which I think is ludicrous! I can't remember anyone being scared of Goldilocks or Little Red Riding Hood when I was wee!!