h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have just been speaking to a farmer friend in the South Island of NZ

The first lambs of the new season have just been born. Triplets.

Spooky.

If only I had known the response my link would generate..... That's what I get for having taught preschool though.

Triplets?! That's weird!

The sheep were probably eating genetically modified grass.

The lambs all look like mum I'm told.

Their names are Rudolph, Randolf and But Wait! There's More

Maresey doats and daresey doats, and little lambsy divy!

Did you know that Dolly the Sheep is, in fact, not a proper clone, but only a half-clone???? What the difference is I've no idea. (Changing the subject as I had no idea what to make of that last comment!)

It's an Old Folk Song. I take no responsibility for the aforementioned post by myself.
I thought Dolly was cloned solely from adult sheep cells.

I apologise for any slur that I may have attributed to you for that Folk Song - makes you wonder what the Old Folks get up to, doesn't it?

As for Dolly, apparently not only does she have some cloned DNA, but some DNA of her mother too. There won't be an endless supply of Lintilla's just yet...

Damn! That means that the plan I drew up for syndicated Dolly Burgers will prob fail.

Jealousy it is.

The sheep in the northern hemisphere are ugly.

So, do you prefer Blond sheep, or Brunettes?????

Baa baa black sheep
whines a bludging creep
have you any wool
yes I have you fool
you can have some
from around my bum

Aha! I thought so!
I wonder of we can develop a construction of "otherness" in terms of sheep-affiliation? As has been said above: for English people, its the Welsh and sheep; for west coast Americans, its Wyomingites and sheep; for Australians its New Zealanders and sheep; for New Zealanders, its South Islanders and sheep, etc. Ergo - anyone who is not one of "us" becomes a sheep-shagger! What a strange world we live in.

Not exactly... it seems that a larger community - a community on historical, geographic or otherwise basis - defines a limited part of itself, one which is on the verge of not even being a part, as "shepherds" (which then automatically boils down to sheep-shaggers, for a semantic slip that should be carefully analysed).

Two examples that come to my mind immediately: Italians and Sardinians; Ex-Yugoslavs and Montenegrins.

Where does Little Bo Peep fit into all this? Was she a voyeur down the back paddock?

Little Bo peep lost her sheep...therefor she doesn't really care for them (except with mint sauce)

Is there a sexist angle to this Sheep business, as whenever you hear people talk of sheep-shaggers, they're always male. I mean, what do the women in Wales/New Zealand/South Islands/America do???

Knitting. Wooly jumpers usually

Oh.

What else would they knit?!