Now wait a minute, now! It turns out that someone in Great Britain is trying to make
"Grumpy" the new drunk. As reported by the
BBC News :
"Drunken sailors" have been removed from the lyrics of a nursery rhyme in a government-funded books project. But the Bookstart charity says the re-writing of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor? has "absolutely nothing to do with political correctness".
The charity says that the shift from drunken sailor to "grumpy pirate" was to make the rhyme fit a pirate theme, rather than censorship.
Put him in the brig until he's sober," has also been lost in the new version.
This latest ideological spat over nursery rhymes was sparked by the re-writing of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor.
[snip]
This is the latest in a series of disputes over nursery rhymes.
There were complaints in 2006 about pre-school children attending two nurseries in Oxfordshire being taught "Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep".
Last year, a story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale was turned down by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.
A digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".
However, a study in 2004 showed that nursery rhymes exposed children to far more violent incidents than an average evening watching television - including Humpty Dumpty's serious head injury.
This I will not stand for! I wish to protest, this is as a serious violation of the artistic integrity of this old song, grumpy is NOT the same thing as drunk. I should know, I have been both repeatedly. Wine with my blogging, if anything makes me less grumpy, also less coherent and grammatical.
Plus if they rewrite all the nursery rhymes: How will college history professor 's be able entertain bored student with the possible darker meanings of nursery rhymes. For example a sweet little lullaby
Rock-a-bye Baby .
