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G4EBT > PC 03.02.09 15:47l 147 Lines 5454 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 760185G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: Drunken Sailor, VK2AAB
Path: ON0AR<GB7FCR
Sent: 090203/1038Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:23785 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:760185G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : PC@WW
Barry, VK2AAB wrote:-
> David's bulletin after some reflection has really annoyed me.
It did me.
>These people are interfering with the history of sail.
>The sailors were pretty hard men and they had to be.
> These PC correct people would understand that the basis of their
> present comfort is not disconnected from these "Drunken Sailors".
> Anyway plenty of children are aware of drunken men, so what are they
> hiding ?
The French don't have any such qualms.
I may have mentioned before that when my eldest granddaughter, now aged
ten was little, she didn't speak any English until she was almost three -
only French.
I learnt a popular French children's song, with a jolly tune, used as a
lullaby and often sang it to her, not really knowing what all of it meant.
Then after a while I started to realise that it wasn't so jolly after all.
Its French title is "Il etait un petit navire" (There Was a Little Ship)
The story goes like this:
Sailors put to see in a small boat on a long trip in the Mediterranean.
After five or six weeks the food ran short so they drew straws To decide
who to eat. It fell to the young cabin boy, but he wasn't very fat.
They debated how best to cook the poor child. One wanted him fried Another
wanted him roasted. While they were mulling this over he climbed up the
main topsail and prayed to the heavens for a miracle.
His prayer was answered - little fishes soon started leaping into the boat
by their thousands, were gathered up, fried and, so the little cabin boy
was saved.
Sure it has a happy ending, but it's scary stuff to be singing a child to
sleep with. Millions of parents across France will doubtless be doing that
tonight.
It makes a drunken sailor look a bit tame!
There's a short MP3 clip here - you'll see what I mean about it being a
nice song to lull a child to sleep with, so long as neither they nor you
understand the words!
http://www.mamalisa.com/mp3/il_etait_un_petit_navire.mp3
> In fiddling with nursery rhymes they are also interfering with history
> and the stories of those times. The children should be told of
> background to the nursery rhymes. Children always like those horror
> stories anyway. They will even make them up for themselves.
True.
> These women and they usually are women should be taken out and sent on
> a voyage on a windjammer.
> Feel better now I have that off my chest.
Yes, I did too, which is why I vented my spleen and sent it out:-)
Packet can be quite therapeutic at times - it makes a good rumpus room!
here's another 'PC' book on a nautical theme to raise your blood pressure:
In 2003 a major publisher took the potentially controversial step of
releasing a picture book, aimed at young children, about a same-sex
relationship.
The appropriately titled book "Hello, Sailor" tells the story of a
lighthouse-keeper and his sailor friend. While the nature of the
friendship isn't fully spelled out, Macmillan hoped the book would
provoke debate on the validity of gay relationships.
The publisher also believed "Hello, Sailor" could have "crossover" appeal
among adults, and released it in time for Valentine's Day in 2003. Ah,
that was a nice thought.
It tells the story of Matt - a lighthouse keeper, who constantly watches
the sea, waiting for his friend "Sailor" to return. He's so besotted with
Sailor that he has trouble concentrating on anything else, but his other
friends doubt whether Sailor will come back.
Later in the evening, Sailor does return and the pair spend the night
together, before setting off at dawn to sail around the world together.
The tenderest scene is when the pair are reunited:
"Sailor!" Matt gasped. "You've come back!" He couldn't believe his eyes.
"Hello, Sailor!" Sailor laughed - "did you think I'd forgotten you? I
thought we were going to sail round the world together."
"Yes," cried Matt. "I've been waiting for you!"
The two friends didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
[not on their own there then].
They turned round in a circle, to get a better look at one another.
It was almost as if they were dancing. Sailor was back!
Macmillan says the book shouldn't cause as much controversy as "Jenny
Lives with Eric and Martin", a schoolbook that in part led to the
enactment of section 28 legislation preventing "promotion" of
homosexuality by local authorities.
"Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin" made clear the relationship between
the two male characters, while Hello, Sailor is much more subtle.
Kate Wilson, children's books publisher at Macmillan, said:
"Hello, Sailor works on a number of levels.
"To many young readers, it will simply be a book about the power of
friendship. One of the things children must get used to is the intense
nature of friendship. "Having said that, Hello, Sailor offers itself
to diverse audiences as a book with groundbreaking possibilities.
"It's a book, for instance, that you might decide to share with a child to
show that relationships between men are OK. And, we have also had feedback
that the book could draw in sales as an alternative Valentine's Day gift."
There you go then - all sorted.
I'm not jesting by the way. Here's the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/jan/20/schools.gayrights
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 20:21 on 2009-Feb-02
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