[Closed] 10% could not identify a sheep

Please note this was a poll carried out in a Travelodge. So hardly representative of the whole population, more likely just travelling salesmen who randomly checked boxes on the form so they could get up to their room for their free half hour of internet porn.

Its not free porn - we tax payers pay for it now 🙂

[img] http://www.ica.org.uk/thumbnail.php?max=408&id=4272 [/img]

[i]Nuts in May[/i] > thread closed.

I read that survey in the paper, but only the other day was talking to a friend about a "Farms For City Children" project that I went on many years ago (primary school, I was about 9-10 so it'll have been late 80's). Now my family always had countryside holidays but some of the kids (and a lot of the parents) had no idea about the animals and how the chicken running round the farmyard related to the chicken in plastic wrapping on a supermarket shelf. Not a clue.

<selfish mode> still, at least it measn fewer people cluttering up the countryside! </selfish mode>

There was a girl I knew at university who had been educated at a fancy private school who didn't know what a cattle grid was. When we showed one to her she couldn't grasp how it would work and really looked quite baffled by the whole idea.

who didn't know what a cattle grid was.

I reckon a canny sheep could roll across...

they do simon.

very odd. especially if they don't quite roll enough.

When I was at secondary school (in London) we went away for a week to an Outward Bound place at Grizedale Forest, my Mum saw me onto the coach, waved goodbye and then heard one of the parents say "Oh they'll be there in an hour or so." My Mum then explained that the Lake District was about 6hrs drive from London, the other parent was astonished to learn that England went on for that long, he had NO idea of anything outside the M25.

🙁

Right, Im off to put large doses of the pill in the local reserviour to stop people breeding. Rich people who use bottled water will be OK. Most rich people are clever and have fancy surnames thereby showing good breeding. Also fat people only drink diet coke, so my cunning plan will no doubt work.

I spent some time with a charity for school leavers in Hammersmith who are helped to become employable. These kids are from the council estate and live in a completely different world to what most of us could imagine; by this I mean that we were taught about how they lived their lives in order to be able to relate to them. Mant things surprised me and the main one is relevant here - they never left their local area. I don't mean London I mean Hammersmith and not much more - never even been to central London! So not only did they have no idea about the countryside but pretty much nothing outside of their daily existance - which was pretty unappealing.

BigDummy - you'll have to come and visit and Ill take you on a Tree Identification walk.

Number 1.
The Larch

The Larch.

I'm sure, as well as the extreme cases of ignorance of rural matters mentioned here, that there are similarly folk in rural areas, who've seldom ventured beyond the next village, who would have bugger-all knowledge of dealing with many aspects of urban life. Many people develop knowledge of things that are important in their every day lives. Being able to identify species of flora and fauna my not be particularly useful, if you live on an inner-city housing estate. Or indeed, in an affluent suburb.

IME, one of the key areas of ignorance I have experienced, in some rural folk, is of the diversity of ethnicity and culture, within our vast and varied society. The language skills of some I've met, have been woeful. People in cities do, on the whole, tend to be a little more world-wise than 'yokels' in Oddmorden or wherever.

IMO, city-dwellers are praps more adaptable to new things. IE, it woon't be long, before the average city-dweller to adapt to rural life, whereas the 'yokel' may struggle somewhat more, with aspects of everyday urban living.

Me, I may not be able to identify particular species of tree, or plant, but I can identify different languages, customs and cultural signifiers. This is far more useful, than plant recognition, in my daily life.

Another issue with holidaying in the country; it's so bloody spensive. A few years ago, two couples I know went on separate holidays, around the same time. One lot went to stay for a week in a little family run hotel in Scotland somewhere; the other couple had 2 weeks in Egypt.

Guess which holiday was cheaper, overall?

Holiday in third world cheaper, shock!

"Holiday in third world cheaper, shock!"

Scotland's not that bad, surely?

LOL!

Why do you all look down on people who don't want to visit the countryside.

TBH going for a walk in some rural locations holds about as much appeal as a week in Toremolenos for me. Only when you add a mountain and a bike am I intrested

Smacks of "Ethical dwarves posturing from the moral high ground" to me

Why do you all look down on people who don't want to visit the countryside

i'm not i'm looking down on those that can't recognise a sheep ffs!!

dont worry boys and girls.
you dont think they bothered to leave the greater london area to do that poll do you?

Yes, but for many people, being able to recognise a sheep is not important. If it's not part of their daily lives, then why do they need to be able to? S'just another animal, to most people.

And we don't really know how this 'survey' was conducted. I'm assuming the people were asked to identify various species from pics. How clear were the pics?

More to the point, how inertested were those involved in the survey in actually making much effort over it?

he had NO idea of anything outside the M25.

Well I am not too pride to admit that I had to check google to know what a oka tree was or a hare.

I would recognise both of them, but I had no idea about what the english word was... Time for some courses me think.

Works both ways, I live down south in a fairly rural part of the country. Apparently the local police had to go around the schools and colleges in one of the local towns and warn them of the dangers of living in a city as none of the children were very street wise and were of to uni in a big city!!

Mind you the drive to my work is nearly half a mile long and is through open fields where cows graze for 70% of the year. It's worrying how many have been knocked over by the parents in the 4x4 (who are mostly farmers wives!!) - It's not like you can't see a big old cow in an open field and with a 5mph speed limit you can't do much damage...you'd be suprised!!

Its not the fact that they cant identify sheep or leave their local area, its the lack of desire to question life or their surroundings and try for a better life. This apathy and lack of drive has serious knockon effects for the rest of society, not just their offspring.

juan - I have the french for a few such things, but am hazy both on oak trees and on hares... 🙂

Honestly, I am unsure about this.

I'm not very convinced that ability to identify a sheep is a basic criterion of social functioning. Ability to recognise an otter is a seriously esoteric piece of knowledge, and as for stoat/weasel differentiation.

🙂

[i] Stoner - Member

BigDummy - you'll have to come and visit and Ill take you on a Tree Identification walk.

Number 1.
The Larch

The Larch. [/i]

[applauds]

[i]Ability to recognise an otter[/i]

[img] [/img]

Once I've had a few Otters, my ability to recognise [i]anything[/i] is seriously diminished.

(Devon/Somerset types will recognise this fine ale)

As distinguishable from a Badger...

[img] ?v=1192385668[/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] ?v=0[/img]

🙂

They only drink large in inner citys.

Rudeboy reread your post and think of a "yokel" as an ethinic minority. It comes across a bit thoughless.

Remember the countryside was we call it is a place of work for a lot of people. A good portion of them are pretty poor with less facilities than most inner cities. Only older people are now trapped in the same village mostly because villages and small towns no longer have the services expected in cities (doctors, shops, school etc). Without a car in these places you are stuffed. The rural poor are one of the biggest ignored minorities in the uk.

Living (& working) on the edge of both worlds I find the rural people are the same as those in the cities. Open minded and interested in others as long as they feel respect in return. Yokel of Odmorden would tie your goolies to a tup and show it ewe half mile away.

Wouldn't happen in NZ
[img] [/img]

think of a "yokel" as an ethinic minority.

No. 'Cultural' minority, maybe. And notice the quotation marks...

A good portion of them are pretty poor with less facilities than most inner cities.

An important point. Which helps to explain some of the narrow-mindedness one might find, in certain rural areas. Some people in rural areas don't mix with others, nearly as much as the average city-dweller. This can lead to a very limited sperience of life outside of their immediate environment, same as the housing-estate dwellers who rarely venture beyond the Tescos down the road.

Is that the Miss New Zealand competition?

No, its miss Wales 🙂

An important point. Which helps to explain some of the narrow-mindedness one might find, in certain rural areas.

superb. sir, you outdo yourself.

How so, Del? Explain please.

Interesting thread, this. I live in a market town in North Wiltshire, population nowadays 39000. When I were a lad the town was, literaly half the size. While it's a rural area, the town is, or was, pretty industrial, the main employer when I was at school being Westingouse Brake and Signal. Rudeboy would know about them, as they supplied brakes and signals for most of London Underground. As a result I was brought up by a dad who was an engineer, but who was born and raised in a little village about eight miles away with a population of around two hundred. As a result, I used to get taken for walks out into the countryside and be shown animals and plants and birds, an interest I still have forty years on, but I also have an interest in the wider world that is just as involving. I am appalled at the level of ignorance around, but not at all surprised. When it comes to country people being rude and unwelcoming, is anyone on here really [i]that[/i] surprised? When you see the way that visitors behave it's difficult to refrain from punching people in the face. They arrive thinking that a village is just some sort of fancy theme park, leave cars in totally inappropriate places blocking gateways and field entrances, allow dogs to run riot through flocks and herds, complain because their shiney car has got muddy, or they got woken up by birds making a noise, the church bells ringing, or the nearby farm smelling funny, then have the affrontery to complain to the local council and demand that the noise is stopped and the smell made to go away! FFS, what do these moronic ****s expect, it's a place where people work, with everything that entails. Trouble is, these people get away with it because they have a lot of money, they've just bought a farmhouse from a family who have gone bust after farming there for five hundred years and they now want everything just the way THEY want it. Can you imagine the resentment that stirs up? It's like me moving to London then demanding the Tube line behind my house gets shut down because I don't like the noise it makes at night. Dumb, dumber, dumbest.

Rudeboy would know about them, as they supplied brakes and signals for most of London Underground.

I did, actually! In fact, I understand most bits of tube trains are made outside London.

When you see the way that visitors behave it's difficult to refrain from punching people in the face.

ALL visitors? I can understand the resentment towards irresponsible people, sure, but most visitors to the countryside are in fact very responsible and mindful of respecting locals.

As for respect of the places where people work; many areas are heavily dependent on tourism, for their livelihoods. And who eats the stuff farmers grow?

Mostly, people get along fine. But some (that's 'some',not 'all'), rural folk need to be mindful that it's us city dwellers who contribute toward their livelihoods, and perhaps remember about biting the hands that feed them. IE, if I come to visit, I may spend money in hotels, B+Bs, pubs, restaurants, shops etc. This money goes towards supporting the local economy. If the locals don't want that, then how do they expect to survive?

I think it's often more about 'this is moi laand, clear orf'. People don't wanna share something nice with others, for fear of it getting ****ed up. I can understand that. Not many people who pass through my 'village' give a toss, considering the amount of pollution, congestion, rubbish, etc. I just have to put up with it. I don't resent 'outsiders' that come here, though.

[i]People don't wanna share something nice with others, for fear of it getting ****ed up[/i]

Is that why the East End is so unwelcoming? 😉

Heh!

It's not that unwelcoming, BD! After all, I live here! 😀

I agree with everything you've written CountZero.

A wealthy towny friend of mine bought a converted barn in a rural area. Her hubby dug a huge pond and couldn't understand why they didn't have ducks in it. I gave up trying to explain that ducks aren't pets and they need a pond with mature plants in. Every time we visited they moaned about the noise the sheep made and the morning dawn chorus.

However I do think it's important for families to bring their children to the countryside, if only they would respect it and not just trundle 50 metres from the car, leave their litter and dog mess and run the car engines in the carpark'cos it a wee bit colder than they thought.

Oh and only 8% of the population have ever seen a badger.

I've seen Badgers, foxes, voles, deer, muntjac, rabbits, hares, many species of bird,including Kingfisher, Peregrine falcons, Sparrowhawks, Kestrels, and a ferret.

All within the M25!

And if I want farm animals, this place is only a couple of miles away:

[img] [/img]

Not all of us Townies are ignorant of nature.

Countzero is absolutely right and makes some very valid point...

Oh and only 8% of the population have ever seen a badger.

I've seen quite a few badgers - unfortunately every single one of them has looked something like this:

[img] [/img]
[size=1]Credit: [url= http://www.eskimomedia.co.uk/ ]EsikmoMedia[/url][/size]

Do they come in more lively varieties?

Like Rudeboy I've seen kingfishers, owls and woodpeckers in zone 3 -4 of the tube map and a heft of other indigenous wildlife is available within zone 1-6, you don't need to go to the countryside to see them. The country side is dull and there isn't a great deal to do in general other than wonder round over some miserable farmers land and visit villages full of resentful locals. And don't get me started on country pubs. Don't you just love walking into a pub and the metaphorical tumbleweed crosses the lounge bar whilst 10 ruddy faced locals with male pattern baldness and v neck sweaters stare at you in a most unwelcoming way.

Give me a big anonymous city any day