Thursday, September 24, 2009

Of Scots and Sheep...

I have a question. Why is it that any time I proudly pronounce my Scottish genealogy to an Englishman in a competitive work environment, I am then subjected to allegations of sexual acts with sheep? Personally, I do not experience any form of sexual arousal in the presence of farm animals, but what is the story behind this urban legend that Scottish people are more likely to have sex sheep than any other culture? Why not goats? Germans are into a lot of kinky stuff in the bedroom, so why are they not accused of going out to the barn to "clean the pipes"?

I brought up this subject with my buddies on the golf course the other week, and we talked about it for 3 holes, 25 minutes. The question was, is there something in the Celtic DNA whereby sheep emit some form of pheromone that elicits arousal in Celtic males, or was there simply a period in Scotland where there were an over abundance of young single males and sheep where this stereotype became folklore?

By the way, if you are Celtic and offended, I am 75% Celtic and 25% German (and by Celtic I mean a combination of Scotland and Ireland, the DNA is not far apart). I am allowed to ask these questions. I have been subjected to the jokes, but farm animals don't turn me on. I have had co-workers allege that I have sex with sheep for no other reason than I am of Scottish ancestry.

Discuss

6 comments:

  1. The English in an attempt to demonize their Scottish enemies started several stories which cannot be provem, the sheep one was one of them, another was the the Scots are mean, the exact opposite is true while the English are some of the meanest bastards in this world. hey tried the same thing with the Irish, The London Illustrated News in the 1850s ran many engravings of poor Paddys with clay pipes and cartoon like facial features It seems that the English have a penchant for putting other nationalities down.

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  2. At least you aren't Scottish and Polish. But really, it is trying isn't. But stereotypes are like that.

    As for the English, when you believe you are dominate society, you need to put down others to justify the belief. And they where pretty dominate in the past, hence the history putting down neighbors.

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  3. Don't be too quick to dismiss the goats.Scotsman Alexander Selkirk the basis for Robinson Crusoe was said to have notched the ears of the goats that he humped while marooned on the island, can't really blame him as there were no sheep on the island.

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  4. I had a friend who had a sheep farm. I remember one day he told me that when you grab a sheep from behind, they stay completely still. I think goats are a little more rowdy. You don't want to get kicked in the nuts when you are doing your business... :)

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  5. Sheep are people too...

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