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6.06.2005

Winnie the Shit

I'm from Winnipeg you see, and I have to deal with this Winnie the Pooh stuff all the time. I caught on to the name thing — a LONG time ago.

To say clearly now. I'm NOT a fan of Winnie the Pooh.

The reason is this:

The Winnie character was "invented" in Winnipeg way back in World War I days (1914-1918). The story goes that A. A. Milne's son had seen a brown or black bear at the Winnipeg Zoo and asked what it's name was. The boy said "I think I'll call him Winnie". The father replies "Why is that son?". The boy says "I don't know, just Winnie the Pooh".

Now any half-brained person can figure this out. The boy saw the brown coloured bear, it reminded him of (was the same colour as) shit, and he lived in Winnipeg. He put it all together and you have the character name — Winnipeg the Shit! Kind of sums up our town, doesn't it?

To me, it's really an embarrassment to our City.

And they were going to put a Winnie the Pooh display at Assinibioine Park Zoo. Total waste of money. It could be better spent on a rail-based rapid transit system for Winnipeg.

There's a short story on the Net that proves I'm not the only one who connects the dots. It goes something like this:
A group of kindergartners were trying very hard to become accustomed to the first grade. The biggest hurdle they faced was that the teacher insisted on NO baby talk! You need to use 'Big People' words," she was always reminding them.
She asked John what he had done over the weekend?
"I went to visit my Nana."
No, you went to visit your GRANDMOTHER. Use ?Big People' words!"
She then asked Mitchell what he had done
"I took a ride on a choo-choo."
She said "No, you took a ride on a TRAIN. You must remember to use 'Big People' words."
She then asked little Alex what he had done? "I read a book," he replied.
That's WONDERFUL!" the teacher said. "What book did you read?"
Alex thought real hard about it, then puffed out his chest with great Pride, and said, "Winnie the SHIT"