The boring countryside.

[Grooveski]

From AOL News:

More than half of Britons think the countryside is boring and many of them are unable to identify common animals and plants, according to a new survey.
A third of people who were asked said they had never even considered visiting the British countryside.
The survey found one in 10 adults could not identify a sheep, 44% could not identify an oak tree and 83% failed to recognise a bluebell.

When they were shown a picture of a stag, 12% of adults identified it incorrectly as a reindeer.
Professor of Tourism at the University of Surrey John Tribe said: "It is alarming news that over half of the nation thinks the British countryside is boring and there is nothing to do or see there. Maybe this is because in the last decade Britons have preferred to holiday abroad and as a result they have forgotten the UK is abundant with great rural holiday locations."

Sandie Dawe from VisitBritain said: "Britain's countryside is far from boring and we have some of the most famous landscapes from the picturesque Cotswolds to the spectacular views of the Lake District that draw visitors from around the world.
"With more Britons considering a holiday at home this year, it's a great time to get back to nature and get reacquainted with rural Britain. The last decade has seen a rise in competition and it is important to remind Brits on what they are missing out on and what a great free attraction the countryside is."
Three thousand adults took part in the survey which was conducted in March by OnePoll on behalf of Travelodge.

One in ten folk couldn't identify a sheep?

 

[sasquatch]

Sad, isn't it? That's all fine by me though, it means less chance of seeing anyone when I'm out and about! I just hope I don't encounter any pesky reindeer!

 

[gregorach]

I do remember one time they had a tree leaf identification round on University Challenge - nothing difficult, just hazel, ash and hawthorn if I recall - and they got every one wrong.

But yeah, being unable to identify a sheep is pretty worrying.

 

[firecrest]

Its a double edged sword. on one hand - good! less people crowding it up! On the hand, its a crying shame because if you think something is boring you dont respect it, and that would explain all the fly tipping and apathy when it comes to destroying greenbelt land

 

[Shewie]

It is sad but let 'em stay in the cities and remain ignorant I say. The less numpties that make it out into the sticks the better it is for us

 

[Tadpole]

From AOL News:

One in ten folk couldn't identify a sheep?

No, one in ten people staying in a travelodge could not be bothered to identify a sheep. most stay there on business, mostly likely men, most likely middle aged men, whom being pestered to fill in a form, in order to get a bottle of wine free with their meal, is as close to interacting with normal human folk as they get.

In a similar survey done last year 80% of the guest who set of alarms whilst staying in Travelodge did it because they could not find their room. I ask you why you would think that the way back to your room would be marked FIRE DOOR
A fire door is marked as a fire door with a different type of handle and the grammatically incorrect warning that “This door is alarmed” (I’ve never found out why the door feels alarm)

Does that not tell you all you need to know about what type of people frequent such places?

 

[philaw]

I think I was 16-18 before I learned to recognise an oak tree. I came across mention of naval ships being built from them and thought it was weird that I didn't know what they look like.

Britain is an urban society, and the nicest places to visit in the countryside are horribly expensive, so why would people holiday here or be familiar with the countryside?

 

[wanderingblade]

It is sad but let 'em stay in the cities and remain ignorant I say. The less numpties that make it out into the sticks the better it is for us

Trouble is, it's that ignorant population who can so easilly be led to believe only nutters use knives!

As for not recognising a sheep - what the hell did these people think they were looking at? "Blimey mate - that clouds got legs!"

 

[Mesquite]

What do people expect when loads of people don't even know where the food they eat comes from? I've come across youngsters who didn't even know that vegetables had to be grown in the ground........

 

[British Red]

Its true - the degree of mind blowing ignorance in some people is ridiculous.

I remember one woman telling me "oh ...you kill wild creatures..how cruel...I get mine from Tesco. I won't eat game...only free range meat"

It gives me a headache to consider stupidity on such a biblical scale.

 

[Toddy]

And the young woman who said, "Oh look ! someone's dropped lettuce on the ground, and it's in neat little rows ? "....

Or the friend to whom I took an aloe vera plant as a housewarming gift, for her new flat.......and she wanted to put it in the windowless bathroom to brighten things up a bit I had to explain to her that to plants, light is food

Make you worry just how shallow the gene pool actually is sometimes :bluThinki

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Globetrotter.uk]

One in ten folk couldn't identify a sheep? [/QUOTE]
Yes but it was cooked and in a bun at the time

 

[East Coaster]

I'm very sceptical of some of these surveys. I mean honestly,,,a sheep, that's like not knowing what a table or a chair is. Come on, 1 in 10 people (even if it is only travelodge visitors).
The other stuff I can believe (and let them stay in the cities for all I care) but if the sheep stat is true then it's the scariest thing I've heard in a long long time.

 

[Tadpole]

I'm very sceptical of some of these surveys. I mean honestly,,,a sheep, that's like not knowing what a table or a chair is. Come on, 1 in 10 people (even if it is only travelodge visitors).
The other stuff I can believe (and let them stay in the cities for all I care) but if the sheep stat is true then it's the scariest thing I've heard in a long long time.

I wouldn't worry, if people want their Daily Wail Rant, let them have it.

 

[falling rain]

From AOL News:





One in ten folk couldn't identify a sheep?

No way. I just can't believe that. I know there are some real doughnuts out there, but I can't beleive people can't identify a sheep. Must be having a .tin bath. me thinks

 

[Eric_Methven]

Sheep must be really hard to identify. After all, some conmen in Japan a couple of years ago managed to sell loads of lambs for hundreds of pounds to Japanese women telling them they were poodles.

Maiko Kawakami, who starred in the Japanese thriller Violent Cop, showed photographs of her pet on a television talk show only to be told it wasn't a dog - but was in fact a lamb.

The discovery prompted hundreds of women to contact the police with similar problems and the authorities believe as many as 2,000 people have been conned.

'We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was selling sheep as poodles,' a police spokesman told The Sun.

'Sadly, we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

'The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain and Australia.'

Poodles are famously used by the rich and glamourous on the continent but are extremely rare in Japan, with many people having little idea what they look like.

The company, which translates as Poodles as Pets, sold the 'poodles' for £630, about half the cost of a normal poodle but is now understood to have been shut down.

Full story here

So why should ignorant British townies people be any different?

Eric

 

[gregorach]

That story is an urban myth.

 

[mr dazzler]

Make you worry just how shallow the gene pool actually is sometimes :bluThinki

At the risk of getting slapped down again for "political" content, I feel i have to reply to that weird politcally loaded statement (if its an april 1st joke its in bad taste)
I find the mention of gene pools totally arrogant, discriminatory, unecessary, and offensive. Dont blame the all too evident failures of post war "social progress" "utopianism" and "liberal enlightenment " on the genetic make up of the largely unsuspecting people who were subjected to its poisonous indoctrinating influences. Look at the folk's who started all this social revolution to begin with I think they have something to do with this problem. We have been conditioned to tolerate enforced collectivism, mediocrity, poor standards of discipline in school's, no need to be responsible for anything, no need for quality workmanship, unaturally high expectations, easy come easy go, moral relativism etc etc. Perhaps u need to wake up to the fact that our beloved leader's actually want a semi-literate/illiterate population, it suits there purposes and they have been training us down in that direction for year's now. It makes the people easier to coerce (sorry,"govern"), if they are herded into semi-urban housing estates near a tesco and a motorway coinnection or whatever.

 

[Eric_Methven]

My God Bobby, you need to lighten up mate.

Eric

 

[Eric_Methven]

That story is an urban myth.

Yea, but why let fact get in the way of a good story?

Eric