topic Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today. in Community Spirit

Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

the_great_she_elephant — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 11:36:42 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/oct/14/why-winnie-the-pooh-is-still-the-best-bear-in-the-world

If you try to talk to the bison,
he never quite understands;
You can't shake hands with a mingo -
he doesn't like shaking hands.
And lions and roaring tigers
hate saying, "How do you do?" -
But I give buns to the elephant
when I go down to the Zoo!

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

ecar3483 — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 11:55:39 GMT

Mingo has me stumped.

An Iroquois tribe, a town in Queensland, a children's clothing store?

(Just a very quick Google...).

None of whom would shake hands, admittedly, but why are they at the zoo? Ha ha.

🙂

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

ecar3483 — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 12:15:58 GMT

Happy 90th Birthday to "The best bear in all the World".

🙂

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

davidc4430 — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 20:50:09 GMT

who would have thought that we would be celebrating the birthday of a 90 year old pooh?

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

lurker172602 — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 22:50:20 GMT

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

bright.ton42 — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 01:20:50 GMT

Now We Are Six

When I was one, I had just begun

. When I was two, I was nearly new.

When I was three, I was hardly me.

When I was four, I was not much more.

When I was five, I was just alive.

But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever.

So I think I'll be six now and forever.

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

lyndal1838 — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 02:25:10 GMT

I must be very strange....I am the only person I know that never liked Pooh when I was growing up.

My children could take him or leave him too athough it was not an active dislike as I had.

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

mloreason — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 08:44:11 GMT

I love Winnie.

A couple of months ago I was reading my class a book about Winnie. It was a true story about the real Winnie who inspired the character Winnie the Pooh. In the back of the book there were photos of the real Winnie. The children (7 & 8 year olds) were absolutely fascinated with the photos. And so was their teacher. 😉

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

the_great_she_elephant — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 11:52:53 GMT

If I remember rightly the real Winnie was an orphaned bear cub adopted by some Canadian soldiers and smuggled into England by them when they were stationed there during WW! When they were later sent to France Winnie had to be left behind at London Zoo.

(I may have got some of the details wrong, but I think that was the gist of the story.)

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

the_great_she_elephant — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 04:43:25 GMT

@ecar3483 wrote:
Mingo has me stumped.
An Iroquois tribe, a town in Queensland, a children's clothing store?
(Just a very quick Google...).
None of whom would shake hands, admittedly, but why are they at the zoo? Ha ha.

🙂

It could possibly be short for flamingo. Milne did sometimes shorten words (and invent them too) to make them sound like 'kiddie speak'. This is the whole poem.

There are lions and roaring tigers,
and enormous camels and things,
There are biffalo-buffalo-bisons,
and a great big bear with wings.
There's a sort of a tiny potamus,
and a tiny nosserus too -
But I gave buns to the elephant
when I went down to the Zoo!

There are badgers and bidgers and bodgers,
and a Super-in-tendent's House,
There are masses of goats, and a Polar,
and different kinds of mouse,
And I think there's a sort of a something
which is called a wallaboo -
But I gave buns to the elephant
when I went down to the Zoo!

If you try to talk to the bison,
he never quite understands;
You can't shake hands with a mingo -
he doesn't like shaking hands.
And lions and roaring tigers
hate saying, "How do you do?" -
But I give buns to the elephant
when I go down to the Zoo!

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

mloreason — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 08:49:28 GMT

Yes she el that's basically the story. I didn't realise the photos were in the back of the book until I finished reading it. The children were so enthralled with the story that when we reached the end they were disappointed and then we saw the photos! It was the most unexpected bonus for all of us. We loved looking at the photos of Winnie posing with the soldiers. It was a magic moment and I'll never forget sharing it with them.

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

ecar3483 — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 10:14:26 GMT

Mingo, as an abbreviation of Flamingo would make sense, given the writing style.

I can honestly say that I've learnt something new, today. 🙂

Thank you, Ele.

🙂

Re: Winnie the Pooh turns 90 today.

the_great_she_elephant — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 11:08:24 GMT

Just goes to show, the older we get the more we realise how much there still is to learn.

My twin sister and I were given a book of A. A. milne's poems (When We Were Very Young) for our 5th birthday. I still love them and can recite many of them off by heart - Alexander Beetle, The King's Breakfast, Sir Brian Botany etc.