Sheepish

[Perry]

sheepish
c.1200, "resembling a sheep in some characteristic," from sheep. The sense of "bashful" first is recorded 1693.

Nowadays, the implication is often that of having the embarrassed expression of one who has been "caught in the act". Yet, I didn't know that sheep suffer from guilty conscience.

[Bailey]

There are some who always feel guilty; though they are unpursued they flee, though they are guiltless they hang their heads, some call them paranoid, some say they are 'fraidy cats, I say they are just sheep. Love 'em or let them be.

mark shep Bailey

[gailr]

Yet, I didn't know that sheep suffer from guilty conscience.

That depends on the home flock and the attitude of the local shepherd. Some sheep gambol in green pastures; some are permanently twitchy. Does the possibility of being regularly fleeced right up until slaughter contribute to paranoia?
-gailr

[Bailey]

yeah, let's delve [don't ya love that word?] into sheep psychology, more like pop-psyche,
but hey a sheep has just all the right reasons to be looking over their little shoulders to see the latest wolf hiding out in its neighbor's skin.
The shepherd's little helpers the sheep-dog, nips your heels if you stop too long.
The shepherd is only your friend until it's time to give up your coat or your life.
And DANG, their natural tendency is to follow blindly, sheeplike, the lamb to the slaughter, silently, yeah no bleating baby.

mark baaaa Bailey

[Perry]

Just as long as no one tries to bleat me within an inch of my life!

[gailr]

The anxious sheep need Polixenes as a bellwether: er, sorry, Polixenes!

We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun,
And bleat the one at the other: what we changed
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd
That any did. Had we pursued that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven
Boldly 'not guilty;' the imposition clear'd
Hereditary ours.

A Reading from the Wikipedia, the Book of Domestic Sheep:

Sheep are often associated with obedience due to the widespread perception that they lack intelligence and their undoubted herd mentality, [...] The sheep are unable to be taught the subtleties of revolutionary ideology and can only be taught repetitive slogans such as "Four legs good, two legs bad" which they bleat in unison at rallies.

According to a spokesperson of the British National Sheep Association, "Sheep are quite intelligent creatures and have more brainpower than people are willing to give them credit for." For example, sheep in Yorkshire, England found a way to get over cattle grids by rolling on their backs. A study published in National Geographic [December 8] showed a sheep can remember the faces of fifty other sheep for over two years.

Here endeth the lesson.
-gailr
who can*not* remember the faces of fifty sheep, despite having encountered that many on the farm during childhood...

[skinem]

I didn't know there were 50 sheep faces to remember! Apparantly the British sheep are more clever than the one's I've personally known..The typical sheeplike responses do not apply either to Harold, the clever sheep. Anyone remember Monty Python's Harold? Sheep do fly, or rather, plummet, don't they? Wool the thought of clever sheep around...

[Bailey]

According to a spokesperson of the British National Sheep Association, "Sheep are quite intelligent creatures and have more brainpower than people are willing to give them credit for." For example, sheep in Yorkshire, England found a way to get over cattle grids by rolling on their backs. A study published in National Geographic [December 8] showed a sheep can remember the faces of fifty other sheep for over two years.

Actually from my time on the farm, oh boy, here he goes again, A sheep that rolls on its back is a foundered sheep, unable to roll back on its feet. Another example of a sheep's wonderful intellect, in their "gamboling" on a nice sunny warm Spring day sheep will roll in the grass, towards evening all you see in that meadow is waves of frantic hooves above the tall grasses.
One more thing, Scientists just slay me, How do they know the faces are what are recognized, talk all you like about the horizontal pupils, sheep, like most animals have very poor eyesight, I'd bank on the scents of fifty sheep being remembered over the number of whiskers on aqn individual sheep's face being recognized.

mark mutton-chopped Bailey

[gailr]

I wondered about those rolling sheep, myself. I frittered away several moments I will never get back, contemplating how many ideas they tried before stumbling upon one which works.

One more thing, Scientists just slay me, How do they know the faces are what are recognized, talk all you like about the horizontal pupils, sheep, like most animals have very poor eyesight, I'd bank on the scents of fifty sheep being remembered over the number of whiskers on aqn individual sheep's face being recognized.

Of course, if the sheep are cloned, they only really have to remember one face.

-gailr

[skinem]

One more thing, Scientists just slay me, How do they know the faces are what are recognized, talk all you like about the horizontal pupils, sheep, like most animals have very poor eyesight, I'd bank on the scents of fifty sheep being remembered over the number of whiskers on aqn individual sheep's face being recognized.

mark mutton-chopped Bailey

Don't forget scientists also once proved the world was flat, the universe revolved around it, that space travel was impossible, and in the 1970s, that the ice age was around the corner.

There can't be more than 5-6 sheep faces to remember...and they all look sheepish.

[Bailey]

Good'un skinny. I see we see eye-to-eye on scientists.

I think sheep, like goats are escape artists, and they merely climb the fences or go through them.

mark I'd-bet-on-the-ladder[sic] Bailey

[Perry]

Has the legality of sheep line-ups been confirmed by the Supreme Court?

[skinem]

I don't think cases about this are flocking to the USSC.

[Bailey]

oh they'll get their chance to bleat before the Supremes.

mark hon.D.-Ross-presiding Bailey

[Perry]

Probably need someone to shepherd them through the process.