Okay. Now I'm curious.

[deird_lj]

(This is all beer_good_foamy's fault.)


[Poll #1526051]


Is it a regional thing? A generational thing? Why all the confusion?

Comments

[naatz.livejournal.com]

Hee. Hebrew has a version (http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=3273135) for this nursery rhyme. It basically goes "A small spider climbed on the wall / the raindrops drove him away from here / Suddenly came the sun / Dried up the whole garden / A small spider climbed on the wall". Apparently there's another version, but I'm not familiar with it. :D

|Meduza|

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I still say our version is far more complex. All other languages (except Finnish) seem to tell us only two things about the spider: it's small (wow, great character depth there) and it climbs up something constructed by man, so it really only has itself to blame. Whereas in the (original, damnit!) Swedish version, we're told two important things that have been removed (censored, I imagine) from all others: that the spider is vimsig (dizzy, ditzy, confused, kooky) and that it climbs up its own web. This isn't just a spider having an accident, it's clearly a very dark character drama about a troubled individual struggling to perform even everyday tasks, but never giving up despite failing again and again... made worse by the fact that the verb tense is unclear; it can be present tense (making it a one-time thing), it can be past tense (suggesting an ever-repeating self-destructive cycle), and it can even be in the imperative: we, the singers, are ordering the spider to fail ("Climb up the web! Ha, here comes the rain! Now, climb up again!") because we need someone to look down on and laugh at. As children inevitably do when they sing this. It's really quite horrible when you think about it.

Yes, I write meta on children's songs.

[naatz.livejournal.com]

One of the Hebrew versions does say 'a small spider climbed [his] web' {spiderweb = 'koor', wasll = 'keer', only one different phoneme}. Our version though make the spider one stubborn son of a bitch, with him getting back to what he did earlier. Either that or it's a repetition of the first line, and the poor spider drowned.

|Meduza|

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Either that or it's a repetition of the first line, and the poor spider drowned.

I like that. Very David Lynch.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

And very good meta it is too!

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

....that was awesome. :D

Also I believe that would be a Calvin and Hobbes icon??? That is actually the most awesome thing ever??

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Of course it's a Calvin and Hobbes icon. From this strip. And it's SO cool.

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

Oh, lol, that's too cute. I totally love Calvin and Hobbes but haven't read it in awhile since it's no longer in the papers. I need to borrow my brother's giant collected complete series sometime...