Sheep Butt

In trying to explain how the world works to third graders, I often want to convey that there's just some stuff that almost never would make sense. 

Me giving another teacher miniature clothes for her birthday?  Probably not.
A student's eye popping out and rolling away?  Clearly no.

And just as a general piece of advice, the answer to any question you're wondering about is never--or maybe very rarely--going to be, 'sheep butt.'  So if you find yourself thinking, "Did they just say that violin bow was made out of the rear end of a fluffy farm animal?"--go with 'No.'

Image: Microsoft

We attended a great music performance today, and they showed how all of the instruments worked and what they were made of.  The violinist explained what the hairs of her bow were made of, but Allegra didn't quiet hear.

"Did she say 'sheep butt'?" she asked. 

"No!  Of course not!  Why would anything in the entire world or history of the planet be made of a sheep's butt?  Sheep butt creations do not exist."  I wanted to tell Allegra.

What the performer actually said was that violin bow hairs were historically made of sheep GUT.  Yeah--gut, not butt.  It's totally logical that someone would reach inside of a sheep, pull out its guts, and fashion a part for a musical instrument from said guts.

But a sheep butt--never!  Such notions!  Guts, though?  Certainly.  The world works like that.