I grew up in the Netherlands and one of the tv shows that was on a fair bit during my childhood was a Swedish show called Pippi Longstocking. About a little girl (about 8 or 9 I think) who lives alone in a big big house, together with her pet monkey Mr Nelson and her white horse with black spots Whitey.
She is very strong, very rich and doesn't think that school is for her. Her mother is dead and her father is a pirate and lives a long way away. She meets up with the neighbour children and has many adventures with them. Be it just going for a walk, meeting the town's criminals or even visiting her father a long way away.
She sleeps the wrong way round in her bed, there are bottles of lemonade coming out of a tree in her garden and she keeps her gold coins in a big chest in the house.
So, imagine my confusion when Mr Crikey (Or Charlie from Downunder) said on his blog that two of his companions were collecting pippies on the beach! I knew of course that Pippi has never really hit it that big in English speaking countries, so I didn't think there would be a boatload of them on that beach close to where Mr Crikey lives!
Turns out that pippies are (and I quote): little clams that are found everywhere along our coastline. Fishermen use them
for bait but you can eat them. They taste good if cooked well.
I certainly learned something new today. I will never look at Pippi the same way though...
I know the name, but that's all I know of her. Or was all until now. :)
ReplyDeleteMOL MOL Mom told me my human sis was a huge fan of Pippi too.
ReplyDeleteHugs madi your bfff
I learned something new too. Didn't know they use them for bait. I do remember a movie with Pippi Longstocking movie back in the day.
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you for helping me get another wrinkle on the brain. Had heard the name Pippi Longstocking but did not know any of the back story.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome!
DeleteI know about Pippi too but not the Aussie version. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteNeither did I!
DeleteCrikey Mara ...... thanks for the picture of YOUR Pippi!!! Who knew?? My 3 little girls would LOVE to be able to see those TV shows. I know they would like a monkey as a pet and a lemonade tree in their backyard. It doesn't get much better than that, aye?? I'm off to google Pippi Longstocking. Maybe she's on YouTube and we can watch her there. That's a nice pic of our pippis'. You've been googling too, aye??
ReplyDeleteOh, it's bound to be on YouTube. And google is very handy if you want a photo of a pippi, whichever one you choose!
DeleteI had no idea about the back story until reading this post :) I feel I learned something new today!
ReplyDeleteI grew up with Pippi Langstrumpf too, but I never heard about Pippis with two p, only with one p and the meaning is of course completely different.
ReplyDelete