I am reminded of a childish diversion,
(from the days when there were only two television channels)
called 'Staring Out'.
It was quite simple.
You would simply assert,
whenever there was a slack moment,
'I bet I can stare you out.'
It worked best if you happened to be sitting opposite each other,
perhaps at the dinner table,
or on a train journey.
You then widened your eyes,
lowered your head
and stared.
If they blinked,
you shouted,'You blinked, you blinked.'
They would then hotly deny that they had
and the game would end with mutterings.
Holding your eyelids open was cheating.
In the above impromptu contest,
both sheep won.
My children do that, although I have not set an example. It must be hardwired into the human psyche. The sheep psyche too, of course.
ReplyDeleteI fear that sheep generally do, cats not so much.
ReplyDeleteArn't they sweet, I oftern wonder who is watching who sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI was never any good at that game, sob! I occasionally practice on the dogs now - but you can never beat a Scottie at that sort of thing.
ReplyDeletePomona x
The alpacas at the top of my road are superb at this......
ReplyDeletecows win, too ...
ReplyDeleteWhippets are specialists at this ... mine play a version where the loser is required to allow the winner to give chase at 30mph for at least two laps of the field. I'm just glad my sister never expected me to do that when I won!
ReplyDeleteMy children do this. Loudly.
ReplyDeleteAs a child I had the perfect 'baaa', and sheep would always answer back. I tried it again the other day (to my children's squirming embarassment), but sadly it didn't work. I'm hoping it simply was because of my continental accent.
Jannette
I used to be good at staring contests. I think I'm too tired nowadays to keep my eyes open that long. Sheep, cats, and kids can all out stare me.
ReplyDeleteWe used to play that too - it is less easy to do as an adult - and if you stare long enough you see two of everything - have you noticed that
ReplyDelete