For some reason, we have two copies of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" at our house. I think one was my wife's and one was mine. But anyway, I just noticed last night that in the newer one, the word Gypsy was changed to Googie. I don't know much about
Shel Silverstein, but I am assuming that when he wrote the original in approximately 1974, that he was unaware of the Gypsie/Roma history of discrimination. I am pretty sure that the Googie change came before Silverstien died in 1999.
Gypsy first verse:
Googies first verse:
Googie Image. Maybe it was a good idea to change from Gypsy. The image is quite "Gypsy" looking:
The books are exactly the same, except the price on the earlier one was $9.95 and was published by Harper and Row, and the newer one is priced at $14.95 and published by Harper Collins. My earlier book is inscribed and dated Christmas 1980, but the later one has no obvious date.
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2 comments:
I am sure Silverstein knew about gypsies of Romania. He was at least aware they were like, what, #2 on Hitler's extermination list. I would hope he was not the one to suggest the change.
I am not a parent but I would think that, by using gypsy or some other real ethnic group and absurd behavior, it would give the parent & child a good place to start a discussion of the goofy myths people start about cultures they find strange and frightening.
But I don't have kids, so I might be full of crap.
Funny, I was thinking about the same topic recently.
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