Comments on: Escaped inmates dress as sheep

By: wil9000

wil9000 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think the profusion of references to “The Odyssey” proves that BoingBoingers are the smartest, best educated, and dammit, most handsome bunch of commenters around. Say it with me, kids:
“I’ve got a brain, and I’m not afraid to use it”.
This is my new motto. I just made it up.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Odysseus did it first.

By: Rezmason

Rezmason — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

You might say they pulled the wool over their pursuers’ eyes!

Cricket cricket.

Now, if the police they evaded are anything like the TSA, all sheep and sheep-like animals will be prohibited from going near prisons.

By: Boomshadow

Boomshadow — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The guards looked all around for the inmates…

*puts on sunglasses dramatically*

But turned up mutton interesting.

YEEEEEEAHHH!

By: scifijazznik

scifijazznik — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

They must have been inspired by the Carly Fiorina ad.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

LOL…Very silly inmates.

By: monkey

monkey — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

thanks rezmason. we were betting on it “pulled the wool” or “wolf in sheep’s clothing” would hit the comments first. well played and i’ll enjoy the lunch you won me!

By: Another Aaron

Another Aaron — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The article is unclear . . . have they been caught?

Or does it say, and I’m just a moron and missed it?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lucky for them, they didn’t try the doughnut disguise.

By: llazy8

llazy8 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Anonymous,
Hmmmmm, yes, after reading the Telegraph article I can see why you needed to speak up. It was a little silly, plus direct quoting without siting the translation is slick and bad form. I’m not sure I believe that an Argentine officer said ‘They can’t pull the wool over our eyes forever’. For one, it’s an expression that I haven’t heard in Spanish, and so I doubt the officer said the same thing in Spanish. For two, in the chance that the police officer was speaking English, he or she would have to have a VERY advanced grasp of the language to be able to use an idiomatic expression right at the right time to make a deadpan joke. As an English teacher I can tell you that a speaker THAT advanced is hard to come by, and usually only found among the very well-off. My bullshit detector is tingling.
I live in Argentina, and am often aware at a prejudiced slant to news and public opinion. So thank you for speaking up.
On the other hand, I’m relatively confident that on Boing Boing, the issue here is that oodles of comments come in all the time from people expressing a strong dislike of most modern police forces and of authoritarian modes of thought in general. So, I suspect that most are happily chuckling into their coffee over how stupid cops can be, not how stupid Argentinian cops can be. For what it’s worth. Or maybe you’re just still annoyed at all the good press Chile got on Boing Boing after the earthquake . . .

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

They must have had Classical educations ;)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

ROFL, only in Argentina…

@Rezmason: Fear not, our police is in the other end of the spectrum (as in: almost inexistent)

By: Xopher

Xopher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t understand why the police didn’t just ask ‘Arold.

By: ravenword

ravenword — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oldest trick in the book…

By: nanuq

nanuq — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

They managed to hide from the cops but should have kept an eye out for lonely farmers…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I see a George Clooney movie in the works — Men Who Dress Like Sheep

By: retrac13

retrac13 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wily Wil9000, that master of of mottos!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m argentinian, and felt like telling you this is part fake, part misinterpretation.

This is a kind of more realistic news report:

http://ar.news.yahoo.com/s/09042010/59/n-argentina-1252776-presos-huyen-vestidos-piel.html

and tells a slightly less stupid version of the story, including the fact that 300 cops are searching for 2 people in an area bigger than that of the UK (Buenos Aires province is 118,754 sq mi big, according to wikipedia)

By: Spookyland

Spookyland — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Police officer Homer Polyphemus stated “From now on I will keep one eye on those sheep, you betcha.”

By: Teller

Teller — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Their first choice was Bugs Bunny WAC outfits.

By: Shelby Davis

Shelby Davis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In other news, the Odyssey will soon be joining the list of books banned in prison.

By: bat21

bat21 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Since you mentioned it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRY7wBuCcBY

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Now, if the police they evaded are anything like the TSA, all sheep and sheep-like animals will be prohibited from going near prisons.”

Actually, quite the opposite. The TSA ignores the obvious threats and instead focuses on elderly ladies and pre-teen children.

By: nutbastard

nutbastard — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

So they were in the sheep, on the lam?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What you folks were only betting on two baaaa-d sheep jokes? You need to spend more time with rural types and have someone explain to you why WizardofPlum mentioned wellies (good one). Good taste prevents me from going further, but there are many more choices with sheep than two jokes.

By: wizardofplum

wizardofplum — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In Scotland it is the practice to include in such a search, members of the Black Watch and Argyll and Sutherland Highlander regiments, kilted and wearing rubber wellies.Their reputation for handling sheep is well known and revered in the British Army.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is not the first time a prisoner attempted to dress as sheep in an attempt to escape. Such happend back in the 1830s at the notorious Port Arthur prison in present-day Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land), when one prisoner dressed up as a sheep and almost got away when guards saw this “sheep” and prepared to fire on it for fun. The prisoner saw them preparing to fire and realized the game was up so yelled out to them and begged them not to shoot. He was brought back to the prison and flogged.