...i just realized
is shaun the sheep supposed to be a pun on the word "shorn", because those words sound identical in a non-rhotic dialect like that spoken by the show's target audience?
-F
It is. He's originally from the Wallace and Gromit short "A Close Shave", where one of the first things that happens to him is falling into an automatic sheep-shearing-yarn-spinning machine Wallace invented. He's none the worse for wear, just temporarily wool-free, so they let him wear the sweater the machine knitted out of his own wool. And then Wallace decides to name him "Shawn" for that exact reason.
@dodec Since we speak a rhotic dialect of english, that joke went *right* over our heads, as the word shorn and the name shaun sound very distinct to us
-F
@Felthry oh my god