# "Little Red Riding Hood" nitpick **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013 "2015-02-06T23:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/41 "2015-02-10T18:40:41Z")
> [@edwardcoast](#): > > The wolf had a fetish. He always wanted to be in drag as a Grandma and now this was his chance. Again? Second thread today. Was I too wordy? Was it because I said Octogenarian? Or I’m just invisible. I must be on everyone’s ignore list. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/42 "2015-02-10T19:19:51Z")
How trite … … nevermind Red bore the Woodcutter’s son but six months later … nevermind all the condos built on Grandma’s property … nevermind Red’s villa overlooking Monaco Blame the wolf … ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/43 "2015-02-11T23:34:39Z")
It’s the big BAD wolf. There’s nothing bad about a wolf eating a girl in the woods, that’s just a wolf (well, if wolves actually ate people, but that’s another discussion). But getting ahead of her, eating grandma, and then putting on her close, the better to utterly destroy Red? Now that is one Bad Wolf. The kind WHO’s legend will span all of time and space. And he would have gotten away with it, if not for that meddling woodsman. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/44 "2015-02-11T23:57:03Z")
It’s not about calories or nutrition. It’s about sex. It’s an allegory about how young women should be skeptical of young men (or men in general) because men want sexy sexy time. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/45 "2015-02-12T00:10:21Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > It’s not about calories or nutrition. It’s about sex. It’s an allegory about how young women should be skeptical of young men (or men in general) because men want sexy sexy time. And they want to do it with Grandmas, too? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/46 "2015-02-12T02:39:55Z")
Yessiree. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/47 "2015-02-12T04:29:02Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > Several posters have gotten near the truth. > > It is a moral tale about young girls talking to strangers. > > The “wolf” was not _Canis lupus_ but _H. sapiens_. Yes, the idiom is that old. > > If you read some of the old versions, it is more obvious (and a bit kinky in places :eek:) I wish I could remember where but I read one analysis of the early versions of Red Riding Hood where the moral was religious with the Wolf being a thinly-disguised version of Satan. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/48 "2015-02-12T04:57:06Z")
I think I get it now. They made up the story of a wolf who eats grandma and wears her clothes because you want your daughter not to talk to men because they are homicidal cross-dressers and they’re only interested in you because they want to kill your grandmother and wear her clothes. That makes perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/49 "2015-02-12T13:23:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think I get it now. They made up the story of a wolf who eats grandma and wears her clothes because you want your daughter not to talk to men because they are homicidal cross-dressers and they’re only interested in you because they want to kill your grandmother and wear her clothes. That makes perfect sense. That explains Silence of the Lambs… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/50 "2015-02-12T15:23:46Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > Several of the old fairy tales have messages that are lost to the modern reader. [Indeed.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=309500) ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/51 "2015-02-12T18:32:47Z")
> [@huitzilopochtli](#): > > I’m hesitant because I think I’ve been whooshed but I’m not sure. Meh, what the heck. > It’s a metaphor for what happens to little girls when they go out alone at night. He’s a wolf after all. > [@huitzilopochtli](#): > > I guess I only whooshed myself! Maybe I was a little quick to assume something like slut shaming. ;):smack:I don’t think that usually includes “And you’ll get your poor grandma killed too!” Are you kidding? The whole SDMB is one big whoosh! BWahh Hahh Hahh Haha! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/52 "2015-02-13T05:04:44Z")
Life is one big whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/53 "2015-02-13T05:38:10Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > And they want to do it with Grandmas, too? 😕 [That’s not **all** I did with Grandma!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_(1996_film))😃 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/54 "2015-02-13T14:18:53Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > Several of the old fairy tales have messages that are lost to the modern reader. Maybe not. You can over-analyze anything, from Mother Goose to Nostradamus. Finding a “hidden meaning” may be nothing more than an illustration of the all-too-human talent for making connections that are merely coincidences. Such connections can reveal the biases or perversions of the analyzer more than the author. > [@](#): > > When correctly viewed, _everything_ is lewd… –Tom Lehrer, _Smut_ My take on Red Riding Hood is it’s just a story for kids. Folk or fairy tales aren’t required to make sense, and often rely on [suspension of disbelief.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/55 "2015-09-16T22:05:17Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > In the tale of the Brother’s Grim there is also an explanation, Red Riding hood had +100 in avoidance abilities, hard for the Wolf to catch Red. (In the tale Red was keeping her distance and it could be that she had ways to defend herself) so he hatched the plan to catch her later when her guard was down when approaching “Grandma” > > [HOMER | The Essential Early Learning Program and App for Kids 2-8](http://www.speakaboos.com/full-text/little-red-riding-hood) Resurrecting this because months after I just realized that her name and attire was a big clue of what \*\*could \*\*be defending her against a lone wolf. Her horse. :smack: I think now that many that retold the tale do not bother to mention it because it was implied that a horse is there with Red, as that was one of the reasons one wears that kind of attire. Namely, a [riding cloak.](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/117023290291452570/) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/56 "2015-09-16T22:14:50Z")
Obviously it’s because wolves are pack hunters and he just didn’t feel comfortable attacking healthy prey without grandma in his stomach to back him up. ---
**Author:** ![Archeonomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Archeonomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archeonomist)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013/57 "2015-09-17T02:15:39Z")
Due to a rise in violent attacks from wolves, authorities has set up video surveillance equipment all over the forest. The wolf just wants to be out of sight when he eats little Red. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-red-riding-hood-nitpick/712013.md?page=2)