The first limerick I think I heard was by my father, 'The boy stood on the burning deck, his pocket full of crackers...", you know how it goes.
The next I can remember was in a book I was reading, "Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain. He stepped into a puddle, right up to his muddle, and never went there again". This puzzled the very young me for two reasons. I must have known by the then how limericks should be constructed, and Foster could not possibly rhyme with Gloucester, which of course it does. The second issue being muddle, clearly meaning middle. Was muddle ever an alternative word for middle? Now online, I see the word middle is used, which makes it wrong as a limerick. I suppose you could say, 'He stepped into cow piddle, right up to his middle'.
I had to look this one up as I had forgotten the main verse. This is also my father's quoted version.
"Not last night but the night before,
Three little monkeys came knocking at my door.
One had a fiddle, one had a drum,
And one had a pancake stuck to it's ???
Don't be mistaken, don't be misled,
One had a pancake stuck on it's head.".
I assume everyone who knows this verse also knows this version? Maybe that was my first introduction to word play.
I'm sure I could do much better than this off the cuff limerick, but;
There is a cat we know as Jass,
who could behave like a bit of an ass.
While she seems rather gruff,
she is not really that tough,
in fact she is just a bit sass.
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Ah, lovely Jass - how lucky she is to have her own limerick. 🐈🐈⬛
ReplyDeleteShe's one very spoilt cat, JB.
DeleteYou made me laugh. Every dog I had had her own song created by me. I just love limericks. Jass will be pleased.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
That's so nice about the songs for you dogs. What did you sing to your last dog. I forgotten its name.
DeleteThank goodness for the American island of _Nantucket_ off Mass. and near Rhode Island.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a wicked older lady, Hels. Love you for it.
DeleteUmm... Andrew, only your own effort about Jass resembles a lyric. The remainder are comic rhymes of one sort or another. "The boy stood on the burning deck" is a parody. The version I was taught by my father was:
ReplyDelete"The boy stood on the burning deck
Picking his nose like mad.
He rolled it into little balls
And flicked it at his Dad."
When I was teaching, 40 years ago now(!), I used to be involved in a massed singing class for year 7 on Friday afternoons. The boys were taught songs which eventually they were to sing at a school concert, and as a kind of reward for this they also had the chance to sing along to current popular hits with the assistance of an overhead transparency on which another teacher had transcribed the lyrics. One such song was "A good heart." Being Friday afternoon there was a kind of carnival atmosphere. For this song it was my job to fix the boys with an eagle eye to detect and prevent subversive mis-singings. I thought I was trying to stop them singing "A good fart these days is hard to find. A good fart!" Now I'm not sure if that is what they were singing.
MC, they aren't all limericks? I don't really understand.
DeleteThat is a version of 'The boy stood on the burning deck', I don't know.
I do know the song where the word fart would be inserted.
You do really, cos you wrote one or sort of. A limerick has 5 lines, with rhythm 3,3,2,2,3 in terms of main stresses (this part is a bit of a simplification), and rhyme scheme AABBA..
DeleteI think I get it now.
DeleteAww, look at Jass standing up by the window, was she watching for Phyllis to come home?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the rest of the "pockets full of crackers" limerick, but I remember one that went around the schoolyard:
"I love you I love you I love you almighty
I wish my pyjamas were next to your nightie
Don't be mistaken, don't be misled,
I mean on the clothesline, not in the bed."
I wish I remembered more limericks, they're fun.
Jass would only see Phyllis arriving home if it was by parachute. I think there must have been an insect outside the window.
DeleteThat limerick is not one I know, although the diversion is similar.
You did well Andrew regarding your pussycat.
ReplyDeleteNever heard the monkey one but know the first one, though I had forgotten and looked it up..
The first one I think was in a book I had, along with others. One about a goose as well?
DeleteMeow!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, TP.
DeleteI have a terrible memory for limericks, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteMine is failing too Pat, but if I can remember a line or two, Google is helpful.
DeleteExcellent Jass limerick! I had to look up the rest of the one about the boy and his crackers. :)
ReplyDeleteThe noun beginning with k is probably not really known in the US but I would have thought you would have heard it in England.
DeleteIn the garden, I leaned 'gainst a tree
ReplyDeleteThis angered a too busy bee
He chased me aroun'
Until I fell down
That bugger then stung me times three.
True story unfortunately, from three days ago.
Nice work Strayer, yes I remember you getting stung.
DeleteThanks I was headed off to Waldo Lake when I decided to try my hand at a limerick. Jass is a dear but I bet she can be a sass. She sure is beautiful. Maybe she knows it.
DeleteEnjoyable post Andrew. I like the cat is that yours?
ReplyDeleteYes, that's our Jass.
DeleteJass is beautiful and lucky to have her own limerick.
ReplyDeleteShe is a very lucky cat, Linda.
Delete'The cat crept into the crypt and c******' that is all I can remember.
ReplyDeleteNice one, you avoided taking our saviour's name in vain.
Delete