[Jan D. Hodge]

Gee, since we now have "permission" to not be filthy, how about:

A ladies' man prone to excesses
would cover the girls with caresses,
. .and when they were hot
. .he would likely as not
lie down and look up their names in the phone book.

[Jan D. Hodge]

Originally posted by bear_music:

Some folks are spinning off and doing limeroids that aren't dirty at all, but why bother? The fun of the thing is to sneak something obscene past the censor . . .

Well, maybe sometimes a light tap can be as effective as a sledge hammer? or a smile as pleasing as a guffaw?

Maybe even in limericks there is still a tiny corner reserved for subtlety?

Maybe "adult" doesn't have to mean "crude"?

Maybe "sneaking something obscene past the censor" isn't the only fun in town?

Maybe the mellifluous is its own excuse for being?

But yes, dirty can be fun, too . . .

Jan

[Roger Slater]

Though Jan has convinced me that limericks and limeroids do not have to be dirty, I wrote these and posted them elsewhere on Erato before Jan helped me see the light.


TO A WRITER OF LIMERICKS

Your limericks, fine to inspect,
though metrical have one defect:
a limerick must
involve sex and lust.
The clean ones most readers reject.

You just cannot buck this tradition,
regardless how noble your mission.
No, you can't duck it.
That girl from Nantucket
is a limerick's true precondition.

[ChrisW]

I see that Gazebo has a big 'limeroid' thread -- and that no one seems to recall that *I* was the coiner of 'limeroid' (as far as I know) -- it might be my one claim to fame, so I'm going to cling to it! Of course, things are complicated by the fact that I don't exist over on Gazebo. (See my scurrilous limerick thread on Metrical I.

It seems a bit silly to trouble you
Said trivial Christopher W
But rather than simmer I'd
Claim the word 'limeroid'
Thank goodness I don't have to rhyme here!

[bear_music]

Hey, Jan:

It wasn't my contention that a limerick has to be dirty. Some say it does, but I'm not one of those.

My point is, the amusing thing about a limeroid, its raison d'etre, if you will, is that it takes the dirty part and obscures it, makes the reader extract it for him or herself.

For me, the limeroid that is not obscuring a "dirty" word is essentially a non-sequitur. Kind of like writing a 13 line poem and claiming it's a sonnet. Of course, there are certainly no formal rules for a limeroid, anyone can do whatever they like and call it one, I am just stating a personal opinion here.

(music)

[Hugh Clary]

For what it's worth, I checked a half dozen or so folks I believe are limerick experts and, though all had written lims of this type, none knew what the name for such a construction might be.

[Carol Taylor]

Chris, I'll go over to Gaz and make sure you get your copyright on that name, which may make you famous some day.

I think the fun thing about a Limeroid is the surprise ending, whether the implied word is dirty or not. The reader has to be able to anticipate the unspoken word, and that's somehow easier to do with dirty words.

Limericks themselves often tend toward the naughty, and some people think that's all they're good for, but I've heard a lot of good ones that weren't naughty. I think they must be funny and metrically regular, though.

Carol

[ChrisW]

Oh well, Carol, it really is silly to care, but one doesn't like to be so easily forgotten! And of course, on Gaz, nobody'll know me, so what difference does it make?

[Jan D. Hodge]

Originally posted by bear_music:

My point is, the amusing thing about a limeroid, its raison d'etre, if you will, is that it takes the dirty part and obscures it, makes the reader extract it for him or herself.

For me, the limeroid that is not obscuring a "dirty" word is essentially a non-sequitur. (music)

Point taken. I'll amend my response by changing "limerick" to "limeroid":

Maybe even in limeroids there can be a small corner where one can try for cleverness sans vulgarity? As Carol argues, the point is still to have the reader anticipate the [absent] rhyme word as the ending takes an unexpected turn.

I am hardly a prude, and agree that sex is (and probably should be) the staple of light verse and humor, but I am unconvinced that blatant vulgarity for its own sake is inherently either witty or funny.

On a related topic: I used to do the following exercise in intro to lit classes to get students comfortable with the "mysteries" of meter. It has the advantages of not having to rewrite Yeats or Keats or whoever, and giving them a subject they can be comfortable with and have fun with.

Part A: Fill in the blank with "a," "the," or a number from two to nine.

When Dangerous Daniel McGrew
went berserk in the Sioux City zoo,
. . .he goosed several geese
. . .and the caretaker's niece,
and impregnated ____ kangaroo.

P.S.: "kangaroo" is a recognized [OED] plural form; cf. sheep, etc.

Part B: (the class to do in discussion in 10 minutes or so)

Rewrite the limerick into iambic meter, given this as the first line:

When Dandy Dan McGrew . . .

Every class came up with something at least passable, and learned quite a few things in the process. As discussion refined word choices and sound patterns, most classes worked toward something like:

When Dandy Dan McGrew
went nuts* in Boston's zoo,
. .he goosed the geese
. .and the owner's** niece,
and screwed*** the kangaroo.

*one student came up with the perfect word for "nuts": "ape"! The class instantly recognized its superiority. "Boston's zoo" can then become "Capetown Zoo."

**whatever word is suggested first for here, someone always soon comes up with "keeper's," obviously better for assonance.

***for moralistic types, "kissed" works nicely here. Sometimes a daring student offers "fucked," but the word is far too strong (and less assonant) for context, and kills the joke, which saves me the trouble of having to appear "moralistic."

But--and this is where this whole tangent was headed--one student many years ago offered:

When Dandy Dan McGrew
tried making breakfast for two,
. .he burned the bread,
. .went back to bed,
and said, "Oh heck, let's go out for breakfast."

An iambic limeroid? (So the second line doesn't scan . . . )

Sorry for carrying on so.

Jan

[bear_music]

jejeje

That's a great story, Jan!

(music)