It’s Tuesday! And as Tuesdays have become a traditional day of poetry for our group, and because I’m not as good with free verse as BigJacx3.. I thought I’d write about Limericks.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
If you would like to fill in, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMom a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FSNMom is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
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According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica the limerick is...
a popular form of short, humorous verse that is often nonsensical and frequently ribald. It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the dominant metre is anapestic, with two metrical feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others. The origin of the limerick is unknown, but it has been suggested that the name derives from the chorus of an 18th-century Irish soldiers’ song, “Will You Come Up to Limerick?” To this were added impromptu verses crowded with improbable incident and subtle innuendo.
The first collections of limericks in English date from about 1820. Edward Lear, who composed and illustrated those in his Book of Nonsense (1846), claimed to have gotten the idea from a nursery rhyme beginning “There was an old man of Tobago.”
King John's Castle: Limerick, Ireland
There was an Old Lady of Chertsey,
Who made a remarkable curtsey;
She twirled round and round,
Till she sunk underground,
Which distressed all the people of Chertsey.
Edward Lear
Writing a limerick is so easy a child can do it.. if you don’t know how, someone wrote a series of limericks about it:
Many people have tried their hand at Limericks, here are some famous ones…
people, not limericks.
Rudyard Kipling:
There was a small boy of Quebec
Who was buried in snow to his neck
When they said, "Are you friz?"
He replied, " Yes, I is —
But we don't call this cold in Quebec"
H.G. Wells:
Our novels get longa and longa
Their language gets stronga and stronga
There’s much to be said
For a life that is led
In illiterate places like Bonga
Salman Rushdie:
The marriage of poor Kim Kardashian
Was krushed like a kar in a krashian.
Her Kris kried, "Not fair!
Why kan't I keep my share?"
But Kardashian fell klean outa fashian.
And Gallette Burgess:
I wish that my room had a floor!
I don't so much care for a door,
But this crawling around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore!
And then of course there are political Limericks. I thought everyone would appreciate this one, written about the last Presidential Campaign.
A limerick can be about anything, especially anything silly. And of course we’ve all heard the ribald and bawdy limericks! I’ve tried to keep these clean and safe for work however.
This one was inspired by my cat..
There once was a jolly old elf
Who hung around up on a shelf
The cat knocked him down
And he said with a frown
“You can put me back up there yourself!”
FloridaSNMom
How is your day? Are you decorated yet? Are you baking this year? And no, you don’t have to respond in a limerick (but extra points if you do!)