From some of the departures from Limeracy posted above, it is apparent that not everyone is familiar with the unique characteristics of the Limerick.
The Limerick is a style of poetry that is a fixed poetic form and is native to the English language.* Limericks, which date from the 1700s, traditionally have five lines in spondaic hexameter, of which the first two and the last rhyme, and the third and forth lines rhyme.
"Hickory Dickory Dock..." (remember?) was a Limerick, and one of the few suitable for recitation in a nursery. Most classic limericks are erotic in content and crude in their recitation. It has been said that the best Limerick is one which is entirely unsuitable for publication. I shall recite a few which, while questionable, are more or less suitable for this nursery.
The Limerick form is complex
Its contents run mainly to sex
It burgeons with virgeons
And masculine urgeons
And swarms with erotic effects
There once was a man from Kent
whose tool was horribly bent
so to save himself trouble
he put it in double
instead of coming, he went.
A pansy who lived in Khartoom
Took a lesbian up to his room
They argued all night
Over who had the right
To do what, and with which, and to whom.
There was a young lady named Prentice
Who had an affair with her dentist
To make things easier
He used anesthesia,
As he diddled her non compos mentis.
*Adapted from "The Limerick" - edited by G. Legman
