“Bum titty bum” – Limerick toolbox
18 Jun 2004Limericks can be great fun to read, to receive and to make. The basics are: five lines , AABBA rhyming scheme and some respect for the correct metrum. The advanced theory (“internal feet must be anapestic, while the first syllable can be iambic”) can be found on Writing Limericks (Robert Elliott). That’s also where the ‘bum titty bum’ reference comes from.
The most cited limerick is probably:
There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all of his cash in a bucket,
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
What should be your limerick toolbox?
- The last word of the 1st sentence is in many cases a (first) name :List of (baby) first names – US Census first names or
- a place (country/city): List of Countries – List of capitals
- Indispensable is a rhyming dictionary: Rhymezone Rhyming Dictionary is a good one.
- Some limerick links – literary limericks (even a ‘double limerick’)
- Chris Strolin has started a project to rewrite the Oxford English Dictionary in limerick form (he’s at ac…)
As I also write limericks in Dutch (‘Nederlands’), here are equivalent links for that language:
- Geografische referenties: Landen van de wereld – Lijst van steden
- Voornamen: Meertens – Voornamenboek
- Rijmen: Rijmwoordenboek – Mick’s rijmwoordenboek
- Enkele voorbeelden: Taalgein – actuele limericks (2004)
