The Dozens

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:30 AM -0700 7/13/06, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Page, as for the limericks, I doubt their communal composition was
>popular among working-class African-Americans a century ago,
>especially in groups of twelve.  Nor do I believe that the line
>about swimming after troopships much antedates 1945. (Isn't the line
>usually, "In China they never eat chili"?)
>
Or "In China they do it for chilis".  There must be a good deal of
dialect variation on this.

LH

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