semantic drift: "limerick"

[Jonathan Lighter]

For many, this means "a brief bawdy or ribald rhymed verse."  The first ex. I've seen in print:

  2003 Emmett Early _The War Veteran in Literature_ (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland) 207: Nolte...marches down the railroad track...chanting marching limericks: "I'm going to take a three-day pass, I'm going to whip old Jodie's ass...Your left, right, left."

  JL


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