Limerick[s] (reply to Joel)

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/13/2009 12:02 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>"Pat Geoghan" (gaygin) rhymes with "bacon" and "makin'."

Thanks, Jon.  I also got the message from Joan C Biella.

As I recorded the limerick from the "metadata", which is sufficiently
long to record the whole rhyme, it actually has the spelling
"Googan".  (Unfortunately I did not also photocopy the page image, so
I can't swear what's there.)  Therefore I didn't think of a
"gaygan/gaygon/gaygin" pronunciation.


>Fun.

And it has been -- I was led from limerick rhymes to the superior
circus pig (which I plan to tell Natalie Angier about, given her
recent New York Times piece about pigs who set up "convex security
mirrors at key points along the driveway").

Joel


>JL
>
>On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Limerick[s] (reply to Joel)
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 11/13/2009 07:56 AM, Stephen Goranson wrote:
> > ...
> > >>[Quoting Joel:]
> > >>6)  A limerick from Limerick:
> > >>
> > >>The Sporting Times [London], 1895 October 25, p. 6.
> > >>
> > >>An Irish contractor, Pat Googahan,
> > >>Supplies us with Limerick beogahan,
> > >>    It's true that the pork
> > >>    Come chiefly from Cork;
> > >>But thousands, they tell me, he's meogahan.
> > >>
> > >>[So here we have Limerick, a limerick, and the Sporting Times all
> > >>together -- but it's a bit late, and naturally doesn't tell us that
> > >>such rhymes are called "limericks".]
> > >>[I could also use a translation.]
> > >>
> > >>7)  A puzzle, essentially a rebus.  For example, between the text
> > >>"The Soil is equally sui-" and "for grazing and for" is a picture of
> > >>a table.  The puzzle is titled "Limerick" -- but it is about the
> > >>county of Limerick.
> > >>
> > >>Joel
> > >
> > >Thanks very much Joel. Your #6--I'd call it a Limerick *mentioning*
> > Limerick
> > >rather than *from* Limerick
> >
> > Since I don't know what "Limerick beogahan" is, I couldn't tell
> > whether this limerick is "from" or simply "mentions" Limerick.  :-)
> > And is *anyone* going to give me a translation?!  I assume "beogahan"
> > and "meogahan" are humorous misspellings of somethings, but I don't know
> > what.
> >
> > >--is interesting, even if not as early as Legman
> > >guessed. (We have explicit use of the Limerick poem name earlier in 1895.)
> > >It
> > >adds to the accumulation of texts that suggest knowledge that the verse
> > >form is
> > >called Limerick, even if not explicitly saying so.
> > >
> > >About #7 (undated?) did you mean *not* titled Limerick but about Limerick?
> >
> > No, the puzzle is titled "Limerick" as well as being about the
> > county.  But I assume the title simply refers to the subject, the
> > county, not that rebuses are called "Limericks".  And there is no
> > element of the limerick rhyme.
> >
> > Joel
> >
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>
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