[Ads-l] Limerick at Oxford 1881, again

[Stephen Goranson]

That is, I should have repeated, when Bishop of Limerick Graves returned to Oxford from Limerick
at an assembly in which he was awarded an honorary doctor degree.

sg
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2025 12:08 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Limerick at Oxford 1881, again

"Come to Limerick," meaning get to the point and the like, in US Civil War era and after was attested only in the US.
(Bob Turvey's new book agreed.)

To repeat:
"Charles Larcom Graves was a student at Oxford, source [later] of many early "Limerick
rhymes," and presumably was in attendance in 1881 when the Bishop of Limerick,
his father, was reportedly greeted with "...Won't you come up to Limerick
town?"

Who started that chant, the meaning of which the honoree and his sons, at the time, apparently, were clueless?

Oxford students from America?

Stephen Goranson

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