[Ads-l] Limerick song, 1875

[Stephen Goranson]

I had thought to present the "come to Limerick" (settle, come to terms) uses that are associated with the US Civil War, starting shortly before the shooting began, but there are too many to fit into a post. For starters, all three examples in HDAS are directly connected to that Civil War, using Limerick as a treaty reference to an earlier war in Ireland. And many more could be cited.
So I'm flummoxed that Bob Turvey's new book, Why Are Limericks Called Limericks?, denies any connection to what he calls the "Williamite War" of William and Mary!

The relationship of this phrase to the later-attested game is not yet fully documented. I think the game started in the US; Turvey thinks it started in England.

Here's a potential antedating of the song—in the US. (The song may have existed before the game.)
Sept. 2, 1875 (newspapers.com), The Jeffersonian, Stroudsburg, Monroe. PA, page 2/1

It is very "onpleasant" for a young man to fall over wheel-barrows, milk pots, slop buckets, &c., when trying to steal an interview with his sweetheart. He took it good naturedly, however, for he came out singing, "O, won't you come down to Limerick."

Stephen Goranson

Background, "Limerick Poems and Civil Wars"
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=31647

My view on a different linguistic battleground:
"What, Exactly, Did Josephus Write About Jesus? (That Is, If He Did Mention Jesus)"
https://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/what-exactly-did-josephus-write-about.html
[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpiJUgsAU6Why4RnDJF_Kf1MVDvERfTRo4MjShG7ultrS21cITRMXrOn8UpVPIfFnduEf3c6haOVX2r1s95Db62m0w-ogcHcazNIeLGtmjn3SBysuvB_yFdBHcYOJQo0U_pO5IvmwOpIPxqphu-ECgrSaREUk5CwVLAujyscKz3cmR5BXVD8AFEA/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/61hWjaliweL.jpg]<https://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/what-exactly-did-josephus-write-about.html>
NT Blog: What, Exactly, Did Josephus Write About Jesus? Guest Post by Stephen Goranson - ntweblog.blogspot.com<https://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/what-exactly-did-josephus-write-about.html>
Two new books address this question, whether Flavius Josephus, who wrote Antiquities of the Jews, or Judean Antiquities, in about the year 94 of the first century CE, mentioned Jesus of Nazareth.This most famous portion of his book eventually came to be called the Testimonium Flavianum, often abbreviated as the TF.Both books conclude that Josephus did indeed mention this Jesus, though they ...
ntweblog.blogspot.com




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