[Ads-l] new book on Limerick etymology

[Stephen Goranson]

For now, one thing that, as far as I know, Bob Turvey's new Limericks book got right is that attestations of "come to Limerick," meaning come to a settlement and the like, in the late 1850s and following into the US Civil War and later, "seems to have been confined to the US" (kindle location 3270, whatever that means in paper page numbers).

That, in my opinion, actually strengthens the proposal that this was a precursor of the Limerick chorus, will you, won't you come up to Limerick etc., especially in North America, though he goes elsewhere.

As a reminder, my proposal, that he dismisses, had a brief presentation on this list and here, March 18, 2017:
"Limerick Poems and Civil Wars"

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=31647

More later.
Stephen Goranson
________________________________
From: Stephen Goranson
Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2025 1:59 PM
To: American Dialect Society <ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
Subject: new book on Limerick etymology

I'm busy with other matters, but note a new book:
Bob Turvey, Why Are Limericks Called Limericks?
It gathers many quotations--though not all that have been noted lately--so it is useful in that.
Its analysis, in my opinion, is deficient.

Stephen Goranson

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