[Ads-l] Limerick song, 1875

[Ben Zimmer]

Here's a clipping:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bulletin-limerick-song/180597009/

(Once again I'd suggest that folks include clippings for Newspapers.com
cites as a rule, so that everyone can access them.)

--bgz

On Sun, Sep 7, 2025 at 11:33 AM Stephen Goranson <
00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Thank you, Jonathan!
>
> This does not come up on the lesser Duke U version of newspapers.com, so I
> assume it is from the personal subscription version.
> I have a thick paper file on the subject. I'll have to check, but this one,
> unless I forgot, is new to me.
> Though the song lyrics are not explicitly given, that it reportedly annoyed
> the fellow who "comes up from Limerick" is strongly suggestive.
> And in the US rather than the UK!
> Nothing against England, my birthplace, but this apparently adds to the
> case for US provenance, from the Civil War phrase to the later (?) game
> song.
> Thanks again.
> If anyone can email me a scan of the article and the date/title page, I
> would be quite grateful.
> Maybe we should write about this somewhere.
>
> Stephen Goranson
> goransonsc (at) gmail.com
> or, still (annual-renewed) guest retired status:
> goranson (at) duke.edu
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 7, 2025 at 9:51 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> 00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Too good to be true? Maybe not.
> >
> > 1866 _The Bulletin_ (Norwich, Conn.) (Nov. 8) 2 [Newspapers.com]:  ROW ON
> > THE PROVIDENCE ROAD. - On the old Providence pike Tuesday night Pat
> > McNamara was wending his weary way homeward, when in passing the suburban
> > residence of Pat Divine it came over him that he had an old grudge
> against
> > Pat and to express his opinion of him, he commenced a "Limerick song." As
> > Divine...comes up from Limerick, this made him mad, and he went out and
> > expressed his opinion to that bloody boy McNamara....McNamara was found
> > guilty of a breach of peace and was fined $2 and costs."
> >
> >  JL
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 10:24 AM Stephen Goranson <
> > 0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > 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."
>

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