OK time to find a winner, hopefully someone who'll pick a much better town. Sorry about that - it was much harder than I thought it would be, not to rhyme of course just to get a plausible story out of them. Here are those stories:

Question:
1
If for opals you're feeling quite greedy
The place that you want's Coober Pedy.
Opal miners abound -
Though they live underground -
Since above dehydration is speedy.

2
One day I was in Coober Pedy
When I met a man who agreed 'e
Would trade me five opals
For my new bifocals
But I should've seen he'd mislead me.

3
A shrewd Aussie madam named Hedy
Did business in ol' Coober Pedy
Into caves ladies lured
Chilly johns, which ensured
Transactions that were super-speedy.

4
S and M guys from old Coober Pedy
In an underground home for the needy,
Midst the rubber and chains
Wire their balls to the mains -
The result could be said to be seedy.

5
In Outback you'll love Coober Pedy,
There's opals but also...indeedy...
The crocodile's nest
Is really the best!
Though those beautiful gems make me greedy!

6
I said to my son who agreed 'e'd
Return to the mine to succeed me
That, "I'll just have to sell
'Cause I know you too well -
You don't even like Coober Pedy".

7
Jan-Diedrich from old Coober Pedy
You met, took him home (you were needy)
And though he’s teutonic,
He’s far from bionic
It comes to an end über speedy.

8
In a flophouse within Coober Pedy
Lived a man, with a suit sad and seedy.
Pressed for cash, that poor soul
Would not go on the dole.
“Give your largess to someone who’s needy.”

9
In a mine down beneath Coober Pedy,
Big Edie eats burgers, unheedy.
She knows one more bun’ll
Have her stuck in the tunnel,
But still she can’t stop, she’s too greedy.

10
When opals were found in Coober Pedy
Grandma went there super-speedy.
As the only whore
'Mid miners galore,
Let's say she was uber-greedy!

11
My jojobas don’t like Coober Pedy;
They’re wispy and wilting and weedy.
There’s far too much sun,
Of rainfall there’s none -
Hey, even the gum trees look seedy!


12
There's a mole here who is uber greedy
Who'll sell any story super seedy,
But he cannot be found
For he lives underground,
As do most of us in Coober Pedy.

Not too bad a collection in the end.

Choices:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

 

Wow! There are a lot. This is what I call a vote!

Can we vote for our own?

On the odd occasion that I actually liked my own limerick the best I have abstained from voting, but nobody can tell who voted for what and if you honestly think yours is the best one, I can't see why not.

There's no reason why not, I agree. It's against my principles to vote for my own, but that's just I.

If, however, you decide not to vote for your own, I have a suggestion. Vote for mine!

Coober fled from his crime, yes, indeed,
To the desert’s the place where he fleed.
He consumed H2O
Till at last he let go
And that monument’s where Coober Pee’d.

I think I can declare this Poll now, as we rarely get more than 8 votes, and one of the ones with 1 vote would have to poll another 2 to tie with the current leader. What say the rest of you?

I say sock it to us, Greg.

Go for it!

Richard English has returned to the Limerick Game with a bang. He is the clear winner with 3 votes.

The other limericks were written by:

1 - Richard
2 - Me
3 - Bethree
4 - Michael
5 - Kalleh
6 - Me
7 - Michael
8 - Proof
9 - Stella
10 - Arnie
11 - Stella
12 - Me

Now comes the part I'm really not looking forward to - providing some commentary.

1 - Simple topical and rhythmically perfect.
2 - I was rapt with my "who agreed 'e" rhyme and had two cracks at trying to make it work but couldn't quite finish it off, but I'm glad somebody liked it.
3 - As good a story as we got I think. I voted for it right at the end, because it was only after writing this up that I decided which one I liked best.
4 - Not a bad story - very scary imagery.
5 - Great research on the town, but indeedy looked like it was there just for the sake of the rhyme.
6 - My second crack at the same rhyme, but the first one was better.
7 - This one lost me I'm afraid. One of 3 to bring in the new internet buzzword borrowed from German - uber to rhyme with Coober.
8 - Not bad, but there's nobody here like that, I reckon we've got more dole bludgers per capita than anywhere else in the world.
9 - I would have liked this one better if Big Edie was the L2 rhyme rather than unheedy.
10 - Another uber one. Almost as scary imagery as mains-wired balls.
11 - I quite liked this one, especially the triple alliteration in L2.
12 - My favourite of my own 3.

Sorry but that's the best I can do. Those of you who prefer a more technical critique are welcome to add your comments.

Take it away Richard.

I loved #2, Greg, and voted for it. I had to push the envelope to make the first line work, but once I did, it was a winner!

[Edited for clarity]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

quote:

10 - Another uber one. Almost as scary imagery as mains-wired balls.

I'm not sure what's so scary, unless it's the thought of my grandmother having been a prostitute. I hasten to add that both ladies were in fact of the highest moral rectitude who would have been scandalised by such a suggestion. Anyway, neither of them ever went abroad.

I claim poetic licence.

quote:

10 - Another uber one. Almost as scary imagery as mains-wired balls.

I on the other hand can fully understand the scary imagery in the mains-wired balls limerick. Perhaps this was why it garnered 'null points'. That's a shame, because I really liked this one, even if it was my own (and I can't say the same about limerick 7). Perhaps if I'd written L5 as seed-y, the punchline would have been more obvious?

On the other hand, perhaps (as Kalleh said after the last game) I need to realise that my taste in limericks is just different than everyone else's - although associating this limerick with my taste in general is maybe not such a smart thing to do

I hate to admit that I did miss the seed-y pun, Michael. It was a good limerick too and I might've been swayed if I'd recognised it. Richard's was a worthy winner though, combining all the elements in a credible story.

As usual I went through eliminating for niggling things to whittle the list down. In general, unless a limerick is brilliant in every other way, I probably won't be tempted to vote for near rhymes like "lead me" and "succeed me" but I know that they don't bother everyone (that's the beauty of the group vote).

The use of made up names as rhymes came under fire a couple of rounds ago - actually, to me, if you're gonna use them it's preferable not to put them in the rhyming position if possible. BTW "unheedy" is a real word (if archaic).

quote:

I'm not sure what's so scary, unless it's the thought of my grandmother having been a prostitute.

Not your Grandma so much Arnie, but any Grandma still working in that capacity is scary imagery to me. As a consequence I was torn between voting for yours or Michael's scary imagery, until I did my write-up and went for another one completely. My apologies to both of you.

quote:

but indeedy looked like it was there just for the sake of the rhyme.

It was.