As there has been recent comment here that we don't do enough limericks anymore (spending all the limerick effort over at the OEDILF) I had an idea that might reinvigorate it a bit.

How would you all feel about this for a game?

One person posts the name of a place - could be a country or a town or a village or whatever.

If it's somewhere not generally known the person posting also provides a pronunciation guide.

Everybody else provides a limerick by PM to the originator, the only rules being

1. It must be of the classical "person from place" form

2. The place name must be in the A-rhyme position.

When the originator has enough he publishes them without names and everyone gets to vote on which one they like best (by whatever criteria they choose)

The winner gets the honour of choosing the next place name.

If there is a tie the originator has the casting vote.

If anyone is interested I'll start with my home town Bilston. BILS-tun (that's a schwa in the second syllable! and the s is an s sound not a z)

Bob,

Neat concept. Might actually give me some practice writing limericks. I'm not limerick talented so it would be a great challenge. How long do we have to get them to the poster of the town/city? A week?

Emily

A week is what to aimfor but really until the originator has enough to make it worthwhile.

So, any opinions on the idea? I won't be offended if you tell me it's rubbish.

It's really a fine idea, but ... so far ... I'm putting Bilston into the "orange" category, which is to say I haven't yet found a rhyme for it.

I love the idea!
I think Bilston probably has it's counterpart A rhymes in the names of other English towns or perhaps the names of obscure cheeses?

Well I have one so far, so the idea isn't a total bust.
I have two if you count my own.

Richard. I'd've thought this would appeal to your sense of wordplay and Kalleh, maybe you can manage something with this, admittedly awkward word.

when i worked in a police department i wrote a limerick for each of the 100 people who worked there .... example .....

a former barber named jerry haals
no longer cuts hair in the maals
as a cop, and a nark
his shop is now dark
he's responding to hair-raising caals

and

parking meter cop named don taylor
was assigned to the job of the jailer
he looks quite at ease
as he jingles his keys
and his complexion grows steadily paler

but i still can't handle Bilston

HEY! YOU OUT THERE! IS ANYBODY LISTENING?

OK so maybe my choice of my home town was a bit of a toughie to start with but I do have one contribution and my own and where would the challenge be if I gave you an easy one.

Come on, surely someone will take on this impossible (or at least rather difficult) rhyming challenge.

Near rhymes, weird rhymes and downright non rhymes could (in the right limerick) be acceptable. This isn't the OEDILF here.

Bob Hale is from Bilston, you see,
And that's how it was meant to be.
It's a place that is rhymeless
Not timeless nor crimeless,
But it fits his philosophy.

quote:

Originally posted by jerry thomas:
.
It's a place that is rhymeless

Wanna bet?

Well, as no one seems particularly interestd (I thought it was a good idea) I'll post the little I've got - which is FIVE limericks in total, one mine, including one that doesn't have the (very difficult) place name in a rhyming position,

1.
There once was a man born in Bilston
Who married his sweetheart from Hilston.
She bore him a son
Then to Wales she did run.
She’s now shagging some old guy in Ilston.

2.
From Bilston comes our friend BobHale
Whose gender's decidedly male.
He writes interesting prose
Wherever he goes
And he's skillful at telling the tale.

3.
There's Trekkie named Philip from Bilston
Says is phaser is set and it will stun
His mate Tuncliffe, sarcastic,
Says, "It's made of plastic"
Phil turns up the setting and kills Tun.

4.
An elderly couple from Bilston
Won millions and got all their sills done.
And their roof, stairs and hall;
They had quite a ball -
It's time now they both get their wills done.

5.
Taking grain to the mill down in Bilston,
We find 2,000 pounds is a mill's ton.
This Miller's Tale
Would make Chaucer turn pale
But the dill dough's not done till the dill's done.

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

I don't often come to the wordplay area, I confess. But the limerick idea does appeal. I might give it a whirl.

Richard's English as English can be
Evidently and obviously
His confession reveals
That the challenge appeals
Will he produce Limericks? We'll see.

And I now have a fourth...
(Also added into the list above)

An elderly couple from Bilston
Won millions and got all their sills done.
And their roof, stairs and hall;
They had quite a ball -
It's time now they both get their wills done.

Taking grain to the mill down in Bilston,
We find 2,000 pounds is a mill's ton.
This Miller's Tale
Would make Chaucer turn pale
But the dill dough's not done till the dill's done.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jerry thomas,

And then there were five...

Are we supposed to vote on our favororites? I like #4 about the elderly couple. I think that's the best one. But that's just my opinion.

quote:

But the dill dough's not done till the dill's done

Is a dildo the same thing in US English as it is in UK?

What is the mechanism for voting ? And do you want those who have submitted a limerick to vote for any submission (including their own), vote for any submission except their own, or simply abstain?

Just post your vote here. No voting for yourself. As I know who wrote what I'll be able to discount votes for your own work.

If that doesn't work we can use PMs next time - if there is a next time. Interest has been slight this time.

I'll kick off. Apart from my own I like #5 best.

correction Correction
CORRECTION
Correction correction


Number four gets my vote. Its author followed more of the rules than the writers of the others, and rule following seems to be a virtue.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jerry thomas,

Can't help noticing that you seem to have voted for yourself there jt. Bit of a giveaway was that you posted the original with your name attached above in this thread.

I will vote for number 5, primarily as I love the wordplay in L5. I don't know whether it would survive OEDILF workshopping, though

You are right, Bob. I voted for my own work.

<blush> <blush>

I also wrote Number 2, to which I hereby award a grade of "F," and Number five, (C minus)

To err is (sometimes) fun ....

quote:

Originally posted by Richard English:
I don't know whether it would survive OEDILF workshopping, though

That's the beauty of posting here. It doesn't have to.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard English: Is a dildo the same thing in US English as it is in UK?

I always thought it was invented in England, like everything else.

P.S. Doubless invented by some young mother who, stuck at home with the baby, needed some way to divert herself. Thus leading to the well-known saying, "Invention is the necessity of Mother."

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale: One person posts the name of a place - If anyone is interested I'll start with my home town Bilston.

Consider the difficulty, Bob! It’s a difficult task rhyming ‘Bilston’. Although any success surely will stun, I’m a procrastinator. I’ll save it til later, until every neighboring ville’s done.

Oh, gosh, I missed this. And I've been looking for more limerick's too.

How about a tweak on the rules, Bob? Why vote? That takes a lot of time as we've seen with the Bluffing game. How about just posting a place, as you've suggested. Then someone posts a limerick about it, and suggests the next place. And we continue from there. Or is that too simple?

Personally I think the fewer rules the better, and I agree that the voting isn't necessary.

How about simply inviting any members or visitors to compose spontaneous Limericks with a place name at the end of Line One .....

Here's one for the ladies in Georgia.
A Limerick designed to reward ya.
We love to see pictures
Of Georgia girls' fixtures
That's why the webcam is aimed towards ya.

quote:

Although any success surely will stun

Don't you mean "Though any success surely will stun"?

I think voting is necessary. I like competition, and winners and losers. I do not agree with the modern scholastic concept of rewarding failure and success equally.

In the real world it's the winners that win, not the losers and children need to get used to the idea. Effort is certainly deserving of praise, but effort is not everything.

I too like the element of competition and I also like the idea of seeing what different people do with the same word. If we just do it as a chain then each place only gets one limerick. Still I did start with a very hard word to rhyme so maybe, until we get established, we should try to keep to rhymes that are a bit easier and I'm certainly happy to remove the "classic 'There once was a person from plce' form as a rule."

How about this tweak

One person posts the name of a place - could be a country or a town or a village or whatever.

If it's somewhere not generally known the person posting also provides a pronunciation guide.

Everybody else provides a limerick by PM to the originator, the only rule being

1. The place name must be in the A-rhyme position.

For difficult to rhyme words near rhymes will be acceptable, groanworthiness is an adequate reason for voting for something.

When the originator has enough he publishes them without names and everyone gets to vote on which one they like best (by whatever criteria they choose)

The winner gets the honour of choosing the next place name.

If there is a tie the originator has the casting vote.


Or we could go with the originator judging which he/she likes best and passing on the baton. Still a competition but no voting.


One other thing, just like in thebluffing game YOU DON'T HAVE TO SUBMIT TO VOTE.

Which of this bunch do people like. If I choose, I choose jerry's #5 for its dill dough wordplay.

quote:

I always thought it was invented in England, like everything else.

Not according to Wikipedia. The oldest known such device comes from what is now Germany and is around 30,000 years old.

Of course, as one would expect, the Greeks used them and, indeed, there are extant illustrations of them in use.

So sadly, not a British invention on this occasion.

Hey, I didn't know non-submitters were allowed to vote in the bluffing game!

This limerick game sounds great, count me in. I think it's great to have a number of submissions on the same end-rhyme; we'll learn from each other.

As regards the current batch, I too prefer the dill dough. (Er, I mean... )