Here is the poll for the Maine limericks. This is not your typical limerick poll, as you will see. There are some triples and quadruples - lots of fun! Thanks to our talented writers.

Question:
1. A chorister living in Maine
Stole music again and again.
What he took wasn't his'n;
They put him in prison.
Now he's singing a different refrain.

2. I wish I could travel to Maine;
It really is not very plain.
There's picturesque mountains
An ocean and fountains.
I'll hop on a plane or a train!

3. I've heard that the natives of Maine
Say little, in English quite plain.
For prognostication
And shrewd observation
The most that you'll get is, "Might rain."

4. A fisherman lately from Maine
Was found in his dinghy-boat, slain.
It is said he paid mobsters
His vig in live lobsters
But forgot to send them champagne.

5. A Foursome
Freshman:
When I first got to Orono, Maine, *
I savored my little domain
And did crossword puzzle
And beer I would guzzle
With mountains of Chicken Lo Mein

Sophomore:
But since student I wished to remain
From such folly I had to refrain
And study my Google
And eat much more frugal
With salads of Lettuce Romaine

Junior:
I did Early French History, fain
Would have studied the earliest reign
Of that most Frankish court
Son of Pepin the Short
Or, as better he's known, Charlemagne.

Senior:
Now I think I had better explain
The connection with Orono, Maine.
See, I got my degree
From his new HRE **
And I haven't been back there again!

* (site of the University of Maine)
** (see here and here

6. There was an old lady from Maine
Who walked with the aid of a cane.
Though painfully arthritic
She chose to remain cryptic
As Maineiacs never complain.

7. There was an old fellow from Maine
Who stood on his hands in the rain.
When asked why he did it
He heard but he hid it
As Maineiacs never explain.

Choices:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

 

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

Even though we have a lot to choose from, only a few Wordcrafters sent them. So please, even if you didn't send one, vote. Our submitters, as you can see, spent a lot of time writing, so I know they'd appreciate some votes. Thanks so much!

Sorry folks, I've been busy and didn't get around to doing one for Maine. What a great bunch of Limericks. Not sure why 2 and 6 are both on the list since 6 completely contains 2, so I would think that any votes for either 2 or 6 she'd be combined. I am kind of partial to the Maineiac puns in 7 and 8, and I really liked the "might rain" one, made me chuckle, but I love a good story so I am going to cast the first Vote and give it to 6 (which I think is better than 2 because it puts the whole yarn in context)

Thinking, thinking...

First thoughts:
-- I, too, would simply delete #2 [edit: now deleted] as redundant, likely just a first draft of #6 [edit: now #5].
-- As Class Pedant I would fault #4 [edit: old #5] for breaking the meter in line 5, #6 [edit: old #7] for the same problem in the third and fourth lines.
-- The ultimate nitpick: I spell the affectionate-name-for-denizens-of-Maine as "Mainiacs" rather than Maineiacs - the -eiac is jarring and disruptive to the flow when I see it. (On the other hand, in terms of "googleHits," there are about 114K for without-an-e and a solid 184K gHits with the e, so what do I know.)

More later.

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

I tend to read it with the rhythm in line 5 of #5 by blending the "in-live" into one beat "VIG in-live LOBaters". It works for me, but my first real attempt to even write poetry is through this very site trying to write limericks, so what do I know.

These are great! I am @ a toss-up between 4 and 6. last line of four cracked me up. Limeric no. Six is a masterful combination limericks in one theme (to me).

Also, I don't have the same heartache on spelling "maineiac" with the "e". I think if I were writing that wordplay I would be torn on which way to go. I think it has to do with addressing your audience. For those that might not have a real astute sense of humor you might write "Maine-iacs" (with the full spelling of Maine and a dash), for the more observant a simple "mainiacs" (keeping the first "i" for the subtle typo/hint) and with the e and no dash for a simple compromise. The way it was written was not so bad, not as obvious as the capital M and the dash, but not quite as subtle as leaving off the "e".

Sorry for the verbose response.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
I tend to read it with the rhythm in line 5 of #4 [edit: old #5] by blending the "in-live" into one beat "VIG in-live LOBaters".

No issue there in line 4. But I was expecting "forGOT" in line 5 as its natural stress, and I hear the limerick rhythm making it into "FOR-got." Unless you make the for- into a grace-note and pause after -GOT, which is a bit awkward.

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

quote:

But I was expecting "forGOT" in line 5 as its natural stress, and I hear the limerick rhythm making it into "FOR-got." Unless you make the for- into a grace-note and pause after -GOT, which is a bit awkward.

Ah....I see it now. Thank you. I need to get more used to reading the rhythm.

re:"natural stress" :

I didn't write it that way on purpose, but listen to it:

"...but I was exPECTing 'forGOT'
in line FIVE as its NATural Stress..."

-- it's practically the beginning of a limerick all by it self.

Language has a rhythm whether we mean it to or not, and it's wherever you find it!

Sorry, folks. You were right about the posting of the limericks - It got all complicated with the multiple ones, and I wasn't watching what I was doing. I have now fixed the poll - but the three votes were deleted so please vote again.

I was at first puzzled by 'vig' in limerick 4. It's not used over here. On looking it up, I find it's short for 'vigorish' which in turn is a US informal word that means "An excessive rate of interest on a loan, typically one from an illegal moneylender' according to Oxford Dictionaries.

he can't make the vig, Vinny...
Mainly seen in crosswords & scrabble since the demise of the Ital-Amer mafia

Let's have a few more votes, people. Look at these good ones!

We have 8 votes, which isn't half bad. However, #s 1 and 5 are tied. Could voter #9 please weigh in? If not, I'll have to choose between the two.

I would be willing to change my vote to 3. (I was torn between that one and the one I voted for and just had to pick one).... but that wouldn't solve a tie problem.

Well, it looks like this is it. The same author wrote #1 as #5 anyway - so the Academy Award goes to HABERDASHER! Congrats, Hab!

Thanks much to Bethree and Hab for submitting so many limericks. Only 3 of us submitted limericks - so what about the 5 of you who voted and didn't submit? Please send one to Hab in our next game.

Here are the authors:

#1 - Hab - A goody, but I have the final vote and I have to go for #5.

#2 - Kalleh's - You probably guessed it since I said I've never been to Maine. There's nothing special about it, and there is no zinger - therefore, no votes.

#3 - Bethree's and she could have been in the running had Tom changed his vote because she got 2 votes without his. I particularly like lines 3-4.

#4 - Bethree's - her "vig" drew some interest, but no votes.

#5 - Ahhh - the big winner! Hab's collection of 4 is just superb. Sorry I messed up the original poll, Hab.

#s 6 & 7 are Bethree's - No votes, but I sure loved her Maineiacs

Thanks a bunch, Bethree and Hab! You're up next Hab...

So - 8 of you voted. Let's have some of your comments about the limericks.

First - a word about limericks in general. Sometimes there is mention that the rhythm is awkward, or just not right. It's not always easy to see the rhythm, but it's generally consistent.

I see it as a poem in 6/8 time: the lines read
"ONE-two-there-FOUR-five-six," often with a lead-in (the "pick-up note" I mentioned above), so it's really
six-ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six-ONE (silently: 2-3-4-5)
six-ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six-ONE (silently: 2-3-4-5)
six ONE-two-three-FOUR
five-six-ONE-two-three-FOUR
five-six-ONE-two-three-FOUR-five-six-ONE!(still silent, but it's there to the very end: 2-3-4-5-6)

If that's hard to follow, read it out loud with a steady beat, stressing the CAPITALIZED numbers. The fives and the sixes are flexible, and could go at the end of a line or at the beginning of the next one, depending. (Sometimes the 2s are flexible, too.) The numbers in parentheses are time-fillers; count them, but silently.

That's the basic Limerick Form the OCDs among us will call a Limerick; anything else is considered flawed.
______________________________

Comments: (Ante-script: Just because I write with grammar and punctuation and complete sentences doesn't make me "right." This is just a stream-of-consciousness attempted reconstruction of my thought process when choosing.)

#1 -- There's an extra half-syllable on the beginning of the fifth line. Sixteenth-notes, if you will.
-- Proper scansion requires that "different" be considered a two-syllable word; it isn't universally so.

#2 -- "is not" instead of "isn't" sounds forced. The rest of the limerick is informal, and the contraction would fit right in. If only it satisfied the meter!
-- Line 5 jumps out of nowhere, and takes a moment's thought to connect it to the rest of the limerick.
-- Nice use of the visual-rhyming -ain in lines 3 and 4 even though they sound different!

#3 -- "in English quite plain" is out of order verbally, though necessary for the rhythm. (Who am I to complain - I did it myself at least three times in #5!) But more of a problem is that the reader can't tell who's using the plain English, the speaker or the native of Maine. Maybe that's part of the writer's intent but it interrupts the reader (to make us think - horrors!) rather than flowing smoothly from beginning to end.

#4 -- "dinghy-boat" doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the verse. It's cute, but it sticks out.

#5 -- Freshman used an additional constraint: It's rhyming not just with Maine but with "-o maine". That's the reason for "chicken lo mein," not the more common chow mein. Couldn't keep it up in the rest of the verses, though.
-- Junior: A sometimes-satisfying puzzle-construction trick: Split the thought in a place other than where the line ends. See "fain."
-- Senior: The fourth stanza is needed to bring things together into a whole. With only the first three it feels like one big introduction. "And then what?" It just doesn't go anywhere, and has little appeal.

#6 -- Lines 3 and 4 have too many syllables. Might have simply said "plainly arthritic" in L3 and "just remained cryptic" in L4, though then you have to imply instead of stating a reason for complaining.
-- I prefer stronger rhymes - arthrITic and crYPTic don't quite do it. Is that "male rhyme" vs "female rhyme"? Again, it's a matter of taste. Doesn't make me right, just a pedant.

#7 -- Variations on the theme. Got the rhythm perfect this time around. Maybe "hid" doesn't quite capture everything involved in hearing and understanding and not-complaining and not-even-explaining and deciding not to reply at all.
_______________

Who'd'a thunk there could be so much invoked in picking which limerick we like better! Talk about angels and the head of a pin!

Hab--
Love the musical notation, & the detailed commentary.

My absolute favorite limerick since childhood is the old man of Nantucket, which I consider the 'standard'. Here is the original plus some funny sequels (just the clean ones):

"...It all started innocuously enough with the following stanza, published years ago in the Princeton Tiger:

"There was an Old Man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
His daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man—
And, as for the bucket, Nantucket

"This inspired numerous sequels, the most distinguished of which are believed to be the following, from the Chicago Tribune and the New York Press, respectively:

"Pa followed the pair to Pawtucket
(The man and the girl with the bucket)
And he said to the man,
"You're welcome to Nan,"
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket

"Then the pair followed Pa to Manhasset
Where he still held the cash as an asset
And Nan and the man
Stole the money and ran
And as for the bucket, Manhasset"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bethree5,

quote:

When I first got to Orono, Maine,
I savored my little domain
And did crossword puzzle
And beer I would guzzle
With mountains of Chicken Lo Mein

But since student I wished to remain
From such folly I had to refrain
And study my Google
And eat much more frugal
With salads of Lettuce Romaine

I did Early French History, fain
Would have studied the earliest reign
Of that most Frankish court
Son of Pepin the Short
Or, as better he's known, Charlemagne.

Now I think I had better explain
The connection with Orono, Maine.
See, I got my degree
From his new HRE
And I haven't been back there again!

Music is pervasive. I have a very hard time reading those without thinking of G&S and "If you wish in this world to advance" from Ruddigore. (link follows)

Here's one, starting at 0:22. (Hard to see that as a limerick if you come upon it without warning!)

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

Love it, Hab.