Please select your favorite!1) There once was a girl in Sun Prairie,<BR>Who lived on a farm and raised dairy,<BR>Both Jerseys and Holsteins,<BR>While wearing her blue jeans.<BR>Such wholesomeness led me to marry!<BR><BR>2) I once liked a guy from Sun Prairie.<BR>But, re: sex, his moves were quite chary--<BR>Then caught him in bed <BR>With biker-friend Fred--<BR>Was saved from bad choice by good fairy.<BR><BR>3) Barry, a bloke of Sun Prairie<BR>Longed for the lovely lass, Mary<BR>But she won't be his wife<BR>She went under the knife<BR>Now Mary calls himself Larry<BR><BR>4) A lunatic lad of Sun Prairie<BR>Went seeking the Sugar Plum Fairie<BR>When he went up a tree<BR>Raptor eggs did he see<BR>And an angry goshawk in 'er airie<BR><BR>5) He was going to Sun Prairie<BR>And on the way he met a fairy<BR>Who took him to a glen<BR>Where there were many men<BR>Drinking ale and making merry<BR><BR>6) A farmer who came from Sun Prairie<BR>While looking for love in a dairy<BR>Said, "I'll have to give in<BR>The milkmaid is too thin<BR>And all of the cows are too hairy."<BR><BR>7) If you find yourself down in Sun Prairie<BR>I recommend that you be wary<BR>As the kids often bite <BR>And the men are a fright<BR>And the women inclined to be scary<BR><BR>8) On Shu's way to Sun Praire<BR>kalleh said, "Don't you tarry<BR>Or make a big scene<BR>Acting like a teen<BR>Drinking till more than merry!"<BR><BR>9) Said a guy from Sun Valley, Wisconsin<BR>Of his a cigarette lighter by Ronson<BR>“A lamp may be brighter<BR>Than my cigarette lighter<BR>But only when it's been turned on, son!”<BR><BR>10) A restaurateur in Sun Prairie <BR>On whose menu was Shrimp Calimari<BR>Praised the singing and laughter<BR>And happiness after <BR>Satiety alimentary!<BR><BR>11) Two children who come from Sun Prairie<BR>Saw a camel (or else dromedary,<BR>It had one hump, not two)<BR>On a trip to the zoo<BR>Quite a trip for school elementary!1234567891011

I didn't play, too busy these days, but thought I'd cast a vote. I voted for 4 because it was my favourite of the few that actually got 2 proper rhymes for Prairie, and there are so many rhymes for Prairie I am surprised how many limericks missed the mark. But it is good to see so many limericks. Not sure how the Wisconsin one got allowed in, but it did make me laugh.

1. Marry rhymes with carry and tarry but not Prairie
3. Larry rhymes with marry and carry but not Prairie, should have used Carey
5 & 8. Merry rhymes with berry and cherry but not Prairie
10. Calimari rhymes with starry but not Prairie
11. In elementary the last syllable is the one with the emphasis so it doesn't rhyme either.

Sorry, Greg, but in my world all those listed rhyme with Prairie.

Love seeing you back, Greg, but, as usual, I disagree with what you think does and doesn't rhyme. Clearly, it is accent.

WE NEED MORE VOTES!!!!

quote:

the few that actually got 2 proper rhymes for Prairie

Greetings again, Greg! You definitely do not speak Inland Northern American English.

My grandmother & her siblings pronounced these words differently. Tho raised in upstate-NY, their mother was from Halifax, father was raised & educated in parts of N & SC that still make those distinctions. Their a's were as follows:
Marry as in cat, merry as in pet, Mary as in fair
Mom & I followed suit, but by the time you get to my 15-yrs-younger bro, that nasally sound-alike "a" completely dominates.

quote:

11. In elementary the last syllable is the one with the emphasis so it doesn't rhyme either. 11.

I feel obliged to object to this objection, citing none other than W.S.Gilbert hisself. In the example presented with the original challenge,
--necessary
--arbitrary
--vagary
--quandary
--library
--Seminary
all had their accent placed on the penultimate syllable. So there is indeed "evidence before the Court that chorused Nature has interested herself in the matter," and let it stand without even the insertion of a single word.

But I do share your Mary/merry/marry distinction. It's a US regionalism, and can be used (among other such) to place your upbringing fairly accurately.

To me only 2,4,6 and 7 actually rhyme (and 9 but that has the small problem of not only not having the place in the A rhyme position , but not actually including it at all!).

So either I have a very limited choice or I'll have to assume that they rhyme for the writers. On the latter basis I'll choose 3.

Ten was clearly a G&S riff, which was clever, rhyme or no rhyme. It got my vote - but I did have to look cross-eyed to make it scan.

I agree with Greg in principle, but in practice, they're all good enough for me!

Hot times can be found in Sun Prairie
Bit I think it is best to be wary.
A guy there named Scopes
Claims he'll show you the ropes
But beware. Scopes is secretly fairy.

quote:

Originally posted by haberdasher:

--Seminary

Didn't one of these thaw recently, leaving ary any semen left?

Kalleh, who wrote the winnah? I doubt you'll get any more votes.

Alors? Well? So? Hoo writ what?

The envelope, please?

#1 - Kalleh (and I don't have to eat my hat - no votes)
#2 - Bethree
#3 - Geoff
#4 - Geoff
#5 - Sattva
#6 - Bob
#7 - Bob
#8 - Sattva
#9 - Hab
#10 -Hab
#11 -Hab

Hab is the big winner! However, Geoff will come up with the next venue because of the tie last time. Take it away, Geoff!

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
The envelope, please?

#1 - Kalleh (and I don't have to eat my hat - no votes)
#2 - Bethree
#3 - Geoff
#4 - Geoff
#5 - Sattva
#6 - Bob
#7 - Bob
#8 - Sattva
#9 - Hab
#10 -Hab
#11 -Hab

Hab is the big winner! However, Geoff will come up with the next venue because of the tie last time. Take it away, Geoff!

You're wrong Kalleh. You did get a vote, --- mine!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:

Hab is the big winner! However, Geoff will come up with the next venue because of the tie last time. Take it away, Geoff!

Didn't history repeat itself? Hab and I both got two votes, but his were concentrated on one superior limerick. Mine were spread over two lesser ones. To the winner go the spoils, and Haberdasher won fair an' square. You pick the next place, Hab! (If I had won I woulda picked Oxnard! )

Well, I don't care. Whoever wants to go, please do it.

However, you had tied last time, Geoff, and I thought we had agreed that you'd go next. But - if you want Hab to, that's fine too.

Seems to me that whether he likes it or not Geoff has, de facto, picked the next place - Oxnard.

OXNARD it is. Is the A to rhyme with “forward” or with “retard"?
Either way it’ll be a challenge. :-)

Since you chose it, the rhyme is up to you. Had I been the winner, I'd have made it "OX-nard," which is how it's said by the locals. Well, how it used to be said. Now the city itself is inhabited by people with Hispanic accents, so it's more like, "Oaks Nard."

Here's a street sign showing a seagull flying past an open sewer pipe. That says a lot about the place: https://www.google.com/search?...mgrc=CES4u2QH9XgggM:

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:


However, you had tied last time, Geoff, and I thought we had agreed that you'd go next. But - if you want Hab to, that's fine too.

Yeah, well, I lied. Maybe one of these days Ill get a licetime achievement award or something. Maybe some day I'll have my moon on the Oxnard Boulevard Walk of Infamy.

Hab, you REALLY don't need to use Oxnard! I was just being silly.

No problem with using Oxnard
Unless it is simply too hard
But if you can’t do it
And choose to eschew it
You’re hoist by that famous petard!

Well, Oxnard it is!

Damn! Me and my big mouth!

OXNARD thread is now open - entries by PM to me, and comments here, thank you very much.