Philosophy
My Fellow Comedists,
As I continue to work on my paper for the upcoming meeting of the Lighthearted Philosophers Society, the topic of limericks has come up. In working on an account for what makes limericks funny, I took out of the library G. Legman's work, The New Limerick, which collects almost 3000 limericks from various times and places, the overwhelming majority of which I cannot reproduce here. Using the most vulgar of terms to describe the most vulgar of subjects, they make the man from Nantucket seem tame. The least salty of the volume would be a British rowing limerick:
A reckless young sculler named Box
Forced the Oxford Eight onto the rocks.
The crew shouted, "Bollocks,"
You've ripped off our rowlocks,
And horribly damaged our cox.
Why are limericks a preferred formed for ribald humor? Historically, it is a British form and being able to blame the Irish as an excuse to be unBritish was quite convenient. But what is it about the meter that so encourages coarser thoughts to be so well expressed?
Have any favorite limericks?
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
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Philosophy
Limericks
My Fellow Comedists,
As I continue to work on my paper for the upcoming meeting of the Lighthearted Philosophers Society, the topic of limericks has come up. In working on an account for what makes limericks funny, I took out of the library G. Legman's work, The New Limerick, which collects almost 3000 limericks from various times and places, the overwhelming majority of which I cannot reproduce here. Using the most vulgar of terms to describe the most vulgar of subjects, they make the man from Nantucket seem tame. The least salty of the volume would be a British rowing limerick:
A reckless young sculler named Box
Forced the Oxford Eight onto the rocks.
The crew shouted, "Bollocks,"
You've ripped off our rowlocks,
And horribly damaged our cox.
Why are limericks a preferred formed for ribald humor? Historically, it is a British form and being able to blame the Irish as an excuse to be unBritish was quite convenient. But what is it about the meter that so encourages coarser thoughts to be so well expressed?
Have any favorite limericks?
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Do We Pass The Funny Down To Our Kids?
My Fellow Comedists, Some speculative comedist sociology this weekend. Are you more likely to be funny if you come from a funny family? Is the funny something biological that some folks have and others don't? Is it something we get from our environment?...
- Appropriate Locations
My Fellow Comedists, This year's meeting of the International Society for Humor Studies is being held in Poland. (The first annual meeting was so small that it happened when three humor studies scholars walked into a bar...) The appropriateness of...
- Funniest Places On The Web
My Fellow Comedists, It comes to my attention that these new-fangled intertubes can be used for the funny. What are the most humorous places on the web we should be reading? The Onion, The Borowitz Report, and Funny or Die certainly have highest profiles....
- Is A Sense Of Humor A Virtue?
My Fellow Comedists, Thinking about a paper at today's Lighthearted Philosophers' Society meeting. Is a sense of humor a virtue? Is a sense of humor a necessary part of a well-lived human life? If you do not have an appreciation for things funny,...
- Joke Theft
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend, I am giving a paper at the 4th annual conference of the Lighthearted Philosophers Society. My topic is joke theft. The cardinal sin amongst stand-up comics is stealing someone else's material. But to define joke...