There once was a man from Nantucket

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"There once was a man from Nantucket" is the opening line for many limericks, in which the name of the island of Nantucket creates often ribald rhymes and puns. The protagonist in the obscene versions is typically portrayed as well endowed and hypersexualized.

The opening line is so well known that it has been used as a stand-alone joke, implying upcoming obscenities.

History[]

The earliest published version appeared in 1902 in the Princeton Tiger written by Prof. Dayton Voorhees:[1][2][3]

There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
    But his daughter, named Nan,
    Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

Other publications seized upon the "Nantucket" motif, spawning many sequels[4][5]

Among the most well known are:

But he followed the pair to Pawtucket,
The man and the girl with the bucket;
    And he said to the man,
    He was welcome to Nan,
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.

Followed later by:

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

Ribald versions[]

The many ribald versions of the limerick are the basis for its lasting popularity. Many variations on the theme are possible because of the ease of rhyming "Nantucket" with certain vulgar phrases. The following example comes from Immortalia: An Anthology of American Ballads, Sailors' Songs, Cowboy Songs, College Songs, Parodies, Limericks, and Other Humorous Verses and Doggerel, published in 1927.[6][7]

There was a young man from Nantucket
Whose dick was so long he could suck it.
    He said with a grin
    As he wiped off his chin,
"If my ear was a cunt I would fuck it."

In popular culture[]

The poem has become a staple of American humor. It is often used as a joking example of fine art, with the vulgarity providing a surprise contrast to an expected refinement, such as in the 2002 film Solaris, when George Clooney's character mentions that his favorite poem is the most famous poem by Dylan Thomas that starts with "There was a young man from Nantucket" or Will & Grace season 8 episode 3, in which Grace criticizes her date's poem due to the lack of rhymes, and as an example she recites the first two lines of the ribald version: "There once was a man from Nantucket... Something something something... Suck it."

Many jokes assume the audience knows the poem so well that they do not need to hear any actual lines to get the allusion, such as Gilmore Girls season 3 episode 8, when Lorelai Gilmore jokes about carving something dirty into a bathroom wall by saying "What rhymes with Nantucket?"; in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Wheel O' Comedy" when Babs Bunny asks Buster Bunny to say the magic chant before spinning the wheel, to which Buster begins reciting: "There once was a girl from Nantucket..." before she quickly cuts him off with: "Not that chant!"[8] or a sketch from Robot Chicken season 8 episode 19, when J. R. R. Tolkien writing the opening of the book The Hobbit, comes up with the line, "In a hole of Middle-earth, there was found a Hobbit... whose dick was so long, he could slob it."

To emphasize the importance of safety measures in genome editing, in Season 5 Episode 17 of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about genome editing the host recites:

There once was a man from Nantucket
who gathered some mice in a bucket.
He altered those mice
engineered with a splice
and now all of the seagulls are dead.

References[]

  1. ^ "Nan's Adventures Up to Date". Life. Vol. 41. March 26, 1903. p. 274. Retrieved March 6, 2012 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ In transit. Vol. 11 no. 2. p. 18. Missing or empty |title= (help)[full citation needed]
  3. ^ Princeton Tiger. November 1902. p. 59. Missing or empty |title= (help)[full citation needed]
  4. ^ Baring-Gould, William S. (1979). The Lure of the Limerick. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-517-53856-2.[full citation needed]
  5. ^ Adams, Cecil (March 8, 1985). "How does the limerick 'There was an old man of Nantucket ...' conclude?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  6. ^ Anonymous (1927). Immortalia: An Anthology of American Ballads, Sailors' Songs, Cowboy Songs, College Songs, Parodies, Limericks, and Other Humorous Verses and Doggerel. Library of Alexandria. Limericks XXI. ISBN 978-1-4655-3313-5.
  7. ^ "10 "Nantucket" Limericks (R)". Michael R. Bissell. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2019 – via michaelbissel.com.
  8. ^ "The Wheel O' Comedy (1990): Quotes". Tiny Toon Adventures – via IMDb.

External links[]

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