Talk:There once was a man from Nantucket

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There once was a man from Nantucket is a former good article candidate. There are suggestions below for which areas need improvement to satisfy the good article criteria. Once the objections are addressed, the article can be renominated as a good article. If you disagree with the objections, you can seek a review. Date of review: No date specified. Please edit template call function as follows: {{FailedGA|insert date in any format here}}

Classic. Stoa 03:57, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Seriously. Why is the "clean" version first? I'd never heard or read any of these until reading this page. As I asked when I edited the page, who is kidding whom here? Maw 01:23, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

What's wrong with putting the clean version first?? Stoa 16:45, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Presumably because some people heard the dirty version first and/or are titillated by it, they feel it is more important (and also assume that anybody who thinks otherwise is prudish, politically correct, or otherwise inferior). I think the current article does a fine job, with historical information that indicates why the clean versions are where they are, yet not trying to ignore the dirty versions. - DavidWBrooks 17:01, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Putting the clean version first does come across as prudish. Ideally, the article would be structured thus: introduction, dirty version, clean historical versions. I have no problem with clean versions being included, but let's be realistic - people who come to this page aren't looking for the clean version. Maw 00:00, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I started this article, and the way it originally read was that this particular clean version was (probably) the single best known Nantucket poem. Dirty Nantucket limericks as a whole are of course better known today, but I had been led to believe that no single example is better known than the clean one about Pa's bucket. It's certainly the one with the longest history in print. I don't care what order they're in, but I really don't think either version is slighted by being dealt with second. --Cúchullain t / c 08:09, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

"Prudish"? How about historically accurate? Some people may come to this article to giggle about finding "fuck" in an encyclopedia, only to be enlightened about the way the poem came into being. If the dirty version existed first and a clean version morphed out of it, then I would agree - but it appears to have been the other way around, so putting the dirty one first would seem to be unnecessarily titillating. - DavidWBrooks 14:59, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it's fair to say either morphed out of the other. The clean "Pa's bucket" version is the oldest I know of, but it doesn't mean the others evolved out of it. At any rate, both versions seem to generate a similar amount of google hits, so it's probably a moot point.--Cúchullain t / c 20:25, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Is the following version of the obscene limerick not better known? There once was a man from Nantucket, whose dick was so long he could suck it. He said with a grin, wiping sperm from his chin, if my ear was a cunt I could fuck it.

I don't think any particular version of that is better known. In my experience the variations are often local and are usually minor, like yours.--Cúchullain t / c 20:25, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

That's the one I heard too. With the possibility of being yelled at clear to me, I will alter the article to include the version of the poem here on the talk page. Main reason being, I think the few extra words make the poem better. I don't know why, but I think its because it tells more of a story in the same time to read it. So I think it's better. Switching poems... now... Gohst 12:05, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Personally I don't like the new version. More objectively, the rhythm is not as good. You've switched the fourth line to an anapestic foot instead of the anabrach used for the first 3 lines. The fifth line uses anapestic but the delay makes for good timing of the punch line. It may seem silly to analyze this like a classical poem, but remember, this is possibly America's best known poem - a masterpiece of the obscene cannon - the American Gothic of poetry. I'll leave the revision stand pending input from others. Ghosts&empties 14:22, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree, I think we should put the old one back.--Cúchullain ^t/c 01:29, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

And some people say we're inferior to Britannica! - DavidWBrooks 02:29, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I put it back.--Cúchullain ^t/c 04:36, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Philistines. Gohst 10:56, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Failed GA

No refs and also this isn't much of an article and there is many parts missing like who created it, pouplar culture, etc. Jaranda ^{wat's sup} 00:54, 7 August 2006 (UTC)