An original Limerick

[rhu]

There once was a man who would balk
Whenever we asked him to talk.
We thought it was queer,
'Til he said, "My idea
Is to hide that I come from New York."

Comments

[desireearmfeldt]

:) :) :)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I had to read it several times before I figured out what was odd about it.

When I was a teenager, I had a t-shirt from Katz's Deli, which, on the back, said, "Send a Salami/To your boy in the Army."

I'd gotten it at a conference for teens involved in Jewish education, and the group of us were from all over the United States. About half of us thought the phrase rhymed.

One of the people who did feel that it rhymed pronounced "Army" in the typical American accent. She was from Alabama.

[desireearmfeldt]

(Actually, I don't think "balk" and "talk" rhyme, either, and I'm never sure whether the rest of the world agrees with me... I suppose I have one data point, which is that in Urinetown they rhyme "walk" and "balk"; I think "walk" rhymes with "talk" but that "balk" has a real L. :) )

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I think all three of them have asperated L's -- that, in each case, you form the L with your mouth, but don't vocalize it.

[ivy-lee.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. I pronounce the "l" in "balk" but not in "walk" or "talk." But I was able to correct myself to make it rhyme. ^_^