There once was a man from Nantucket

"There once was a man from Nantucket" is the first line in many limericks. This is usually because the word "Nantucket" is easy to rhyme with. The limerick where the line is from was first written for the Princeton Tiger in 1902.^[1]

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 (Nan took it).

Many other newspapers made limericks about the man and the bucket.^[2]

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

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.

Sexual versions of the limerick have made it popular.^[3] One of these versions comes from 1927 in the book Immortalia.^[4][5]

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