"There once was a man from Nantucket..."[And I won't transcribe the rest for propriety's sake, and also because I can't quite remember how it goes, or even remember if I've ever actually heard it in whole or in part, as I'm certainly not from Limerick.]
If one were to be subjected to that rhyme (as well as a plethora of others) countless times over the course of a lifetime, one could easily imagine becoming quite a bit mad, prone to biting small children, rats, antlers, wearing antlers, recently bitten by another mad person like yourself, who either happened to be within earshot when you yourself were hearing those infernal rhymes, or had them recited to him/herself on separate occasions by possibly well-intentioned visitors which we will heretofor refer to as "tourists." It might be a slow descent, or it may just be a malingering type of madness, one that hangs about looking all innocent and ambivalent, until, one day, out of close to nowhere, BANG! you're mad. And you then proceed, possibly, to beat the tourist with one of their arms, one of your own arms, a handy mailbox, a barrister, or a puppet, until you're asked to stop by one of the gardai.
But, whether slow or fast, it seems quite inevitable, if only to the imagination, though it would be understandable if the imagination were only playing along to get you to stop thinking about it a bit quicker, as it, admittedly, isn't a pleasant thing to dwell upon.
In a related experiment, people from all around were subjected, over the course of their lives to absolutely none of the ridiculous rhymes that were alluded to not too far up the page. They were also not taunted and poked repeatedly by "tourists" and their numerous children. Nine out of ten people were crazy and still fairly surly, but completely not hung up in the least on being told rhymes and constantly subjected to the aforementioned literary endeavours.
The remaining one of ten fared very poorly in schoolyard settings, where they were confused and frightened by the other children, who went about reciting such lovely poems about all sorts of lewd behaviour, and eventually got around to stealing the one of ten child's lunch money.
So take care, should you arrive in Limerick, and happen to notice the locals being fairly surly and disagreeable. Try to understand their pain, as it's a hard, hard life in Limerick City. I'd imagine.
disclaimer:
Be glad you're not from Limerick. If you are from Limerick, know that you are making people happy right now that they aren't you. That'll be all now.
Yer Weekly Horoscopes. there once was a horoscope from nantucket, too.