The limerick is always five lines long with lines 1, 2 and 5 written in anapestic trimeter. Lines 3 and 4 are a foot shorter, written in anapestic dimeter. Since anapests are merry and skip along on the tongue, limericks are always comic. They are a favorite form of grafitti, and many of them are off-colour. The following example by the nonsense-verse writer Edward Lear is not, however, off-color.

There was an old man who supposed
That the street door was partially closed
But some very large rats
Ate his coats and his hats
While that futile old gentleman dozed.

Morris Bishop wrote the following:

The limerick is furtive and mean.
You must keep her in close quarantine,
Or she sneaks to the slums
And promptly becomes
Disorderly, drunk and obscene.

One person who hated limericks made fun of the form:

There was a man from St. Bees
Who was bit on the hand by a wasp
When asked if it hurt,
He replied, "I don't know,
But I'm glad it wasn't a hornet.