Another early published version appeared in 1902 in the Princeton Tiger written by Prof. Dayton Voorhees:[2][3][4] There once was a man from Nantucket Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
It is often used as a joking example of fine art, with the vulgarity providing a surprising contrast to an expected refinement, such as in the 2002 film Solaris, when George Clooney's character mentions that his favorite poem is the most famous poem by Dylan Thomas that starts with "There was a young man from Nantucket"; or Will & Grace season 8 episode 3 ("The Old Man and the Sea"), in which Grace criticizes her date's poem for its the lack of rhyme, and as an example, she recites the first two lines of the ribald version: "There once was a man from Nantucket... Something something something... Suck it."
"; in Who's the Boss season 5 episode 23, there is talk about poetry class and Tony says about Angela "...last time she heard her name mentioned in a poem, it started with "There once was a man from Nantucket"..."; in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Wheel O' Comedy" when Babs Bunny asks Buster Bunny to say the magic chant before spinning the wheel, to which Buster begins reciting: "There once was a girl from Nantucket..." before she quickly cuts him off with: "Not that chant!
"[10][11] In an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants however, SpongeBob, while preparing to recite an opera song, pulls out a piece of paper and reads, "There once was a man from Nantucket..." before the audience gasps in shock; he puts the paper back into his pocket, saying "Oops, wrong one", and afterward continuing with his song.
Frustrated at drawing a mental blank, he quips ironically, "Why don't I call Bulldog and ask him for a couple of limericks from his Nantucket series?"