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Tom Swifties [1]
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Date: 2022-10-03
Scan of the cover of the original 1910 publication of Tom Swift and His Motorcycle, part of the Tom Swift series.
The name comes from the Tom Swift series of books (1910–present), similar in many ways to the better-known Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, and, like them, produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In this series, the young scientist hero underwent adventures involving rocket ships, ray-guns and other things he had invented.
A stylistic idiosyncrasy of at least some books in this series was that the author, "Victor Appleton," went to great trouble to avoid repetition of the unadorned word "said"; elegant variation used a different quotative verb, or modifying adverbial words or phrases. Since many adverbs end in "ly" this kind of pun was originally called a Tom Swiftly, the archetypal example being "'We must hurry,' said Tom Swiftly." At some point, this kind of humor was called a Tom Swifty, and that name is now more prevalent.
From: Wikipedia
"I'll have a martini," said Tom, drily (dryly) .
"Who left the toilet seat down?" Tom asked peevishly .
"Pass me the shellfish," said Tom crabbily .
"That's the last time I'll stick my arm in a lion's mouth," the lion-tamer said off-handedly .
"Can I go looking for the Grail again?" Tom requested .
"I unclogged the drain with a vacuum cleaner," said Tom succinctly .
"I might as well be dead," Tom croaked .
"We just struck oil!" Tom gushed .
"It's freezing," Tom muttered icily .
"They had to amputate them both at the ankles," said Tom defeatedly .
"I wonder if this radium is radioactive?" asked Marie curiously .
"The Battle of the Nile? A lot of fun!" said Lord Nelson disarmingly .
"Hurry up and get to the back of the ship!" Tom said sternly .
"We could have made a fortune canning pineapples," Tom groaned dolefully .
"I wish I drove a Scandinavian car," Tom sobbed (Saabed).
"Careful with that chainsaw," Tom said offhandedly .
"I'm here," Tom said presently .
"Happy Birthday," Tom said presently .
"Walk this way," Tom said stridently .
"I stole the gold," Tom confessed guiltily (giltily) .
"Bingo," Tom exclaimed winningly .
"You ever seen one this big?" Tom bragged cockily .
"Where did all the carpet on the steps go?" asked Tom with a blank stare (stair) .
"I used to be a criminal pilot," he ex-plained con-descendingly .
"I have no flowers," Tom said lackadaisically .
"I know not which groceries to purchase," Tom said listlessly .
"I decided to come back to the group," Tom rejoined .
"Did you say to zip up my sleeping bag or the door?" Tom asked inattentively .
"This pizza place is great!" Tom exclaimed saucily .
"I dropped my toothpaste," Tom said crestfallenly.
Above examples from Wikipedia: Tom Swifty
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