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Some years ago, I was reading a book of short stories called Birds of America, by one of my favorite authors, Lorrie Moore, and happened upon my first Tom Swifty. In the story, “Community Life,” a few of Moore’s characters are librarians and pass their downtime at work thinking up good ones like, “I have to go to the hardware store, he said wrenchingly” or “There’s never been an accident, she said recklessly.”
The phrase “Tom Swifty” was coined in the 1920s and comes from a series of adventure books about a boy named – surprise, surprise – Tom Swift, who regularly employed a qualifying adverb like “quickly” or “jokingly” when he spoke.
The series was written by one Victor Appleton, who you might think you’ve never read. But there you’d be wrong, as Appleton was a penname for good old Edward Stratemeyer, the creator of none other than the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, and Nancy Drew.
To create a “true” Tom Swifty, all you need do is make a pun out of your qualifying adverb, such as Lorrie Moore did with “This hot dog’s awful, she said frankly.”
So go ahead, try one. They’re easy. And once you start, you’ll be hooked, he said, casting about for his rod and reel. Okay, so that wasn’t a true Tom Swifty as there was no adverb. So I’ll leave you to your long weekend with this one, then: “David! Cut it out already, his readers said sharply.”
Comments (21)
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I just love “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” Tom said gailey.
posted by Sheldon on 9-1-2006 at 1:50 pm
“I cracked the code,” Tom said cryptically.
posted by Nathaniel on 9-1-2006 at 3:03 pm
…but this sweater isn’t wool, she said sheepishly.
posted by Dawn Lorraine on 9-1-2006 at 4:48 pm
“I really need to floss,” he thought mentally.
posted by OwenKL on 9-1-2006 at 9:37 pm
“All three roads cross here,” Tom mentioned trivially.
posted by OwenKL on 9-1-2006 at 9:40 pm
“I like to shout!” Tom said loudly.
Um, I did that wrong. Sorry.
posted by Liam on 9-2-2006 at 12:07 pm
“This needs more sugar, Sugar.” she said tartly.
posted by KyotoCutie on 9-3-2006 at 12:47 am
“I wouldn’t sleep in poison ivy to save my life,” Tom said rashly.
“Jeans are now acceptable in this office,” Tom said casually.
“These colors clash!” Tom said loudly.
“I didn’t want any starch!” Tom said stiffly.
posted by KyotoCutie on 9-3-2006 at 1:00 am
“I contributed a bunch of Tom Swifties to this post on MetaFilter three years ago http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/27495 ” Wendell admitted o-pun-ly.
“And here’s a link with more Tom Swifties put in alphabetical order http://thinks.com/words/tomswift.htm but I’m not going to bother with it” Wendell said listlessly.
posted by wendell on 9-3-2006 at 10:59 pm
Loving these! Thanks for sharing. And, Wendell: Wow… stupendous linkage!
posted by David on 9-3-2006 at 11:58 pm
“I’d love to dance with Fred Astaire,” she replied gingerly.
“And I say my dog is NOT in season!” he argued heatedly.
“Don’t add too much water,” he warned with great concentration.
posted by Jill on 9-4-2006 at 1:56 am
“Don’t touch that bomb!” Tom boomed.
posted by fynney1 on 9-4-2006 at 11:27 pm
My favorite: “Oh no! I dropped the toothpaste!” she said, crestfallen.
posted by Karen on 7-23-2007 at 3:49 pm
Let me see what I can think of
“I’m going to California,” she stated.
“Do Tom Swifties have to quotes?” she recited.
-or-
He recited, “I have just retyped the bibliography.”
-I like that one better-
“I should slap you!” she smacked
He approached the stop sign haltingly.
“…but I did win!” he contested.
“Your cat sounds happy,” she purred.
“…and now all the plants will die,” she added frostily.
“Turn the heat down!” he shouted coldly.
“I think I could do this all day,” he thought continuously.
posted by GW on 7-24-2007 at 4:06 pm
“What the hell is “3.14159265″?” Tom said tartly
posted by Candace on 7-25-2007 at 1:30 pm
“Make that pastrami sandwich to go,” he said wryly.
posted by Cyndi on 7-25-2007 at 4:51 pm
For a brief time in the mid sixties the following Tom Swifty came to me and we was accurate.
“I have the fastest motorcycle in the word, Tom said Triumph-antly.”
posted by Bob Koechley on 7-26-2007 at 3:49 pm
“I hate sleeping under the open sky,” he said intently.
posted by Bo Chang on 7-27-2007 at 1:58 am
“How do you like these?”, she asked cleavagely.
posted by Rich on 7-27-2007 at 8:48 am
“How do you like these?”, she asked cleavagely.
posted by Rich on 7-27-2007 at 8:49 am
Ok, damn it, my silly little post wasn’t funny to begin with, then it repeats unasked. Grrrrr…
posted by Rich on 7-27-2007 at 7:10 pm