Thursday, January 19, 2006

Tom Swifties

A Tom Swifty is a bit of dialog in which the adverb attached to "said" relates both properly and punningly to what was said.

They come from Tom Swift who is the main character of the series of adventure stories written by "Victor Appleton". (Like the Nancy Drew series they were written by a number of different authors under one pseudonym.) He rarely spoke without a qualifier: "Tom added eagerly" or "Tom said jokingly". (They were just qualifiers though. Tom didn't intentionally do Tom Swifties!)

Examples
  • "The doctor had to remove my left ventricle," said Tom half-heartedly.
  • "Elvis is dead," said Tom expressly.
  • "I swallowed some of the glass from that broken window," Tom said painfully.
There are other punning dialogs that are accepted as Tom Swifties even if they aren't of the adverb-said form.

Verb
  • "My garden needs another layer of mulch," Tom repeated.
  • "You must be my host," Tom guessed.
Phrase
  • "I've only enough carpet for the hall and landing," said Tom with a blank stare.
  • "Don't let me drown in Egypt!" pleaded Tom, deep in denial.
Someone other than Tom speaking
  • "Who discovered radium?" asked Marie curiously.
  • "I'm going to end it all," Sue sighed.

Morphological; i.e. the words must be broken down into morphemes (smaller components) to understand the pun
  • "This is the real male goose," said Tom producing the propaganda.
  • "The cat sounds as if she's happy now she's been fed," said Tom purposefully.

Homonym or homophone
  • "I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
  • "I love hot dogs," said Tom with relish.
  • "There's no need for silence," Tom allowed.
  • "I won't finish in fifth place," Tom held forth.
Try your hand at some Tom Swifties by writing the alphabet down the side of the page and try to generate one for each letter.

If you scroll down I've included the adverb part of some from Tom Swifties Examples if you need something to get you started.

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If you come up with some good Tom Swifties you can send them into the "Fun with Words" website
said Tom acidly.
Tom admitted.
Tom bellowed.
said Tom bitingly.
Tom chimed in.
said Tom cuttingly.
said Tom deferred.
exclaimed Tom dumbfoundedly.
said Tom ecstatically.
said Tom electrically.
said Tom fanatically.
Tom said fruitlessly.
said Tom with a glazed look.
said Tom gruesomely.
said Tom handsomely.
said Tom heavily.
said Tom icily.
said Tom intently.
said Tom judgmentally.
said Tom without justification.
Tom kidded.
said Tom, knitting his brow.
reported Tom lamely.
said Tom lumberingly.
said Tom mechanically.
Tom mourned.
asked Tom noteworthily.
said Tom, nonplussed.
said Tom oddly.
said Tom patiently.
aid Tom pathologically.
said Tom quiveringly.
said Tom quixotically.
said Tom rabidly.
Tom admitted readily.
said Tom sagely.
said Tom sheepishly.
said Tom tenderly.
said Tom triumphantly.
said Tom unaccountably.
said Tom unwillingly.
said Tom weakly.
cried Tom woefully.
said Tom xerophytically.
yolked Tom.
was Tom's yuletide comment.
said Tom zestfully.
was Tom's zippy rejoinder.
The above explanation was paraphrased from History of the Tom Swiftie. At the site he also explains the examples if you didn't get all of the puns :-)

1 comment:

Joyce Fetteroll said...

This was actually much easier than I expected it to be!

“That’s the right note,” said Tom attuned.
“Let me help with the fire,” Tom bellowed.
“It’s definitely a plant,” said Tom categorically.
“Let me fix the eggs,” said Tom devilishly.
“You’re too chicken to make omelets,” Tom egged.
“Where are the Chinese cookies?” Tom fortunately remembered to ask.
“… and with lunch I had a lot of beans before going onto the cheesy dessert …” Tom gassed.
“It’s down yonder in the valley,” Tom hollered.
“Put my twin with Mom and Dad,” Tom insisted.
“I was always good at sports,” Tom said jocularly.
“I’m the one that put the baby goat in your car,” Tom kidded.
“And the baby sheep, too,” Tom lamented.
“I only hang out with women,” Tom mentioned.
“It is a small two-winged fly similar to a mosquito that includes both biting and nonbiting varieties and typically form large swarms,” Tom nattered.
“I think firs are superior to oaks for shade,” opined Tom.
“I sorely miss those old fir trees,” Tom pined.
“I need some Nestle’s chocolate milk!” said Tom quickly.
“I got my chest waxed. Want to see?” Tom asked ribaldly.
“I thought I saw a weed covered rock,” Tom said stonily.
“All I have is a Loc CD,” Tom said tonelessly.
“I’m sorry you fell down here beneath the bleachers,” Tom said understandingly.
“I will whack you over the head with this borrowed bass-like instrument!” Tom said violently.
“I’m confident the judge will agree to let the police search this place!” Tom warranted.
“I want sweet potatoes! I want sweet potatoes!” Tom yammered.
“His parents originally named him Pearl Grey!” Tom said zanily.
And a bit of the run down of the process of creating Tom Swifties that I posted:

It really was easy! Going through the alphabet for the said part helped since it limits the words available. And then you just play around with it, break it up, look for puns:

Ministered — mini stirred

“Let me mix that drink a little for you,” Tom ministered. :-)

mused .. Muses

“Who is best Calliope, Clio, Terpsichore, Thalia, Urania …?” Tom mused.

noted — “No, Ted” but that’s not something noted, it’s a command. Maybe:

“She told you not to do that, Theodore,” Tom noted.

Bit of a stretch!

Ordered — hors doeuvred? Might be something there …

“Give me the canapes,” Tom ordered.

Maybe. Maybe not.

pleaded — pleated, he could plead for pleats but what’s another word for pleats? But to be really clever he should be the one pleating …

“I’ve been folding for ever and ever. Can I stop now?” Tom pleaded.

horned in — so something to do with pushing in with information about a trumpet

“My trumpet’s better than yours,” Tom horned in. :-)

barked — like a barker rather than a dog? Or maybe a barker hawking a dog. But barkers tend to use lots of words rather than short like a bark …

“Come! Dog-boy! Inside!” Tom barked at the carnival sideshow. :-)

paused — paws-ed, I want to do something with that … but how can you pause as you paw or have paws on you?

And going to the list of “said” words we generated

added — too easy!

“And don’t forget that eleven plus two equals twelve plus one,” Tom added.

(it even includes an anagram!)

announced — a noun?

“Refrigerator is not a verb,” Tom announced.

Needs work. Must be a clever noun to put in there.

declared — de-Claired … any famous Clairs? Clare de lune? No, Google says either Claire de lune or Clair de lune. Both seem as frequent. Oh, what if he translates the title into English and gets the “clair” (or claire) out:

“From now on I will call Debussy’s work ‘Moonlight,’” Tom declared.

I like it, but how many people will get it? Better question is would *I* get it if someone else had written it? ;-) So maybe:

“From now on I will call Debussy’s work ‘de lune,’” Tom declared.

Yes, I think so! :-) since the other was also de-luned and de-deed. At least it’s not quite so obscure.

deferred — de-furred, deferred means to submit humbly to …

“My naked cat is not as good as yours,” Tom deferred, or maybe “My shaven cat is not as good as yours,” Tom deferred since it gets more at the idea he did the defurring.

cautioned — caw shunned, like the “mentioned” one ;-)

“Avoid loud (noisy?) crows,” Tom cautioned.

digressed — sounds like there should be something there … but nothing coming to mind.

demanded — de-manned

“All males off the boat, now!” Tom demanded.

effused …

“I just adore the ones between the D-fuses and the F-fuses,” Tom effused.

Uh, no, I think I better stop now! ;-)

“But, wait, there’s more,” Ron cooed. (Is Ronco still around?)

No, no, better:

“You would do well to avoid noisy crows like me,” Tom cautioned.

No, wait, Tom’s not a noisy crow! ;-) or he’d have to shun himself …

“You would do well to avoid noisy crows like I do,” Tom cautioned,

since it gets in the idea there’s already “caw shunning” going on.