Adverbial play: Tom Swifties.

Adverbial play: Tom Swifties. Ove Michaelsen discusses a famous type of joke, perhaps the onlytype that was inspired by an author's writing style and named afterthe hero of his stories. "The term 'tom swifty' was takenfrom the character Tom Swirl in a series of adventure books by Edward L.Stratemeyer (1862-1930), published under his pen name Victor Appletonfrom 1910 to 1935 (five years after his death). Stratemeyer was also thecreator of the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys. In a tom swifty, a pun is made on an adverb or adverbial phrase.The examples in this list come from several collections includingAnother Almanac of Words at Play by Willard Espy (1980); The OxfordGuide to Word Games by Tony Augarde (1984); and Mark Israel's"Canonical Tomswiftie" page on the World-Wide Web. Thoseattributed to Antony B. Lake appeared in his book A Pleasury ofWitticisms and WordPlay (1975)." From Antony Lake: "This shirt is crumpled," said the launderer, ironically."I wish I could remember the name of that card game," shesaid, wistfully. "I wasn't there," she remarked,absently. "Have you anything by Hugo?" asked Les, miserably. Mark Israel's collection: " ... and lose a few," said Tom, winsomely. "Give mesome Chinese food," said Tom, wantonly. "I'm very popularwith women," said Don, wanly. "A spirit transported me fromthe couch to the chair," said Tom, visibly moved. "I wonderwhy uranium is fluorescent," said Marie, curiously. "I keepbanging my head on things," Tom said, bashfully. "I got the first three wrong," said Tom,forthrightly.--cited by Tony Augarde "I'll never visit Lilliput," said Jonathan,swiftly.--Jamie Evans DAVID MORICE Iowa City, Iowa