Types of Tom Swifties

Puns With Adverbs Celebrate Hundredth Anniversary in 2010

May 1, 2009 Thomas Alan Gray

Those who believe that "adverbs are evil" must be thinking of the wicked little adverbial puns called Tom Swifties. This form of word play may date back as far as 1910.

A Tom Swifty is a word-play in which a brief quotation is related to the manner in which it is spoken through the use of a pun. There is a standard format, with the quotation coming first and the adverb at the end: "They were out of apples," said Tom fruitlessly.

The word-game comes from the title character in a series of boys adventure books written between 1910 and 1941 by Edward L Stratemeyer and others under the pseudonym Victor Appleton (Two later series of Tom Swift Jr books followed the tradition). Stratemeyer's writing was characterized by heavy use of adverbs, a style more recently employed by J. K. Rowling in her Harry Potter series.

Quite probably, the first Tom Swifty was devised shortly after the publication of the first Tom Swift book, giving almost 100 years of humor. Tom Swifties have often been used by grammar teachers to reinforce the adverb as a part of speech and by writing teachers to illustrate the humorous effect of excessive adverb use or as a creative exercise.

There are four common forms of Tom Swifties, depending on whether the pun is expressed as

An adverb
An adverb phrase
The morphology of a word
The verb itself.

Examples will clarify the four types. The Swifties in this article were collected from a variety of sources or devised by the author and are considered to be in the public domain.

True Tom Swifties Use an Adverb

An adverb is a word, usually ending in -ly, that modifies a verb. In a true Tom Swifty, an adverb in the standard form provides the pun (hence the name adverbial pun). This is the classical format and also the easiest to invent.

"The doctor removed my left ventricle," said Tom half-heartedly.
"I cut myself on that broken window," Tom said painfully.
"Who would want to steal modern art?" asked Tom abstractedly.
"This boat is leaking," said Tom balefully.
"It's not fair!" said Tom darkly.
"I've stroked out all the evil adverbs," Tom said crossly.
"I only have diamonds, clubs and spades," said Tom heartlessly.
"I'm on social security," said Tom dolefully.

In a classic Swifty, Tom is the speaker. However, sometimes the pun lies in the name of the speaker; such variations may still be considered Tom Swifties.

"Who discovered radium?" asked Marie curiously.
"I'm going to end it all," Sue sighed. (This is also a Class 4 Swifty or croaker)

Class 2 Tom Swifties Use an Adverb Phrase

One type of Tom Swifty uses an adverb phrase. These may be quite clever in their double meaning:

"I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
"I love hot dogs," said Tom with relish.
"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.

Class 3 Tom Swifties use Morphology in the Pun

The morphology of a word - its internal structure - forms the pun in some advanced Swifties. To understand the pun, break the word into morphemes (smaller units of meaning). For example, "propaganda" = "propa" (proper) + "ganda" (gander). To request an explanation of these puns, please post a question in the comment field.

"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.
"I had the kitty's hind end bronzed," Tom said to explain the catastrophe.
"There's an insect in my French cheese," said Tom briefly.

Class 4 Tom Swifties or Croakers Have the Pun in the Verb

Occasionally the pun occurs in the verb itself, and there may not be an adverb at all. Strictly speaking such puns may not be Tom Swifties (they are also called croakers), but they are generally included in the genre.

"I'm dying," Tom croaked.
"My garden needs another layer of mulch," Tom repeated.
"You must be my host," Tom guessed.
"I cooked another cutlet," Tom revealed
"Can I go looking for the Grail again?" Tom requested.
"There's no need for silence," Tom allowed.
"I won't finish in fifth place," Tom held forth.
"That's my gold mine!" Tom claimed.
"I killed the Greek piper god," Tom deadpanned.

All four types of Tom Swifties are easy to create and continue to provide chuckles and groans a hundred years after Tom Swift first roared off on his motorcycle.

The copyright of the article Types of Tom Swifties in Editing is owned by Thomas Alan Gray. Permission to republish Types of Tom Swifties in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.