I read a few, but I can’t stand to read anymore of them.
Do these sort of examples count (asked Tom, swiftly) or do they have to use said + an adverb?
“They clubbed the seal to death,” Tom blubbered.
“My heartbeat seems rather irregular,” Tom murmured.
“She must have left this mink coat for me to wear,” Tom inferred.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
“My, you’ve put on a lot of weight, Auntie”, Dorothy said emphatically.
“I’ll send another message of apology over the wireless,” Colophon said, remorsefully.
Minor Mod note: when Maserschmidt posted to this thread in post #54, that was reviving a thread after four years of inactivity. That’s what we call a “zombie” thread, and it’s OK here. However, please remember that if you’re replying to an older post, that it was possibly made four years ago.
“This is a zombie, but I don’t have a problem leaving it open,” twicks said moderately.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Sneaky little…
“That was stupid of me to come in four years later,” Maserschmidt said tardily.
(I’m sorry; that’s horrible. I couldn’t resist the double shot. No offense intended.)
“I sure to love corn on the cob!” Tom said huskily.
“I hate golden showers,” Tom said pissily.
“I wish I didn’t have flat feet,” said Tom archly.
Going along with the Viagra ones, above, shouldn’t this:
read:
“My wood is gone! It’s all gone!”, Tom said, limply?
“I’ll have some knishes and gefilte fish”, Tom said judiciously.
“it’s a Black thing,” Tom said darkly, then lightened up. “Like Sammy Sosa!”
“I throw a mean curve ball,” Tom pitched in.
“I used to teach geometry years ago,” Tom expostulated.
I can actually add something of use to this zombie, having read a bunch of the original books since it got started. I did not see one Tom Swifty in the dozen or so I read. (My father-in-law had a bunch as a kid, saved them, and gave them to me.) There are plenty of adjectival phrases, but none that would qualify as a Tom Swifty in the way so well understood here. The last one I read was from the 30s, so I didn’t miss any. The original series, by the way, was written by the guy who also wrote Uncle Wiggly.
The '50s series, much inferior, was by Appleton II. There was a series by Appleton III starring Tom Swift III. I have 3 of them, but only have read the first. It was set on a space colony, partly. The '50s series, which I have been going through, seems to have been written by different people, since some of them try to get the science a little right while others were clearly written by people who considered science books to be kryptonite. The house name is not necessarily indicative of multiple authors - the Nancy Drew originals had only two, and that was over time, not interspersed.
TS jr. is set in the same universe as the original, with Ned Newton making appearances as the COO, more or less, of Swift Enterprises, which has become quite the big thing. Unlike Nancy Drew or the Hardy boys, the books have some reasonable amount of continuity, with inventions in one book being reused in later ones.
I’m reading them now because I never read them as a kid for some reason, which might explain why I got into science and engineering.
Tom Swifties are great.
“My wife has a nasty case of thrush,” Tom said, candidly.
“I don’t think this metal was manufactured properly,” Tom said, bad-temperedly.
“2bd, gd locn, gsh, f/f, £900pcm,” Tom said, aptly.
“Поторопись!” Tom said, in Russian.
“Se on ohi,” Tom said, in Finnish.
“Hurry up!” and “It’s over”, respectively
This may be one of the best I’ve ever heard.
“Let’s French kiss” said Tom, tongue-in cheek
I posted this in the pun thread.
This is the best shrimp cocktail I ever ate ,said Tom shellfishly.