back to books Re: doublets / langue / traffic

[Carol]

Geoff wrote:
> > > "I think there is more jargon in "Microsoft Office for Dummies"
that most Christian texts," he replied blandly.
> > 
Carol responded:
> > 
> > Quote us some passages and maybe we can try rendering them into
English! :-)
> 
Geoff asked:
> Are you referring to the "Dummies" book? I think I threw my copy
away when I got a Mac..... :-)

Carol again:
Yes, I was referring to the Dummies book. "Macs for Dummies" will do
if there's such a thing. (I hate Macs myself, but I realize that Mac
fans are passionate in their belief that Macs are superior.)

Carol earlier: 
> > Carol, not "getting" the Tom Swiftie is that's what "blandly" is
> 
> Geoff:
> Sorry, you'll have to explain this one; I'm left scratching my head
in puzzlement.

Carol again:
Sorry about that. My sentence contains a spelling error ("Tom Swifty"
is spelled with a "y," not an "ie") and a stupid typo, "is" for "if."
I was assuming that "he said blandly" was a Tom Swifty and that you
were deliberately creating one (as Annemehr did in her response, where
"he said bytingly" is an obvious pun).

A Tom Swifty is a type of pun in which the adverb or other description
of the words spoken puns on the words themselves. I'm not good at
creating them myself, but here's a link to a website with some clever
examples:

http://www.fun-with-words.com/tom_swifties.html

Carol, who would sign off with a Tom Swifty relating to typos or blank
minds if she could think of one