[HPforGrownups] Re: Ton-tongue toffies and other tongue twisters

[jlcaron at gmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 157646

>
> AnnR:
> What is 'Tom Swiftie'?  Is it an Americanism, I don't remember
> reading it in POA.  I too like her humor.
>

Jaime:

"Tom Swiftie, a play on words that follows an unvarying pattern and  
relies for its humor on a punning relationship between the way an  
adverb describes a speaker and at the same time refers significantly  
to the import of the speaker's statement, as in "I know who turned  
off the lights," Tom hinted darkly. [named after a narrative  
mannerism characteristic of the Tom Swift American series of  
adventure novels for boys]"

http://www.baetzler.de/humor/tom_swiftie.var

(I'd never heard of it either but I'll certainly be aware of it now  
when I'm reading.)