Earl McClaw wrote:Spacewolfomega wrote:I even own a Tom Swift book, but I haven't read it... one of those things I picked up for $1 at a book sale.
If/when you read it, take note of how Tom speaks. Apparently he never just "says"
anything. In fact, there's a type of wordplay called a "Swifty", such as:
"I see," said the blind man as he picked up the hammer and saw.
Er, no. A Swifty is such as this:
"I'm no thief", he said roguishly.
"I wield a mace", he said bluntly.
"Put away that knife!", he said sharply.
"Turn down the furnace", he said heatedly.
"The devil you say", he said fiendishly.
"I love hot dogs", he said with relish.
What you gave is a Wellerism, of which Tom Swifties are a separate type. They're named for the pseudonymous Victor Appleton's (real name Edward L. Stratemeyer) genius boy inventor hero, and the author's annoying tendency to add a qualifying adjective to every single line of dialogue. (Wellerisms are named for Sam Weller, a character in Dickens'
Pickwick Papers that produced such punning lines as, "Out with it, as the father said to the child when he swallowed a farden."
Yours truly,
The wolfish,
Wanderer
