Talk:Tom Swifty

Merge
This page should be combined with the "Tom Swifty" page. The result should be checked against the "Tom Swift" page for accuracy.--Lavintzin 02:35, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

I went ahead and did the merge. Some of my decisions may well be controversial: I left out some examples that seemed contrived and far-fetched to me from the old Tom Swifty page. A lot of the rest seemed redundant or unnecessary, so in the end, much of that page is gone. What's left seems fairly coherent to me. Write and gripe if you don't like it.

--Lavintzin 19:44, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Offensive?
A user recently deleted these three entries:


 * "Here I come!" he ejaculated
 * "I always go last in the gang bang," Tom said forthcomingly.
 * "What do y'all do 'round here for sex?" Tom asked sheepishly.

I'm quite sure the user felt that they were offensive given their sexual nature. What is Wikipedia's official policy on this? Are these allowed to stay? I think they are very good examples of Tom Swifties - however, I am admittedly biased as I invented 2 of the 3 (forthcomingly and sheepishly).


 * We're "not censored for minors", so you can probably add them back. 68.39.174.238 21:09, 17 February 2006 (UTC)


 * The first is really only dirty if you have your mind in the gutter in the first place, although it woldent make much sense as a Tom Swiftie if it wasnt in the gutter in the first place. Eds01 02:24, 3 March 2006 (UTC)


 * The third is genuinely funny.Greg Locock (talk) 01:12, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Submit here first?
It seems to me it might be worthwhile listing proposed additional examples here on the talk page and get some votes or reactions before posting. I realize this may be seen as "un-Wiki" or something. But I find a bunch of the recent additions so-so at best, and yet hesitate to just delete them. There are hundreds more out there, and if we just list every one someone has thought of the article will be unwieldy. I'd rather we selected those we thought extra good (and discuss our criteria, including keeping things clean if that's a criterion.) Opinions/reactions?

Criteria I'd suggest:
 * 1. Funny: makes me laugh. (Surprising, clever, however you measure that sort of thing. Double or triple puns are better...)
 * 2. Illustrates a different type from others so far

--Lavintzin 23:54, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I heard one the other day I thought pretty good: how would the rest of you rate it? Does it deserve a spot on the page?

"I really think it makes it spin faster," said Tom, blowing his top.


 * I like that one. It is a double-pun. So it is doubly fun. Any thoughts on my two about under the section "Offensive"? Levine2112 00:03, 10 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I tend to prefer to avoid seamy jokes unless they're funny enough to warrant the offensiveness they bring. The "forthcoming" one is OK, but not great, for me. The other one I may not even be getting. Is the idea that the guys are humping sheep because otherwise sex is hard to come by? Or am I just missing something? (I'm not up on all the vocabulary of sex talk, I'm afraid.)

--Lavintzin 03:12, 10 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I gave him a farmer's accent...to kind of drive the point home. You know those farmers and their sheep. ;-) Oh well. That's my humor for you. The "remorsefully" one is mine as well. Levine2112 03:32, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
 * "Remorsefully" I quite liked.--Lavintzin 04:38, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I just added a new one (dismissively), and I was thinking of adding two others to the end of the list:


 * "This is a Tom Swiftie," Tom said, reflexively.
 * "This is the last Tom Swiftie," Tom said with finality.

I just wanted to gauge people's reaction. If anyone thinks that these, or some variation thereof, would be a worthwhile addition to the page, either say so, or go ahead and add them. Comments? --DavidConrad 10:06, 5 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I think the first one would be better like this: "This is a Swiftie," reflected Tom. 37.186.11.144 (talk) 09:11, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

I don't know where I encountered it, but my favourite Tom Swifty has always been the minimalist: "I say!" said Tom. 130.194.85.247 (talk) 06:30, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Heaving it aloft
I'd like to speak up for the recently moved (demoted?) Swiftie:

"I didn't know I got airsick," said Tom, heaving it aloft.

DavidConrad thinks it is "lame"; I rank it near the top. Let me try to explain why.

It is an obvious pun, but pretty subtle in the way it works. All three words, "heaving", "it", and "aloft" are used in two senses. For both "heaving" and "aloft" (and arguably for "it" as well) these are related senses of a single word rather than two accidentally homophonous words. Getting related senses to pun takes more skill and is (to my mind) admirable in a quite different way than trading off a totally accidental similarity.

What I really like about this Swiftie is the way it puns on syntactic constructions. "Heave" can be transitive (involving a kind of pushing throw or pull of some heavy object) or intransitive (vomiting). "Verb it" is most naturally transitive, but there is a somewhat archaic or obsolescent construction "verb(ing) it (adverbially)" where the verb is usually intransitive, and "it" doesn't refer to a definite direct object but to the situation in general (or something of the sort). Examples would be "hoofing it along the trail", "running it close", "cutting it close", "tripping it lightly", and many others. The pun shifts the construction type to this one. And there are two kinds of verb-locative.adverb constructions, one where the locative is the final position of the direct object (where "it" winds up, possibly in this case in the overhead bin of the airplane), and one in which the locative describes where the whole action takes place (in this case, up in the air). The pun also forces a shift in this construction.

I find the whole delicate structure beautiful, as well as funny. I don't mind this being listed last, but I like it a whole lot better than many of the others.

btw, is posting your own Swifties "original research"? I haven't (I don't think? There's one I can't remember where I got it) put up any of my own. But it hasn't been particularly for that reason: I just don't think they're all that good. (I like some better than some that are on the page right now, though, fwiw.)

--Lavintzin 14:28, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm the one who moved "heaving it aloft", and yes, my intention was to demote it. I must admit, you make a very strong case for it. My problem with it is that, unlike some of the others (Tom said weakly, hoarsely, sheepishly) "heaving it aloft" is a very unnatural expression. It isn't something you would ever actually hear or say, and as such it seems like a real stretch and sounds too contrived. For that reason, it just doesn't strike me as funny. My reaction to some of the others is anywhere from "Ha!" to "Ugh!" to "Groan!" My reaction to "heaving it aloft" is "Uh huh. Clever."


 * Like a good many others, it would work much better in the right context. You'd have to have Tom boarding a plane with some kind of carrion, and then, once they were in the air, trying to shove it up into the overhead compartment or something.

--Lavintzin 04:38, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

For that reason, I really don't think it should stand first in the list. Start out with some of the more, for a lack of a better word, traditional ones. But I like the points you make here. How about if we put it somewhere, say, in the first third of the list? Not first, but not last, either, he said moderately.


 * Whatever. Last was OK with me, just not out. Lavintzin 04:38, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Regarding my adding of "gayly" and moving "heaving it aloft", it really never occurred to me to check on the discussion page first. I just didn't think that Tom Swifties would be an article that was the product of a lot of discussion, but I am always happy to work with my fellow Wikipedians, he said gladly. --DavidConrad 09:45, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

If you punned carrion with carry-on it could be even better —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.255.124.230 (talk) 01:23, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Otomi
I just moved "heaving it aloft" up to the 4th spot, just ahead of "Otomi" which I think is even more contrived and unnatural. (I'm pretty sure you'd have to mispronounce "Otomi" to make the pun work aloud, and I doubt many people would get it even then since they would have to have heard of Otomi (highly unlikely) and still recognize it when mispronounced (more unlikely still). But perhaps you could promulgate a rule that the puns only have to work in writing, not verbally?  "No puns aloud.") --DavidConrad 10:06, 5 March 2006 (UTC)


 * No, you don't have to mispronounce Otomi: it is regularly pronounced (by English speakers) as [ˌotʰəˈmi]. (That's like owe-to-mee, with the strong accent on mee and the vowel of 'to' reduced to a schwa. The Spanish pronunciation is [otomí] and it is spelled with the accent.) And letting a language name bear the punnishment makes a different type of Swiftie than the others so far. I suppose we could use something like "Let's go faster," Tom said in Russian, to give an example of that same type, but I don't think it's as funny.--Lavintzin 04:38, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I think it's even more contrived than "aloft", and sounds stilted even when you understand it. I think it would work better with the language name used as an ethnic/nationality identifier before the name:  "Go faster," said Russian Tom.  In any case, I think Otomi is FAR too obscure a reference for general use; I'm a fairly well-read guy, and I'd never heard of them before. Mdotley 16:03, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

condescension
Geoduck changed
 * "Let's go downstairs," said Tom to the robber condescendingly.

to
 * "Take the prisoner downstairs," said Tom condescendingly.

and saw that as a "grammar tweak". I don't see this as a clear improvement.

(1) "prisoner" for me doesn't evoke the "criminal" meaning of "con(vict)" as well as "robber" does. Perhaps I'm overly aware of people held prisoner, especially in adventure stories (?), who have done nothing wrong nor ever been convicted of a crime. (This is not a strong difference/argument, for me, however.)

(2) In the older version Tom is construed as going downstairs with the robber, activating the other meaning of "con" ("together"). In the newer one, it would be Tom's addressee who would go down with the con, and the "together" meaning doesn't get activated particularly. Perhaps a compromise might be "I'll take the prisoner/robber downstairs," said Tom condescendingly.

I think I'd vote for keeping the older version. Any other opinions?

--Lavintzin 14:47, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Maybe I shouldn't have said "grammar". I just thought it would be a little "punchier" if the wordplay can be included in the actual quote, and not added on afterwards. (Also, the version I used is one that I read in a Swifties collection elsewhere.) Lavintzin clearly worries about this far more than I do (not being snarky; there are articles I care about) so if people want to change it back, go ahead.

Geoduck

Two new ones
I put one on the page without remembering to follow my own advice and talk about it here:

"2 bdrm furn w c/h," said Tom aptly.

Here's another I've enjoyed:

"What was it like, commanding the Confederate troops?" Tom asked generally.

What do the rest of you think of them?

--Lavintzin 13:42, 13 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I added - "Look at the those pasties twirl!" said Tom fastidiously.
 * Yeah, it's dirty. But the dirty ones are funny. :-) Everyone that I've shared this one with (and who enjoy a good Tom Swifty) laugh and laugh.


 * I like Lavintzin's first one above. Very creative. The second one... wait, I get it... Genrel Lee. Ha! That one is very clever too! Levine2112 22:59, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


 * fwiw, neither of these is "mine" in the sense of authorship: somebody else invented them. (I wish I had, but that's another matter.) --Lavintzin 20:16, 25 April 2006 (UTC)


 * The "crack" one is hilarious! 68.39.174.238 07:16, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Anothern
I added another one pretty close to the top of the list, because (a) I think it's funny and (b) it's a type I don't think we have such a good example of (four, no, make that five puns on parts of a single word!). Quite a tour-de-farce, what?

--Lavintzin 22:57, 24 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Insinuated = "in sin you ate it"
 * Genius! Levine2112 00:24, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Yet Anothern
"We'll have you looking like the Venus de Milo!" Tom said disarmingly.

Pretty good, but essentially the same joke as the defeatedly and offhandedly ones. Put it in?

--Lavintzin 23:03, 20 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Not one of your mightiest additions, but still a decent example. Levine2112 17:00, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

New one
"All my crustaceans have cancer, thanks to you," Tom said crabbily. I know there's already one with 'crabbily', but this is better, I think.211.30.81.69 23:57, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I removed the "Here I come!" Swifty as in my opinion it felt below the caliber of the others. See Jay 08:20, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Delete some of these?
No offense to anybody, but several recent additions strike me as inane, and I'd rather not include them. Acting as if "wondering" is a good pun for "de one ring" is bad enough; bales are likely to exist in connection with farms, but the balefully pun is weak, and single puns trading off insider names like Phoenix Wright or Will somebody are pretty pedestrian. This will be a better article if we limit the list to examples that are clever in new ways, make multiple puns, etc. Does anybody out there agree with me enough to strike some of these? --Lavintzin 04:17, 22 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You know I do. Strike away! Levine2112 19:21, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Some striking has now been done. (Bill Brasky and Mathematical joke are two similar laundry-list articles requiring constant attention and pruning.) For the record, I don't see anything wrong with "pedestrian single puns"; Tom Swifties are traditionally pedestrian (i.e., not obscure) single (i.e., simple) puns. This article seems to have attracted its share of "pun snobs" (Phoenix Wright? Otomi?) in the past... but everybody please remember that Wikipedia is not for things you thought up in school one day! For those of you who want to share all your clever original puns, may I recommend the rec.* hierarchy on Usenet? --Quuxplusone 10:04, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

List cleanup
I am about to (boldly) delete a whole bunch of these, but thought I would list here the ones I've tagged for deletion with some sort of explanation for why I don't think they make the grade, so anybody who really likes them can argue for them. My assumption is that we should delete any that don't have some good reason to keep them.


 * "I wanted to rent an apartment in the new building, but dogs are forbidden," said Tom petulantly.
 * —(Pedestrian single pun). Or is there spozed to be a connection from lant to lent to rent? Doesn't work for me. Pun on the "pet you lent"? "You shouldn't have let her take our dog with her," said Tom ... ? Anyway, as is, leave it out.


 * "I don't like the taste of Merlot," Tom whined.
 * —Pedestrian single pun, why Merlot rather than something else? (I also dislike that pronunciation of whine, though that should be irrelevant, I suppose.)


 * "Two heads are not better than one," said Tom, single-mindedly.
 * —Aeh. Not too bad, but just doesn't do anything special for me. Too much like the more-classic half-hearted one, I guess.


 * "It would never do for the credit to go to anyone else," said Tom in Otomí.
 * —As pointed out above on this talk page, Otomí and its pronunciation are both pretty obscure. We'd do well to substitute a better example of punning on the language Tom speaks. Anybody know a really good one? (The ones I've seen involving Russian or Finnish are pretty blah. This one at least has a triple pun.)


 * "What would I need a prop gun for?" asked Tom blankly.
 * —There was a better one using "blankly" that this got substituted for—can't remember what it was, and don't remember it as good enough to bother pawing through the history. Prop guns are probably pretty obscure for most of us. There's another forgettable "blankly" one involving white-out below.


 * "I'm out of toothpaste." Tom said aimlessly.
 * —Aeh. Especially right after the Crestfallen example, which is a bit better (though both of them, using brand names, are less than fabulously wonderful.) There are already too many (better) ones with a negative like the -less suffix here (e.g. explained, expressly, defeatedly, offhandedly, etc.


 * "I know you're bluffing, because I have the other three aces," Tom called high-handedly.
 * —This one has several things going for it. Foremost, it puns on both the verb and the adverb. Maybe what bugs me is how unnatural the collocation of "called" and "high-handedly" is? Keep it? probably. To me it would work better (at least, it would be punchier/funnier) if it just said "I know you're bluffing," Tom called.


 * "I just love camping!" Tom said, intently.
 * —There are better settings for this very old pun. ('Torture in the Tepees, or The Pain was Intense')


 * "The fishing around here is really lousy!" Tom said, without debate.
 * —Too many "without de-" puns (e.g. "without despair" above). Better if it said "We'll never catch fish this way," …


 * "I do like collecting baseball gloves," Tom admitted.
 * —Pedestrian single pun. Be better if it said "I'll probably put that baseball glove in my collection", so there would be a pun on the ad-. But even so ...


 * "I don't like 7-Up," Tom said spritely.
 * —Pedestrian single pun on brand names for similar drinks. Besides, it would be spritelily: spritely is an adjective, not an adverb.


 * "That Brad Pitt is super cute," Tom minced gayly.
 * —I don't think something becomes funny simply by including reference to homosexuality. "Mince" is not a pun, it is being used with one of its standard meanings, stereotypically considered characteristic of (male) homosexuals. Gayly is more normally spelled gaily, though one could argue for the spelling that makes the (shopworn) pun obvious. Whether Brad P is or is not a homosexual, why drag his name into it? The whole thing is not funny, to my mind.


 * "So what do y'all do 'round here for sex?" Tom asked sheepishly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun, sort of. The author intended the y'all and 'round here to evoke farmers' speech (see discussion above), which may or may not be successful or relevant. (It is neither for me.) Anyway, it doesn't work for me.


 * "What kind of money do they use in Paris?" Tom asked frankly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun. Be better if it said "That's the kind of money they use in Paris," Tom stated frankly, but still...


 * "And I don't know how to balance my check book," Tom added.
 * —Aeh. Pedestrian single pun. At least the "And" at the beginning helps.


 * "I'll clean tomorrow, Dad," said Tom, brushing him off.
 * —OK, I suppose, just not outstanding. No feeling that what is said is just right: it could have been 'you have a cobweb on your suit, Dad' or something like that, but … no, not for me.


 * "Oh my God, I've been bitten by a snake!" Tom gasped.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "Pass me the lozenges, Mister Ed," Wilbur asked hoarsely.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "I fall ill every Tuesday," said Tom weakly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "That's the woman!" Tom said dismissively.
 * —Pedestrian single(?) pun. Might better say "Here's the woman" to make the dis more clearly turn into this, but still pretty blah.


 * "I like cocaine," Tom snorted.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "I am glad I changed that lightbulb" Tom said brightly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "Monkey see, monkey do," Tom aped.
 * —Fairly pedestrian single pun. At least the quote evokes a standard combination of the ideas of monkeys and copying, which the verb also does. OK keep it, I guess. fwiw ape is a pretty awkward intransitive verb.


 * "Too many Americans are overweight," Tom blubbered.
 * —Pedestrian single pun. Better "She said I am fat!" Tom blubbered. But still ... naah.


 * "I just love my job at the nuclear plant," Tom said glowingly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "Where's the white-out?" Tom said blankly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun. We also had "blankly" above with the prop gun.


 * "Aww, go on, John! Scare those chickens!" Tom said, egging him on.
 * —Pedestrian single pun. Why *scare* the chickens, particularly? Not even a good pun.


 * "Could Sauron really take over Middle-earth?" Tom asked, wondering.
 * —Pedestrian single pun. Anyway, it's not de-one-ring, and one-de-ring doesn't work very well. Better if it said "What could Sauron use to take over Middle Earth", but still … Naah.


 * "I object to the use of chemicals on laboratory animals!" Tom exclaimed rightly.
 * —Pedestrian single pun on a fairly obscure reference with a very common last name.


 * "They'll never make me work on a farm!" Tom said balefully.
 * —Pedestrian single pun.


 * "Make love to me, Old One, like the first time!" Bran cried willfully.
 * —Pedestrian pun on a fairly obscure reference to a fairly common first name. Again, bringing homosex into the picture doesn't make it funny.


 * "I'm really into necrophilia, said Tom in dead ernest."
 * —Far from the best setting for a very old pun ("The worms are eating away in dead earnest". Not funny enough to justify bringing something as disgusting as necrophilia into the picture. Fwiw, earnest/Earnest is misspelled (though the name can be Ernest, of course), and the final quote mark is misplaced. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lavintzin (talk • contribs) 19:11, 7 February 2007 (UTC).


 * I still love this one...
 * "So what do y'all do 'round here for sex?" Tom asked sheepishly.
 * This is my favorite of which I authored. It's fun because it asks the reader to take that extra step than just an ordinary single pun. The colloquial speech is meant to conjure up Tom the ranch hand -- the kind of Tom who works on a farm with sheep and gets lonely all too often. ;-) Levine2112 19:22, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Quuxplusone did a more drastic cleanup than I would have, and I'm putting some things back that he (/she?) took out. He says (in the immediately previous section on this talk page) 'For the record, I don't see anything wrong with "pedestrian single puns"; Tom Swifties are traditionally pedestrian (i.e., not obscure) single (i.e., simple) puns. This article seems to have attracted its share of "pun snobs" (Phoenix Wright? Otomi?) in thef past.' Granted, there is nothing wrong with them, I enjoy them too and they are about as far as my own knee-slappers go, but why list them as notable? Pun-snobbery or whatever, multiple puns and cleverer puns are funnier, at least for me. Anyway, like I say, I'm putting some of my favorites back in. Re Quuxplusone's comment about "things you thought up in school one day" (which I agree with), none of these I'm putting back in are (worse luck) thought up by me, I just admire them. --Lavintzin 14:23, 12 February 2007 (UTC) PS I'm leaving Otomí out, but that means we need a good pun on a language, to keep an example of that sub-genre.--Lavintzin 14:23, 12 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I guess I can take solace in that my "fastidiously" example survived the carnage! ;-) -- Levine2112 discuss 17:35, 12 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Only because Lavintzin restored it. It's not a good Tom Swiftie, for several reasons: First, how would you exclaim "fastidiously"? Several of the "puns" I removed had the same problem (e.g. "generally"). If you just pick a random adjective, plop "ly" on the end, and pun on it, you're not doing Tom Swifties, you're doing macaronics. (Or something like that. See Dog Latin for a couple of examples, or .)


 * Second, okay, I'm a prude. I don't mind a little blue humor if it's good, but "fastidiously" doesn't make the cut already because of the questionable adverb. The "sheepishly" one posted earlier is okay, since it is in fact possible to inquire sheepishly; but really there's no reason to artificially restrict the article's audience to adults and other gutterminds. Tom Swifties are not traditionally adult-themed &mdash; which ought to be obvious, once you remember that they're parodying children's literature in the first place. Heck, I remember Boys' Life running Tom Swifties regularly!


 * The "remorse fully" pun isn't great, especially since it duplicates in spirit the far better "aptly" pun already listed; but I don't strongly object to it. The "concurred" pun is okay, but again reminds me of, and has the additional problem that it's a verb punning on an uncommon mispronunciation of a different verb ("concurred" for "conquered").


 * Re Lavintzin's "why list them as notable?": This isn't a list of notable Tom Swifties. I don't think there are such creatures. This is a short list of representative Tom Swifties, for the edification of readers who might be wondering, "What is a Tom Swiftie?" Personally, I'd have no problem with deleting the entire "Examples" section, leaving only the representative handful at the top of the page. Any takers on that idea? --Quuxplusone 02:42, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm putting several back, I think. Re speaking fastidiously, that is well within the capabilities of the people who wrote Tom Swift. I mean, if you can use "and, with a dramatic gesture she pointed to the scuttle through which the procession had come" as a verb of speaking, there's nothing you can't do. Seriously, I don't think that it's all that unnatural. Google gave about 100 of them ("said fastidiously").

I'm somewhat with Quuxplusone in tending towards prudishness, if that's the word for it, but for me the fastidiously one (not some of the other ones) was funny enough to warrant the "blue" color. It's a good point about not unnecessarily restricting the audience, though I don't expect it will make much difference.

The "generally" one is entirely natural usage (13K Google hits on "ask generally", 19K on "asked generally"), and this is the only example to include the -ly as part of the pun. I think that's brilliant. Of course concurred would be a mispronunciation of conquered, and it only works because the beginning primes you so strongly to expect conquered, but it works. I'm for leaving it in. Same with the "spat" one: it's clever to turn the s into a 's and the rest of the verb into a name.

And, I don't buy the argument "these are only for kids, and so there's no need to pick out the specially good ones as examples." A notable Swiftie is not a contradiction in terms, unless you define it that way, which it sounds to me like you're doing, Q. I think it is good thing to illustrate in an encyclopedia article, with good examples, the range of types there are (more than you'd see in the introductory paragraph), and if you provoke a few chuckles along the way, what's to hurt?

--Lavintzin 03:57, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Language Swiftie
Here's a possible inclusion with a language:

“Look at that centipede genuflect!” said Tom in Polynesian.

What do you all think?

--Lavintzin 15:40, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Cute. I get the "poly" and the "knees" part. Is there something else there? -- Levine2112 discuss 18:00, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't see anything else. It's not great, in my opinion--but I do think we'd do well to include one that puns on the language. --Lavintzin 18:05, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * "What should I name my water fowl transportation company?" Tom asked in Portuguese.
 * (Kind of lame, but I just thought it up.) -- Levine2112 discuss 18:27, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * "Help! I'm trapped in a pastry!" Tom screamed in Danish.
 * A little less lame? -- Levine2112 discuss 18:29, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * "Are we done yet?" Tom asked in Finnish.
 * Eh. -- Levine2112 discuss 18:33, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I have a lot of mucus in my throat," Tom said in Flemish.
 * Kind of gross... but I'm brainstorming here. -- Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 18:36, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * "Why don't we split the check?" Tom asked in Dutch.
 * Obvious? -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 18:37, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * "I am giving him a rim job," Tom said in Gaelic.
 * Too dirty? -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 18:40, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

I'll stop there for now. ;-) -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 18:40, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The Flemish one is the only one that made me come close to chuckling. fwtw. --Lavintzin 03:57, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Not bad for a five minute brainstorm. Gaelic is my personal fave, but it is pretty dirty so I understand. Anyhow, these are much better than the Polynesian one. Let me know if you find or come up with better. Always interested! -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 05:37, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Another
This one occured to me this morning... "I can't believe my invention got rejected," Tom said in patent denial. What do you think? -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 17:30, 20 February 2007 (UTC)


 * WP:NOT for things you thought up this morning, either. (Try rec.humor! You'll like it, I promise!) But if you're looking for criticism: "Denial" isn't being used as part of a pun; you might as well say "'I can't believe my labyrinthine invention got rejected,'" Tom said in patent amazement" and get some mileage out of it. Or just add an "I" and step directly to "'Take your time, doc,' Tom said patiently", skipping the search for that troublesome noun altogether. --Quuxplusone 09:06, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I think you missed it. Tom's patent got denied; hence his invention got rejected. Get it? Thanks for the Google group suggestion! I'll look into it. However, I don't see any problem with sharing my own examples on the talk page here. Several of mine have actually made it onto article space and even off of Wikipedia! I'm flattered. -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 18:47, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Some more examples, What does everyone think?
Here are some more examples:

"Hand me the eggbeater," Tom said stirringly.

"Those chips are great!" Tom said crisply.

What does everyone think of those? Do they deserve a place in the list at the end of the article? -- Javawizard 02:50, 24 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Just so everyone knows, those came out of a puzzle book that was copyrighted. Would they still be able to go on to the article? -- Javawizard 19:47, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I just don't think they are all that clever to include as good examples. -- <b style="color:#996600; font-family:times new roman,times,serif;">Levine2112</b> <sup style="color:#774400; font-size:small; padding:1px; border:1px #996600 dotted; background-color:#FFFF99;">discuss 04:38, 25 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid I agree. Sorry, JWiz!
 * Also, I don't know about the copyrights on things like these: did the person copyrighting actually author them, or did he/she just copyright the collecting of them in one document? It's pretty hard to tell, but absent direct indication of copyright-free status I'd tend not to use them. On the other hand, who knows where some of those we've included come from? Somehow it seems if any genre ought to be inherently copyright-free it would be one-liners, but of course people copyright them too.--Lavintzin 14:35, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

List of Tom Swifties
What Wikipedia is not is fairly clear about lists of things like jokes. Including more than a small handful of examples crosses the line from clarification into becoming a repository. Deltabeignet (talk) 22:50, 24 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm in sympathy with the desire not to have Wikipedia be a repository for everything possible. I do not think it necessary to apply that idea in as draconian a fashion as you want to do. I also see that having the list invites miscellaneous submissions. A fair bit of work was done to include in the list good examples of otherwise unexemplified types. The article as you are leaving it is less satisfactory for me as a user than it was before. I do not think your deletion was an improvement. --Lavintzin (talk) 18:50, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Old history of this page
Some old history of this page, which contains important content edits, can be found at Talk:Tom Swifty/History. Graham 87 14:41, 26 January 2009 (UTC)


 * And I've history merged the two deleted edits that were formerly on this talk page. The diffs of the first four edits of this page may look a little strange as a result. Graham 87 14:47, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Origins
Does anyone have any idea how or when this phenomenon originated? I first heard them in 1962. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.13.189.102 (talk) 11:15, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Look at the Origins section of the article. 24.56.166.100 (talk) 19:52, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Good Source to Cite
I think any modern copy of Boy's Life magazine, published by the Boy Scouts of America, would be a great source to cite for the examples themselves- they have tons of jokes, many of them Tom Swifties, in the "Think and Grin" section, which is usually on page 52.

Thanks! Your Pal, MooperVeltresleex 09:28, 15 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by MooperVeltresleex (talk • contribs)

Mischaracterization of the original Tom Swift books
This is incorrect. The original Tom Swift had 1920s type inventions like "Sky Trains", "Television Detectors", Airships and "Giant Searchlights". It was his son in the follow-up series from the 1950s and 1960s who had the space age inventions and adventures. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.194.129.63 (talk) 11:20, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

Examples
"I'm having an affair with my gamekeeper," said the lady, chattily. 92.9.184.163 (talk) 23:16, 14 September 2022 (UTC)
 * That's rather good. Greglocock (talk) 03:39, 15 September 2022 (UTC)


 * "For nonrhotic speakers," he answe'ed. Kdammers (talk) 18:39, 19 March 2024 (UTC)