Tom Swiftys are a type of pun or word play named after the Tom Swift American adventure novels. The author Victor Appleton (Edward Stratemeyer or Howard Garis in Stratemeyer's employ) would always describe every action with an adverb. Tom never just said anything, he said it in the tradition of pulp fiction: carefully, excitedly, eagerly, and so forth. A Tom Swifty is a particular type of pun centering on the adverb in the following formula: A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a deliberate confusion of similar-sounding words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. ... Word play is a literary technique in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the subject of the work. ... A Tom Swift book from the fourth series. ... Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books. ... Edward Stratemeyer (1862-1930) Edward Stratemeyer (October 4, 1862 - May 10, 1930) was an American publisher and writer of books for children. ... Howard R. Garis, (25 April 1873-6 November 1962), a native of Binghamton, New York, was an American author, most famous for his childrens book series Uncle Wiggily and the Bobbsey Twins. ... Pulp magazines (often referred to as the pulps) were inexpensive fiction magazines widely published from the 1920s through the 1950s. ...

"You should go clean the lawn," Tom said rakishly.

"I hate being on welfare," Tom said dolefully.

"Those knives are dangerous," Tom said pointedly.

"I dropped my toothpaste!" Tom said, crestfallen.

"I'm wearing my wedding ring," Tom said with abandon.

"I'm a boxer," Tom said flatly.

The British children's magazine The Beano had a long-standing tradition of items on the letters page being signed in this way, for example "yours wonderingly", a convention employed in many other English-language publications as well, continued by some to this day. Crest is the name of a very popular toothpaste which is now on the market in many countries, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France. ... The Beano is a British childrens comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. ... An anglophone is someone who speaks English natively or by adoption. ...

A variant makes plays on the language spoken by Tom:

"We'd better get out of here fast," Tom said in Russian.

"That's all for now," Tom said in Finnish.

"I like his beer," Tom said in Hebrew.

"It's your turn to change the diaper," Tom said in Urdu.

A variation of the Swifty is the Croaker, in which the pun centres on the verb, rather than the adverb; the name comes from the first in the list below : Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Urdu (اردو) is an Indo-European language which originated in India, most likely in the vicinity of Delhi, whence it spread to the rest of the subcontinent. ...

"I'm dying," Tom croaked.

"I think you're bluffing," Tom called.

"No, I liked it at its previous inclination," Tom recanted.

"We didn't like Gray Davis," Tom recalled.

"I need this nail in the wall," Tom hammered.

"I do," Tom avowed.

"I've changed my name to Patrick," Tom spat.

"We've got to get rid of that Danes girl!" Tom declared.

A more complicated version of the form combines the Swifty and the Crocker. Often called the Double Croaker and sometimes the Betty Crocker, this form can result in two puns on the same subject: Gray Davis 37th Governor of California Joseph Graham Davis Jr. ... The 2003 California recall was a special election permitted under California law. ... Betty Crocker, an invented persona and mascot, is a brand name and trademark of American food company General Mills. ...

"I know you're bluffing, because I have the other three aces," Tom called high-handedly.

or a single pun combining the verb and the adverb:

"Raise the pitch one half-note," Tom intoned sharply.

One can also pun on the name used outside the quotations, as in:

"I've invented a dance done entirely with the lower body," said Michael flatly.

"It reads the same forwards as backwards," said a pallid Rome.

"If at first you don't succeed..." And, hearing no answer, "If at first you don't succeed," tried Ray again.

In the most complex of these forms - often seen in shaggy dog stories - an entire sentence is a single pun, including both the in and out of quotation material. Usually, some set-up is required. For example, Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958 in Chicago) is an Irish-American step dancer whose parents were from County Mayo. ... A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or any other sequence of units (like a strand of DNA) which has the property of reading the same in either direction (the adjustment of spaces between letters is generally permitted). ... In its original sense, a shaggy dog story is an extremely long-winded tale featuring extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents that usually results in a pointless or absurd punchline. ...

"Now, Rome, you know God frowns when you make a pun. Now, what is the common name for an injury caused by repetitive motion?"

"Carpool tunnel," sinned Rome.