Brain Teasers
"Hurry and Solve This, #2," Said Tom Swiftly.
Language
Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.Language
Here are more Tom Swifties for you to complete.
A Tom Swifty is a play on words. Tom's sentence is quoted, and the description of the way he is said to speak is a pun. Both meanings of the pun could be true. For example: "I'm working as fast as I can, but the boat is still taking on water," said Tom balefully. Balefully refers to his tone of speaking, and also to his action (bailing).
Choose one of the listed words below to fill each blank in the following sentences:
1."Much of the glass got stuck in me when I jumped through that window," Tom said ___________.
2. "I have a gift for you," said Tom __________.
3. "So far, I've never had any tooth decay," said Tom ___________.
4. "This pencil really needs sharpening," said Tom __________.
5. "Anybody should be able to remove their own appendix; I certainly can," said Tom __________.
6. "I have multiple personalities," said Tom both __________ and ___________.
And your word choices are:
delightedly
pointlessly
cuttingly
precariously
frankly
painfully
presently
condescendingly
earnestly
A Tom Swifty is a play on words. Tom's sentence is quoted, and the description of the way he is said to speak is a pun. Both meanings of the pun could be true. For example: "I'm working as fast as I can, but the boat is still taking on water," said Tom balefully. Balefully refers to his tone of speaking, and also to his action (bailing).
Choose one of the listed words below to fill each blank in the following sentences:
1."Much of the glass got stuck in me when I jumped through that window," Tom said ___________.
2. "I have a gift for you," said Tom __________.
3. "So far, I've never had any tooth decay," said Tom ___________.
4. "This pencil really needs sharpening," said Tom __________.
5. "Anybody should be able to remove their own appendix; I certainly can," said Tom __________.
6. "I have multiple personalities," said Tom both __________ and ___________.
And your word choices are:
delightedly
pointlessly
cuttingly
precariously
frankly
painfully
presently
condescendingly
earnestly
Answer
Answer:1. painfully (pane-full)
2. presently (present)
3. precariously (pre-caries)
4. pointlessly (point-less)
5. cuttingly (cutting)
6. frankly (Frank Lee) and earnestly (Earnest Lee)
According to Wikipedia, the name comes from the Tom Swift series of books, produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In this series, the young scientist hero underwent adventures involving rocket ships, ray-guns and other things he had invented.
A stylistic idiosyncrasy of this series was that the author, "Victor Appleton," went to great trouble to avoid repetition of the unadorned word "said." Since many adverbs end in "ly" this kind of pun was originally called a Tom Swiftly, the archetypal example being "'We must hurry,' said Tom Swiftly." This evolved to just "Tom Swifty", the term we use today.
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Comments
These are very fun to ponder. I got all but one this time. I still don't understand number 3.
Nifty Swifty!
Nifty Swifty!
It's not the literal meaning but the way it sounds. Dental caries is the scientific term for tooth decay or cavities. Pre means before, so pre caries would be before getting cavities, which sounds like the word "precariously," which actually means dangerous or uncertain.
I loved this! It really made me think. I groaned when I saw the answer to number 3 (which I didn't get!) - very clever!
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