Re: "Useful languages"

Small correction to what I just sent:

>    This type of verbal wordplay is sometimes known as
>"Tom Swifties". There is a list of examples at the site:
>
>http://www.dfki.de/~becker/swifties.html
>
>This site also has links to other sites with lists of "swifties".
I just went back and tried the links --- I couldn't get them to
work. But putting "Tom Swifties" into Google turned up a number of sites
that do work, among them:

http://teenwriting.about.com/library/weekly/aa070801a.htm

which includes a definition of "Tom Swifties"
(it's apparently in the dictionary!)  and
an explanation of how the Tom Swift series of books
became connected with this particular type of verbal humor.

BTW, I am not aware of this type of wordplay in any
natlang other than English. Does anyone know of other
langs that do this?


Dan Sulani
---------------------------------
likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.

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