Some years ago, I was reading a book of short stories called Birds of America, by one of my favorite authors, Lorrie Moore, and happened upon my first Tom Swifty. In the story, "Community Life," a few of Moore's characters are librarians and pass their downtime at work thinking up good ones like, "I have to go to the hardware store, he said wrenchingly" or "There's never been an accident, she said recklessly."
The phrase "Tom Swifty" was... READ ON