"Let me know when the Bishop makes his move," said Tom, obliquely.

For the gentleman who called in looking for a word describing the sound the wind makes through pine trees, you suggested "susurration." The entire time you were leading up to the word, I expected you to give him "soughing." Mostly because he described the sound as a moan or groan, then switched it to a sustained "whoosh."

I've seen 'soughing' a lot to describe that sound, but oddly, I don't think I've ever HEARD it spoken. I was surprised to find it rhymes with "sow" (as in female pig, not plant) and not "stuff."

Best Tom Swiftie I ever heard was:

"The prisoner is coming down the stairs", Tom said condescendingly.

Re: CASA, architecture vs. architectural

This reminds me of a battle I fight fairly often: in a stage production, is the person in charge of the singing and playing the musical director or the music director? I maintain that music director is correct, as the fact that the person is in charge of music does not necessarily mean that he or she has talent. If I understand CASA correctly, it is an association of students of Chicano architecture, and the name is not intended to imply that the student is Chicano. The two adjectives Chicano and Architectural could be construed as both modifying Student, whereas Chicano Architecture is somewhat less ambiguously a building style rather than a student's ethnicity. Neither is flawlessly clear, and Grant is right, you have to go with what sounds right to you, or what makes the music(al) director happy.

Peter

PS: It occurs to me that I hit a problem when I get to the artistic director: art director is not the same thing. Oh, my.

"Death panels will decide that these people will die," said Tom fatalistically.
"How about an after-dinner drink?" offered Tom cordially.
"I'm not going to evangelize the rest of the neighborhood," concluded Tom distractedly.
"That stuff will spoil this juniper beverage," allowed Tom marginally.
"We should support this part of the bill," advocated Tom proportionally.
"I'm studying the Confederate officer who surrendered at Appomattox," announced Tom generally.
"You sound just like my dog," snarled Tom roughly.
"I never watch more than one-third of a hockey game," explained Tom periodically.
"I'm not dead," retorted Tom quickly.
"I do feel sorry for myself and my family," leaked Tom porously.
"We have a block of salt on the bar," declared Tom publicly.
"I'm getting a little cross," warned Tom rudely.

Must be bedtime.

EmmettRedd said:

"The glass is half full," Jill said, optimistically. "No, it's half empty," Jack pessimisticly said.

Not that it has anything to do with the subject at hand, but here's the .sig file I've been using on Usenet lately:

A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?…or like this?

… and the downsizing engineer says, "Looks like you have twice as much glass as you need."

"A word that contains all five vowels? And I suppose you want those vowels to appear in alphabetical order?" asked Tom facetiously.

As for the CASA question:
How about the American Historical Society or the Americal Psychological Association?

Post edited 10:35PM – Feb-10-10 by Shelterdogg

"We'll get across the Sahara when Hell freezes over," Tom said dryly.
"We'd better reach the summit of McKinley before that big storm moves in," Tom said expeditiously.

Post edited 10:35PM – Mar-14-10 by johng423

Tom Swifties – I can't stop thinking about 'em. I think I'm addicted. The adverb-free version seemed to be more of a challenge, so that's what I've working on:

"Three days in the belly of a fish!" Jonah wailed.
"Don't let the string go slack," Tom taught.
"Better than a diamond – he gave me an oil well!" she gushed.
"He thinks his car is so fast, it can break the sound barrier," Tom mocked.
"Strike three!" the umpire called out.
"The price of gold is up; the price of silver is down," Tom announced.
"Wow! Look at that jet!" the pilot leered.
"I got the first round draft pick," proclaimed the manager.
"All right, I'll go to Ash Wednesday services again this year," Tom relented.
"Her perfume makes me sneeze," Tom accused.
"If you do a web search but spell it wrong, the results are pretty funny," she giggled.
"I know the rule: 'A second reference requires a second footnote,' " Tom recited.
"All you've done is doodle while I was baking cookies," she snickered.
"Damn dogs!" Max cursed.
"I'm the one arranged the party for the inmates," Tom confessed.
"You can't mark outside the boxes on your answer sheet," the proctor informed them.
"I don't need a drug screening," the player protested.
"I just got a second glass of that sweet red wine," Rosie reported.
"I gave her so much in the divorce, I can list her as a deduction on my tax return!" exclaimed Tom.
"Something must have happened right before the car accelerated," Tom presumed.
"Just remember this one rule: You can wear white only between Memorial Day and Labor Day," Blanche summarized.

I need help with French: so close, yet so far . . .
"I can't spell the French word – just write 'appetizer,' " Tom ordered.
"This isn't just your average creme-filled donut stick," Pierre eclaired (uh, I wanted to use "declared").

Can't choose – or maybe need a new idea . . .

1a "Back then, this whole area was flat," Tom explained.
1b "I used to fly a lot… but not any more," Tom explained.

2a "Cows don't say much either," Tom mumbled.
2b "There's no such thing as a 'daddy' cow," Tom mumbled.

What about if it's within the quotation itself? I wrote it down anyhow.
"She convinced me to trade my smooth leather handbag for one with a nappier surface, and now I'm persuaded."

Last real one:
"There's the exit," Tom pointed out.
(That's my cue . . .)