[Ads-l] _Smile_ (was Why not cut your stick? 1813)

[Wilson Gray]

In one of his works, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Twain wrote that Tom "smole a smile
..." When I was a pre-teen, this use of the non-word, _smole_, instead of
the expected "smiled," struck as one the funniest instances of word-play in
the English language, far superior to the use of the banal non-word,
_snuck_ in place of "sneaked."
However, in reading Stephen's cite - to paraphrase the old song, Soul Man,
"When I start reading, I just can't stop!" - I came across,
"... but on her, our sweetie Willie _smole_. (smiled.)"
Feet of clay. Oh, well.

-- 
- Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org