SOURCE: “The Transferred Epithet,” in Linguistic Inquiry, Vol. IV, No. 1, Winter, 1973, pp. 92-4.

[In the following essay, Hall analyzes Wodehouse's use of the transferred epithet, contending that it lends a comic effect to his fiction.]

I balanced a thoughtful lump of sugar on the teaspoon.

(P. G. Wodehouse, Joy in the Morning [1946] Chapter 5)

Hold on a minute—there must be something wrong here. Lumps of sugar aren't thoughtful, are they? What the narrator must mean is something like “I thoughtfully balanced a lump of sugar on the teaspoon,” or perhaps “I was thoughtful, and I balanced a lump of sugar on the teaspoon.” Couldn't this be the result of a momentary lapse on the part of the author, or even an unintentional transposition effected by an inattentive typesetter?

No, there is nothing wrong here. Wodehouse obviously meant what he wrote, for there are a number of other instances of this type of construction in his stories. Here are several other examples, gathered more or less at random, from tales of Wodehouse's early, middle, and late periods:

He was now smoking a sad cigarette and waiting for the blow to fall.

(Uneasy Money [1917], Chapter 9)

He uncovered the fragrant eggs and I pronged a moody forkful.

(“Jeeves and the Impending Doom” [ca. 1926])

Such, then, is the sequence of events which led up to Bertram Wooster […] standing at the door […] surveying the scene before him through the aromatic smoke of a meditative cigarette.

(Thank You, Jeeves [1934], Chapter 2)

It was the hottest day of the summer, and though somebody had opened a tentative window or two, the atmosphere remained distinctive and individual.

(Right Ho, Jeeves [Amer. title Brinkley Manor; 1934], Chapter 17)

She tapped Bruton Street with a testy foot.

(“The Amazing Hat Mystery” [ca. 1936])

As I sat in the bath-tub, soaping a meditative foot …

(Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit [1954], Chapter 1)

Lord Ickenham proceeded to Beach's pantry where, with a few well-chosen words, he slipped a remorseful five-pound note into the other's hand.

(Service with a Smile [1962], Chapter 7)

As he turned from waving a genial hand at the departing car …

(ibid., Chapter 9:5)

Her substantial foot, moreover, had begun to trace coy arabesques on the turf.

(Galahad at Blandings [American title The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood; 1964], Chapter 6:2)

The first thing he did was to prod Jeeves in the lower ribs with an uncouth forefinger.

(Much Obliged, Jeeves [American title Jeeves and the Tie that Binds; 1971], Chapter 4)

We might cite other examples, if space permitted. This particular stylistic device, however, is not particularly frequent in Wodehouse—by no means does it occur as often as, for instance, the incongruous simile or the juxtaposition of learned expressions and colloquialisms. It occurs, normally, not more than once or at the most twice in any one short story or novel.

In traditional rhetorical analysis, this type of expression is termed the “transferred epithet”. In the instances cited, we might interpret the adjective, in the construction Adjective + Noun, as equivalent to an adverb transferred from its position modifying the verb of the clause: e.g. He was now smoking a sad cigarette = he was now sadly smoking a cigarette; waving a genial hand = genially waving a hand; or to prod Jeeves with an uncouth forefinger = to prod Jeeves uncouthly with a forefinger. Wodehouse has, of course, plenty of instances of Adverb + Verb constructions of the normal type, e.g. His brow was furrowed, and he was moodily bunging stones at a flower-pot (Right Ho Jeeves, Chapter 7), or I mused, thoughtfully champing a kipper (Joy in the Morning, Chapter 1). These, in their turn, involve a reference to the subject of the verb in each instance, as suggested in the first paragraph. These relationships could, if it were desired, be formulated transformationally, with the appropriate little rules and imaginary intermediate stages, to give such a sequence as He was sad + He was smoking a cigarette r He was sadly smoking a cigarette r He was smoking a sad cigarette.

However, such a classification and formulation would not suffice to explain the peculiar comic effect of these transferred epithets. Notice the use of the indefinite article in the singular, or of no article at all in the plural, in all of them. This makes them parallel to constructions involving non-transferred epithets, all of which refer to emotions or attitudes on the part of some person as expressed by a physical action, expression or characteristic, e.g. He uttered a surprised snort, She gave a sardonic laugh, I could not suppress a contemptuous sneer. Some of Wodehouse's turns of phrase are similar enough to this latter type to be difficult to classify as involving transferred or nontransferred epithets, such as:

He shimmered out, and I took another listless stab at the e. and bacon.

(“Jeeves and the Impending Doom”)

A moment later, I was out in God's air, fumbling with a fevered foot at the self-starter of the car.

(Right Ho, Jeeves, Chapter 17)

Semantically, Wodehouse's constructions with transferred epithet are simply a slightly incongruous extension of the type of reference involved in those with nontransferred epithet which we have just cited.

In at least one instance, Wodehouse pushes the use of the transferred epithet one step further, bringing it into direct relation to the grammatical subject of the sentence, but preserving its reference to the emotions of the person immediately concerned:

It was plain that I had shaken him. His eyes widened, and an astonished piece of toast fell from his grasp.

(Jeeves in the Offing [American title How Right You Are, Jeeves; 1960], Chapter 2)

The validity of this analysis, placing the stylistic effectiveness of Wodehouse's transferred epithets on the semantic rather than the grammatical plane, is further shown by a sentence attested in the Ithaca [N.Y.] Journal (June 12, 1972, p. 1), à propos of facilities lacking but very much needed in the Tompkins County Hospital: We need these acute facilities. This sentence brought at least one reader up short, because here—in contrast to the Wodehousean examples we have been discussing—acute does not refer to the emotions, state of mind, etc., of any person, but rather to the need for the facilities which is inherent in the situation. An alternative interpretation (suggested by my son Philip A. Hall) is that acute here means “designed to take care of cases showing acute need”, e.g. intensive-care-units. In either case, what jars here is not the grammatical structure, but the difference in reference between this sentence and the others just analyzed.