What are the motifs in The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket?

Language and literature are recurring ideas in the story. The author uses wordplay frequently throughout, sometimes creating absurd passages made up of long, repeated lists, such as when he describes every ingredient in the sticky mixture that Klaus makes to slow the spinning wheels of the runaway wagon, or the ridiculous pledge of the Snow Scouts that has an adjective for every letter of the alphabet. At other times, he uses a single nonsense word uttered by Sunny to mean a long and complicated explanation.