Similes Pro versus Con

[ferret88]

Similes are indeed often overused, resulting in tired cliches. Metaphores certainly make a stronger assertion in their description. However I like my recently-coined simile which I use to describe my teething daughter: she's drooling like a carsick cat.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by marichiko

... Let's come up with fresh and exciting cliche's! ...

Isn't that an oxynoron?

I thought a simile was just a metaphor using "like" or "as".

How about "a face like a goalie on a dart team"?

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.

Ah, but, Grasshopper, you must read further:

The simplest and also the most effective poetic device is the use of comparison. It might almost be said that poetry is founded on two main means of comparing things: simile and metaphor. We heighten our ordinary speech by the continual use of such comparisons

Your analogy is quite brilliant, if I may say so. Fruit flies like a banana sounds like something Gomer Pyle might say until you listen to the subtext of the words. "Time flies AS an arrow" vs "Fruit flies AS a banana" is mere nonsense, but the play on words using "like" is quite clever.

I like you despite myself, Maggie.

[JayMcGee]

But, tbh, mariachick, don' t you think that cloning threads here will unravel the very fabric of the cellar?

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by marichiko

...but the play on words using "like" is quite clever. I like you despite myself, Maggie.

Wel, I can't take personal credit for that one; it's a classic illustration of the non-local nature of parsing English grammar often attributed to Marx.

Groucho, that is.

But then...

Originally Posted by Pierre Bayle (1647-1706)

There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found in a book, than in being the first author of the thought.

Originally Posted by Marx

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

I cannot convey to you my relief upon reading these words. The lack of an adequate reading light within my dog has caused me any number of difficulties that I have been loathe to mention for fear of being targeted by a demonstration of naked PETA protesters. I am barely tolerated in my neighborhood as it is.

It is high time that science presents us with the transparent dog, so that we may hole up with our favorite book in the sanctity of Man's (and Woman's) Best Friend. Those of us with a creative bent might even scribble doggerel from such a place of refuge, and publishers would chase after with pooper scoopers to collect our witticisms.

I do believe that I am indeed the Queen of Flattened Fauna and my karma has run over my dogma at last. The hound of heaven that had been baying round my door now lies nickle thin in my driveway. A penny for my thoughts, indeed! It seems like they are a dime a dozen, now a days - "cloned", as some might have it.

@Jay McGee: Is this the part where I'm supposed to chant "Resistance is futile..." ?

Are you related to Simon, BTW? You seem to have an inordinate fascination with staying warm.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Poetry is, first of all, a communication - a thought or message conveyed by the writer to the reader.

That's a crock of shit. You might as well use the enigma code, as a poem, for conveying a thought or message.

If I write a poem and you read it......you decide what my message was. How do you know if you're right? How do I know if the message you got is the one I meant?
If each reader of a poem takes away a different message, what they got from reading it, then it's not a communication...it's entertainment.

OK, back to the similies....I feel better.

[SteveBsjb]

OOOOOOOH! There already was a clone thread for this! Haha! Good one!

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by marichiko

The lack of an adequate reading light within my dog has caused me any number of difficulties...

"Possible cross-thread solution", she said doggedly.

Originally Posted by SteveBsjb

OOOOOOOH! There already was a clone thread for this! Haha! Good one!

Checkmate, Steve! THIS is the clone thread and YOU replied to it. Gottcha!

[SteveBsjb]

You're allowed to respond to clone threads! I think you mis-read what Flint posted that day a while back. Or he wasn't clear. He meant you don't have to respond, because they are mostly created for the quick chuckle, not for a stream of responses. But, any post that gets hits is a good post, to me. It's almost more fun if a clone thread does better than the original! Like this one probably will.

Oh, and i knew this was the clone thread. Look at the post I put on Flint's thread when I didn't realize this thread existed. You beat me to it!

Originally Posted by SteveBsjb

You're allowed to respond to clone threads! I think you mis-read what Flint posted that day a while back. Or he wasn't clear. He meant you don't have to respond, because they are mostly created for the quick chuckle, not for a stream of responses. But, any post that gets hits is a good post, to me. It's almost more fun if a clone thread does better than the original! Like this one probably will.

Oh, and i knew this was the clone thread. Look at the post I put on Flint's thread when I didn't realize this thread existed. You beat me to it!

Well, you folks need to get your rules straight! *pouts* Certain individuals have joined this board and proceeded to give us lectures about our verbose posting style; denounced the use of our beloved collection of smilies, gathered just for us by the tireless UT; insinuated that we are either a bunch of meanies trying to be big shots on the Cellar; or if we're nice, calling us "helpie helpertons."

We have also been lectured about the WAY THINGS ARE DONE on other message boards and been told that certain individuals aren't going to change their posting style just for US. After all, its just the Internet, right?

Well, if its "just the Internet", why all the lecturing, hmmm? Why not just make one sentence posts, avoid the use of smilies, clone to your heart's content, and put the folks who have difficulty with these things on "ignore"?

That way, we could all get on with our lives and avoid these tedious discussions over the correct way to post to a message board.

Now that the first shock has worn off, I actually find the concept of clone threads amusing, and using @ to direct a post at someone can be a convenient form of shorthand at times. Maybe I'm the only "ancient" who has made such strides in evolution, but even this small sign of progress should cheer you somewhat.

So, why don't we move on to other things? And welcome to the Cellar.

[SteveBsjb]

Feel better now?

Better than what? Better than a fried egg? Better than a polar bear? Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better?

Should I rate my feelings on a scale of 1 - 110? I know! I could post a poll on how much (or less) better I feel at the moment!

I'm getting silly. I'll feel better if I go lay down inside my dog with a nice book and read myself to sleep. Yeah. Think I'll go do that.

[Cheyenne]

All I can say is... I can not believe you cloned a thread! I shall alert UT and have you banned!!



Oh wait... "lay down inside my dog" how does one do this??