Monday 5 April 2010

An invitation to flirt with similes and metaphors

My preoccupation with similes and metaphors has heightened after reading the almost unusual ones used by Nevine in her writings. This has created in me a burning desire to try and jot down some similes and metaphors from my immediate vicinity which can be local. Many a times I find stale similes which have almost become cliched. Similes like "As light as a feather," "As pure as milk" have been around since god knows when.

Let them be.



I thought why don't I ask you to jog your Grey cells and try some similes and metaphors from your immediate environment. For example I just brushed my teeth and the thought that crossed my mind was: Sometimes thoughts have to be squeezed like paste from a paste tube. I don't know whether this is original but it definitely seemed better than the cliches.

So readers why don't you try something NOW and put them down as comments. It would be peculiar to your physical surroundings and YOURS. And I hope this has been created by you and is not a cliched one!

Shall we . . .

Image courtesy: Internet

21 comments:

  1. 1. Sometimes love and lust flicker alternately like the small green lights in my modem.

    2. Thoughts dusty and musty like old books in a library

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh This is SOO difficult... like this... all of a sudden... I come from Steveroni and wrote 'hapyy Easter from this easter part of the world...
    The more you are on the east, the better Easter you'll live, or...

    I am as crazy as a goat (Spanish cliche... sorry!)
    Smiles Similes

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  3. I have heard of people saying "toothpaste moments"..

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  4. Ah Dulce, you are a poet. The Easter one sounds good ah. Crazy as a goat!!!

    Silver:

    "toothpaste moments" yes but thoughts and toothpaste??

    Where is your simile, Silver dear?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, I am very bad at stuff like this, but this is a quote from one of my "sunset" post:
    "As it shifts out of sight, the birch trees and farms in my view become dark silhouettes on a canvas of silver. Like a gentle painter, the sun leaves behind brush strokes of warm colours on the evening sky for a short instance, before submerging us in dense darkness yet again, without any promises to return..."
    Does that qualify or only barely?;)
    I hope you had a lovely Easter,
    xoxo
    Zuzana

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmm...can;t think o any good original one...long back i came across a wonderful allegory - well sort of...and its apt for the weather these days too:
    "There was so much humidity in the air that photosynthesis threatened to become audible"

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  7. My mind like a butterfly flitted from one happy thought to another,
    avoiding sad ones like detecting fake notes as would a banker
    the filtration done made me full
    like kidneys filling the bladder,
    I will burst if I don't share it, I must nature's call answer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, Susan! I'm so flattered that you should mention my name... truly! And what an exciting adventure. I have to tell you I generate similes and metaphors when I'm writing like there's no tomorrow, but when I'm prompted I become mute. Still... I'll try some dorky experiments:

    Right now, I just came home from a long day at work and I'm feeling as chipper as a bumble bee around a lavender bush (hey, I do have a lavender bush in my front yard and the bees are going crazy over it)!

    And I'm getting ready to start making my husband a dinner that will make him want to savor me for dessert (oooh, sorry, it's a bit racy but, oh well)!

    And here's one from my true, deep mind: I need to find myself in pages, yellowed by time, of my neglected diary, and extract some inebriating potion from those meaningless words.

    Nice one, Susan! Really cool idea for a blog post, as are all of your ideas! :-)

    Nevine

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  9. And here's a great simile from you, Susan, about yourself. I just read it in your reply to my comment on your previous post:

    I wait for your comments like a school student who waits for the last bell to ring.

    That's an image I can truly identify with, not as the student, but as the teacher. Even I wait with baited breath for that last bell to ring. Ingenious!

    Nevine

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  10. Oh Susan, I do feel so out of place. I cannot think of a single one. Perhaps I am too tired. I will have to come back to this.

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  11. ummmm could not come up with many even though i have been racking my brain since yesterday night...
    These came out after many failed attempts:

    'He felt the opportunity slip right out of his hands like a slippery soap bar'
    'Her mood changed like the shifting sandunes of Rajasthan'
    ' Voice as soothing as moonlight on a full moon night'

    p.s. All the readers here have come up with such lovely ones wow!!I feel inspired ;)
    ( I am still on it thinking for some more... this is difficult but so very interesting! )
    A tremendously likeable post Susan!!
    :D

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  12. Прочитала с интересом!! Спасибо!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Where do you get such unique ideas for blog posts susan. Lovely.

    Though, Im not really good in this, I would definitely love to try. Here we go..

    1.I woke up today morning and my mind was as fresh as the mint leaves in the farmers' market (uzhavar sandhai as we call it in TN)

    2.It was month end and I was penniless. I checked my bank account and my salary was credited. I was all smiles like a kid who just got her favorite candy and a dozen balloons.

    Cheers,
    Sukanya

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  14. Here's another one

    Her constant bickering itched my mind as a mosquito's bite.

    She was paranoid about everything, almost as if her own words would bury her.

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  15. Price hikes and salary have the same relation as blotting paper and ink :D

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  16. trying to figure my way out of this dilemma, I felt as lost as a stranger stuck in a new city without a roadmap...

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  17. Well, you need to just look upto to Navjyot Siddhu for the quirkiest similes.

    1. Wickets are like wives, you never know which way they will turn.

    2. The ball whizzes past like a bumblebee and the Indians are at sea.

    3. Indian team without Sachin is like giving a Kiss
    without a Squeeze.

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  18. hehe.. i am cheating there, aren't i? soorry.. neante..toothpaste or moments.

    Just dropping by to check on you.. hope your week had been a good one, dear :)

    hugs,
    ~Silver

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  19. HeY!

    Where have you gone so long!?

    Missing ya!

    HUGS!

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  20. Hey sweet. How have you been? Is everything ok?

    Warm thoughts,
    ~Silver

    ReplyDelete

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