Prepare to be a simile

As drunk as Davy's sow

According to Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), one David Lloyd, a Welshman who kept an alehouse at Hereford, had a sow with six legs, which was an object of great curiosity. One day, David's wife, having indulged too freely, lay down in the sty to sleep, and a group came to see the sow. David led them to the sty saying as usual "There is a sow for you! Did you ever see the like?" One of the visitors replied: "Well, it is the drunkest sow I ever beheld." The woman was ever after called 'Davy's sow'.

Poor soul.

LMAO

[I got the above from a book about phrases - very amusing!]
 
Ally C

You misspelled 'Smile'....



Don;t you hate it when you can't go back and fix a title?


:)
 
Well - currently my office looks like the results of an explosion in a public library and I have an odd feeling kind of like a man in the act of adultery who is surprised when the woman's husband wanders into the room, changes his trousers, passes a few idle remarks about the weather and leaves again. But I always feel this way on Mondays.
 
Grammar 101

Similies are LIKE chains of words that link one subject to another, unrelated, subject.
Example: His eyes were like hot pools of liquid lust which threatened me with joyful death for daring thier depths.

Metaphors are also chains of words that link one subject to another, unrelated, subject.
Example: His eyes were hot pools of liquid lust and threatened me with joyful death for daring their liquid depths.

Similies and metaphors are not interchangeable.

"I'm as horny as a bunny today," isn't a similie OR a metaphor. It's simply a way to describe how horny you are.

"I'm like a horny bunny," is a similie.
"I'm a horny bunny," is a metaphor.

Got it?
 
Re: Grammar 101

cymbidia said:
"I'm as horny as a bunny today," isn't a similie OR a metaphor. It's simply a way to describe how horny you are.

"I'm like a horny bunny," is a similie.
"I'm a horny bunny," is a metaphor.

Got it?

Well, don't you know how to ruin a good time? LOL

Actually, my Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers says you're wrong. It defines a simile as: a direct comparison between otherwise dissimilar things, using the word like or as.

One example they give is: "Beginning to testify in the courtroom, the defendant was as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs."

BTW, you spelled it wrong. Simile does not have an "I" after the "L" in either the plural or singular forms.

Got it? :p

[Edited by Mustang Sally on 05-14-2001 at 03:49 PM]
 
Re: Re: Grammar 101

Mustang Sally said:
Well, don't you know how to ruin a good time? LOL

Actually, my Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers says you're wrong. It defines a simile as: a direct comparison between otherwise dissimilar things, using the word like or as.

One example they give is: "Beginning to testify in the courtroom, the defendant was as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs."

BTW, you spelled it wrong. Simile does not have an "I" after the "L" in either the plural or singular forms.

Got it? :p[Edited by Mustang Sally on 05-14-2001 at 03:49 PM]
Literotica is, essentially, a writing site and similes are *basic* to writing. It made me cringe to see them being used in such a completely wrong manner. It made me embarrassed for those who would use them so incorrectly. I wanted to help.

Accordingly, i tried to impart the info i had to share in as basic a manner as i could by using very simple definitions to explain the use and differences of similes and metaphors. Sometimes imparting information in a basic manner involves leaving off bits. Such was the case with my post.

I erred only in not providing a complete and full definition for "simile". My information was correct, it was just not complete.

Got it? http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/tongue/yeltongue.gif

However, you're right about one thing: i *didn't* do spell-check before i posted. You nailed me on that part! Don't you know how to spot a misspelling! LOL
 
Y'all should read Hitchhiker's Guide again and stop worrying about the small stuff.
 
But

cymbidia said:
Literotica is, essentially, a writing site and similes are *basic* to writing. It made me cringe to see them being used in such a completely wrong manner. It made me embarrassed for those who would use them so incorrectly. I wanted to help. ...

I erred only in not providing a complete and full definition for "simile". My information was correct, it was just not complete.

No, you were quite complete. You erred in saying the word "as" does not a simile make. That was my whole point.

That and: If you're going to present yourself as an expert (or at least one who knows better), it's a good idea to make sure you're right.
 
Re: Grammar 101

cymbidia said:
Similies are LIKE chains of words that link one subject to another, unrelated, subject.
Example: His eyes were like hot pools of liquid lust which threatened me with joyful death for daring thier depths.

Metaphors are also chains of words that link one subject to another, unrelated, subject.
Example: His eyes were hot pools of liquid lust and threatened me with joyful death for daring their liquid depths.

Similies and metaphors are not interchangeable.

"I'm as horny as a bunny today," isn't a similie OR a metaphor. It's simply a way to describe how horny you are.

"I'm like a horny bunny," is a similie.
"I'm a horny bunny," is a metaphor.

Got it?

Simile:

"an explicit likening of one thing to another" (Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary )

"A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, the comparison being made explicit typically by the use of the introductory 'like' or 'as' ..." (American Heritage Dictionary)

Metaphor:

"a figure of speech by which a thing is spoken of as being that which is only resembles, as when a ferocious man is called a tiger" ( Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary )

"A figure of speech in which a term is transferred from the object it ordinarily designates to an object it may designate only by implicit comparison or analogy, as in the phrase 'evening of life.'" (American Heritage Dictionary)

You seem to be favouring the (American) figure of speech definition of a simile over the more direct and everyday (English) definition of a simile. Because the English version is "explicit" [definite and frankly stated] and not implicit [implied and not stated], then "I'm as slow as a tortoise" is an explicit likening of the speed of one thing [ie 'me'] to that of another [in this case the proverbial tortoise]. I hope that's as clear as crystal, and not as clear as mud ...

:)
 
Thanks Sally

I'd just like to add that I'm not a tortoise, therefore a tortoise and I are unrelated subjects (as given in my initial post).

Have a nice day.

:)
 
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