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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley

0 posted 2001-05-26 07:09 PM


Similes from 1923

I was going through some old books today and found the following clipping from a newspaper. I tried to find out what city or state it was from by the ads on the backside of the article but can't come up with an exact answer. I have a feeling it's Pennsylvania though…here's the article:

quote:

The best similes for 1923 have been selected by Frank J. Wilstach, author of "A Dictionary of Similes," published by Little, Brown and Co. It is Mr. Wilstach's annual contribution to lexicography and include the following, reprinted from the New York Times:

Your eyes are like loot from a cathedral - Eleanor Hollowell Abbott.

Fleeting as a ferry boat shoeshine - Franklin P. Adams.

He felt like the symptoms on a medicine bottle - George Ade.

So thin she could fall through a flute and never strike a note - Anonymous

Homely as Mrs. Devil - Anonymous

Dumb as the man who thought a football coach has four wheels - Anonymous

He ran for third base like a wholesale bootlegger pursued by revenuers - Anonymous

About as much privacy as a statue in the park - Anonymous

Some men are like the Einstein theory - nobody at home understand them - Anonymous

Her mind is like a sundial; it records only pleasantness - Anonymous

Her hair is like an exploded can of tomato soup - Anonymous

Distressing as an amateur cocktail - Anonymous

No more privacy than a Broadway waffle cook - Anonymous

Lonely as a bachelor looking at Niagara Falls in June - Arthur Bear

Harmless as filtered water - Thomas Beer

His heart knocked like a Ford car trying to climb he roof of the Methodist church - Gelett Burgess

Vainly as one strikes at water with a sword - Witter Bynner

Freckles, like rust spots - Willa Cather

The face of the old world looks as though it had shaved itself with a broken beer bottle while standing on a barrel in a cyclone. - Benjamin D. Casseres

She looks like a fire in a pawnshop, fair covered with diamonds and watch chains - F.P. Dunne

His voice was like a buzzsaw striking a rusty nail - Arthur Folwell

Her head poised like a parachute - Zona Gale

Felt as out of place as an Elk at Oxford - Percy Hammond

Eyes slit like wise, smiling old buttonholes - Fanny Hurst

Face like a three-parts deflated football - A.S.M.Hutchison

Pathetic as an octogenarian messenger boy - Charlotte Le Beau

Discouraged as a frog catcher in the desert of Sahara - Don Marquis

Needful as the sun - George Moore

One star, serene and still, hangs like an altar light - Maurice Morris

Beautiful as one read rose in a garden of lilies - Robert Nichols

Out of date as yesterday's shave - George Jean Nathan

Hospitable as a hungry shark to a swimming missionary - Frederick O'Brien

The gray marsh clouds are tangled like angleworms in a pail - Elliott H. Paul

A husband, like unto religion and medicine, must be taken on blind faith - Helen Rowland

Wistful as a letter lying unclaimed - Sara Saper

About as thrilling as swimming lessons would be to a middle-aged goldfish - H.C. Witwer





Hope you enjoyed them!


© Copyright 2001 Poet deVine - All Rights Reserved
Severn
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704

1 posted 2001-05-26 08:12 PM


Her hair is like an exploded can of tomato soup - Anonymous

ROTF. I love this...and I actually like the homely as Mrs Devil also...just something about it..

thanks Sharon...our English language sleuth..

K

Romy
Senior Member
since 2000-05-28
Posts 1170
Plantation, Florida
2 posted 2001-05-29 10:36 PM


Thanks for sharing these Sharon!  I love similes and these are pretty unique!

Debbie

Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
3 posted 2001-05-29 11:21 PM


I like the 'wistful as a letter lying unclaimed'...sigh.......I could write about that...
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