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...
|
|