Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Hump day hoo-ha

I was doing the NY Times crossword yesterday and the theme was similes with animals. I thought it was great because I could type it up and use it in class. So how many of these do you know? I'm sure there are some little variations as to which word is used, ie clever vs cunning, but the sense is the same.

_______ as a post
_______ as an arrow
_______ as a pin
_______ as a fox
_______ as a bell
_______ as an ox
_______ as a kite
_______ as an owl
_______ as a rock
_______ as a dog
_______ as a bat
_______ as an eel
_______ as a judge
_______ as a doornail
_______ as a diamond
_______ as a drum
_______ as a whistle
_______ as a rail

I wasn't all that familiar with the eel, judge and diamond ones though I'd probably heard them before. Arrow, pin, dog and whistle don't make intuitive sense so I wonder where they came from. Answers in the comments.

What else? I had written here "hay farts". This is on the paper where blog ideas get jotted down. I can't recall what I wanted to say about it though. I must have had one, you know the kind, makes you think you're on a farm or something. They're not quite as gross as regular ones, but I don't know why.

13 comments:

tornwordo said...

Dumb, straight, neat, cunning, clear, strong, high, wise, solid, sick, blind, slippery, sober, dead, hard, tight, clean and skinny.

Birdie said...

I dunno, I've used "dumb as a rock" quite a bit. And "thick as a post," but it means the same thing. This list is pretty cool. It'd make a great game for making new similes.

dpaste said...

Oddly, I forgot about "sick as a dog". I could only think "loyal". I didn't remember "sober as a judge" either. I thought "sharp as a diamond" for some reason. And, paging Dr. Freud, I missed "skinny as a rail" as well.

Mel said...

I've always heard "deaf as a post".

And we made it into Le Village very late last night. I'll try to ring you later, once I've figured out my agenda a bit better.

Rox said...

I knew them all! WOOHOO ME!

Wouldn't a hay fart be all dry and kind of prickly?

mrs. anita perkins said...

is a hay fart anything like a "broccoli bomb"?

Patrick said...

I'd never heard 'hard as a diamond' though it does make sense.

Java said...

I've always been amused at "sober as a judge."

Birdie, "a rock" is solid; "a box of rocks" is dumb. It's that way in my little world anyway.

Why are whistles clean?

GayProf said...

Like Mel, I also heard deaf as a post, too (and dumb -- I guess posts are both deaf and dumb).

J-o-h-n-n-y said...

Ahhhhhh....learn something new every day,thanks...:)

travelling, but not in love said...

I always like 'toe-y as a roman sandal...' for when you're feeling, well, horny.

Lyvvie said...

I thought it was thick as a post (he wishes) and dumb as a doornail? But I've heard Dead as a Doornail too and didn't understand. Anthropomorphizing things is weird.

=Tamar said...

I've heard deaf as a post, sly as a fox, slick as a whistle (slick has the implication of wetness so it works well with whistle).