Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair
Actual metaphors used in high school writing.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that
had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh
Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and
breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer
without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come
from experience, like a guy who went blind
because he looked at a solar eclipse without one
of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes
around the country speaking at high schools
about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse
without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.
coli and he was room temperature Canadian
beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like
that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years
had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity
came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a
formerly surcharge free ATM.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond
exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement
like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The
whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like
when you're on vacation in another city and
Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair
after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement,
just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed
lovers raced across the grassy field toward each
other like two freight trains, one having left
Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the
other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35
mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban
neighborhood with picket fences that resembled
Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like
two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob
informant and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a
mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left
out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law
Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind
you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the
metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck
that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a
land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and
extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog
at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers
chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he
thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage
truck backing up.
26. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had
forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.
27. She walked into my office like a centipede
with 98 missing legs.
28. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you
accidentally staple it to the wall.
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that
had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh
Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and
breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer
without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come
from experience, like a guy who went blind
because he looked at a solar eclipse without one
of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes
around the country speaking at high schools
about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse
without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.
coli and he was room temperature Canadian
beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like
that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years
had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity
came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a
formerly surcharge free ATM.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond
exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement
like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The
whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like
when you're on vacation in another city and
Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair
after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement,
just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed
lovers raced across the grassy field toward each
other like two freight trains, one having left
Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the
other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35
mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban
neighborhood with picket fences that resembled
Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like
two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob
informant and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a
mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left
out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law
Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind
you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the
metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck
that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a
land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and
extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog
at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers
chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he
thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage
truck backing up.
26. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had
forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.
27. She walked into my office like a centipede
with 98 missing legs.
28. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you
accidentally staple it to the wall.