Chrysti The Wordsmith: Simile Cliches

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. Clean as a whistle easy as pie. Drink like a fish. Dumb as a fence post. These familiar throwaway expressions are called simile cliches and they're characterized by the lexical comparison of dissimilar things using the words like or as or than. Though the contemplation of simile cliches may initially seem duller than dishwater a closer inspection of these verbal formulations reveals some curious patterns. First many of them are marked by a little ration especially the repetition of an initial consonant. Right as rain. Pleased as punch. Cool as a cucumber. Good as gold. The attractive jingle of alliteration is responsible for the enduring popularity of dozens of similarly cliches. Second a preponderance of simile cliches refer to intoxication drunk as a skunk lit up like a Christmas tree high as a kite tight as a tick drink like a fish out like a light. Third many similes

seem at first glance nonsensical. For example how can one sweat like a pig when pigs don't perspire. Where's the logic in the simile. Happy as a clam. Ditto for Mad as a wet hen. Pleased as Punch and easy as pie. I'm Christi the wordsmith. If you're curious about the pedigrees of simile cliches the answers lie in any cliche dictionary on the shelves of your local library or bookstore. Good day for divorce Christie the wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.