Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 16:54:14 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: fw: metaphorically speaking
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

I suspect this is from a Washington Post Style Invitational Contest, the =
presence of Chuck Smith of Woodbridge, VA is the clue.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28444-2002Jul5.html for =
the current contest)

mjw

>>> ronkean at juno.com 07/10/02 04:37PM >>>

----- Forwarded Message -----

Analogies and Metaphors Found in High School Essays (or maybe not)
______________________________________________________

Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides
gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
--Sue Lin Chong, Washington

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like
underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
--Chuck Smith, Woodbridge

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.
--Joseph Romm, Washington

She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to
dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door
open
again.
--Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling =

ball wouldn't.
--Russell Beland, Springfield

McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled
with
vegetable soup.
--Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring

>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.
--Roy Ashley, Washington

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
--Chuck Smith, Woodbridge

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
--Russell Beland, Springfield

Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access
T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch at ung but gets T: \flw.quidaaakk/ch at ung by
mistake.
--Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills

Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
--Unknown

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
--Jack Bross, Chevy Chase

The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry
them
in hot grease.
--Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring

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. travelling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at
4:19
p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
--Jennifer Hart, Arlington

The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a
Dr
Pepper can.
--Wayne Goode, Madison, AL

They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that
resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
--Paul Kocak, Syracuse NY

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also

never met.
--Russell Beland, Springfield

The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet =
of
metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
--Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria

The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
--Unknown

He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East
River.
--Brian Broadus, Charlottesville

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.
-- Sandra Hull, Arlington

The door had been forced, as forced as the dialogue during the interview =

portion of "Jeopardy! "
--Jean Sorensen, Herndon

Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
--Jerry Pannullo, Kensington

The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this
plan
just might work.
--Malcolm Fleschner, Arlington

The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for
a
while.
--Malcolm Fleschner, Arlington

"Oh, Jason, take me! " she panted, her breasts heaving like a college
freshman on $1-a-beer night.
--Bonnie Speary Devore, Gaithersburg

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.
--John Kammer, Herndon

Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell
butter
from I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
--Barbara Collier, Garrett Park

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes =
just
before it throws up.
--Susan Reese, Arlington

It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had =
ever
seen before.
--Marian Carlsson, Lexington

The knife was as sharp as the tone used by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
(D-Tex. )
in her first several points of parliamentary procedure made to Rep. Henry

Hyde (R-Ill. ) in the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the
impeachment
of President William Jefferson Clinton.
--J. F. Knowles, Springfield

The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg
behind
her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
--Jennifer Hart, Arlington

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.
--Paul J. Kocak, Syracuse

The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric
fan
set on medium.
--Unknown

It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power

tools.
--Brian Broadus, Charlottesville

He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if
she
were a garbage truck backing up.
--Susan Reese, Arlington

She was as easy as the "TV Guide" crossword.
--Tom Witte, Gaithersburg

Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH

cleanser.
--Chuck Smith, Woodbridge

She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was
room-temperature
beef.
--Brian Broadus, Charlottesville

She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
--Jonathan Paul, Garrett Park

Her voice had that tense, grating quality, like a first-generation
thermal
paper fax machine that needed a band tightened.
--Sue Lin Chong, Washington

It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the

wall.
--Brian Broadus, Charlottesville