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List of sayings

Posted by Smokey Stover on July 22, 2005

In Reply to: List of sayings posted by Susan on July 22, 2005

: I have a list of sayings with words missing, can anyone help me out with these?
: As ? as a crow. As patient as ? As reliable as a ??(two words) As scarce as ??
: As cold as a ?? As noisy as a ???(three words) As beautiful as a? As calm as a ? As sleepy as a ? As sensitive as a? As much use as???? As hot as ?
: As slow as? As agile as a ? As welcome as a ????? As tall as a ?

Most of the examples of what I would call a "saying" are sentences, although I know of no rule to that effect. I suppose I could be persuaded that a clause could be a saying, and I'm sure that others use the word to include phrases. The examples that Susan quotes are, of course, phrases, clichés in the form of similes. The test is to see if you know the cliché. And what if you do? Good writers and good conversationalists are supposed to avoid clichés. I probably should be glad that I know so few of them. Scarce as hen's teeth. Cold as a witch's tit. Hot as hell. Agile as a monkey. Patient as Job. Gentle as a lamb. Being as lazy as I am I can't avoid all clichés, but I give it at least a half-hearted try. SS

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