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be”...“My dad used to laugh like a big bird, but now he only quarrels with mom.”
To judge this year’s Great Simile Contest I set aside the thought of drafting professional writers or teachers. Instead I called in three friends who have been avid and eclectic readers for the past 65 years. They knew a good simile when they hit one.
Their, judgment confirmed a theory I have been teaching all along —that the best similes come from keen observation of commonplace things. Second place in Section One went to Constance B. Sanborn of DeFuniak Springs, Fla., for frustration “as dense as a teen-ager's perception when you are explaining ‘why not.’” Now that’s dense.
We had a tie for second place in Section Two. Elizabeth A. Mason of Greenville, S.C., came up with “Her giggle spread like broken beads on a hardwood floor.” Patricia S. Gray of San Antonio offered, “A smile wreathed her face like lace on a valentine.” Nice.
Thank you, editors, for forwarding entries so promptly. Thank you, teachers, for the experience you gave your charges. And thank you, participants, for playing so cheerfully with the good clay of English prose.
Copyright 1994
Universal Press Syndicate
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