Showing posts with label dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dead. Show all posts

Monday, April 12, 2010

Cliché: dead as a doornail

meaning: lifeless or useless like a nail used in a door (example 1, example 2, example 3)


Rewrite 1: dead as a coffin nail
Rewrite 2: lifeless as a wood screw
Rewrite 3: dead as a deep winter's night
Rewrite 4: dead as a double shot in a bullseye
Rewrite 5: dead as a confederate dollar
Rewrite 6: dead as a tooth on the dentist's floor
Rewrite 7: dead as a Martian dune
Rewrite 8: dead as a basketball after the buzzer


Comments: In the first couple of rewrites I tried to stick with the heart of the cliché. Then I tried to provide some uses for "dead" beyond the strict meaning of death - and there are many! How many ways can you recast this classic cliché knowing how many more ways you can use the word "dead"?


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Working with more similes
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Similes Dictionary
Elyse Sommer (Hardcover - Apr 1988)