Comparisons as Predictable as the Sunrise
The Pudding has analyzed 200,000 similes from popular fiction, highlighting their prevalence in literature. The interactive piece, designed by Shelly Tan, showcases various similes from classic to contemporary works. It emphasizes the unique characteristics of similes, particularly how they can convey a sense of emptiness or lack, as seen in the comparison of stone.
- ▪The Pudding analyzed 200,000 similes from popular fiction.
- ▪The interactive feature highlights similes from both classic and contemporary literature.
- ▪Stone is often used in similes to convey a sense of emptiness or lack.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Remember learning about figures of speech, like similes and metaphors, in your elementary-school English class? In this fun feature, The Pudding analyzed 200,000 similes from popular fiction. As cool as a cucumber. As hot as hell. “Once you start looking, you see them everywhere,” writes Russell Samora, “from the classics like Jane Eyre to last year’s darling Heart the Lover.” It’s impossible not to poke around this interactive piece, with design and illustration by Shelly Tan. As _____ as Stone Although stone has one dominant physical quality where it tops seven adjectives (hard/solid/impenetrable, etc.,), where a cat is defined by the range of things it does, stone is often defined by what it lacks.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Longreads.
