# Comparaciones metafóricas/ Metaphorical Comparisons



## Artrella

*Hola a todos!  Me interesaría saber las comparaciones metafóricas más populares en cada país.  Nosotros en Argentina tenemos por ejemplo estas:*

"Largo como esperanza de pobre" (=long as a poor's hope)

"Tiene menos onda que un renglón" (= someone who is not friendly at all, or is boring)

"Perdido como turco en la neblina" (= lost as a Turkish in the middle of the fog)

"Más loco que una cabra" (=more crazy than a goat)

"De acá para allá como bola sin manija" (= completely lost, not knowing what to do or where to go)

*Hello everybody!  I'd like to know if you have "metaphorical comparisons" in your countries as we have in Argentina.  We have these popular ones (above), amongst others.  Does this happen in your countries?  Which are the most popular ones, in case you have them?*


Gracias!!
Thank you!!


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## Zephyrus

Hola Art,
Aquí va mi contribución de las frases que usamos en Perú 

Más perdido que huevo en ceviche (plato peruano hecho a base de pescado crudo y limón)
Estar templado como cuerda de guitarra (ésta es antigua)


y de hecho hay muchas más, pero no las recuerdo     y otras que sí pero son un poco subiditas   

Zephyrus


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## Like an Angel

Artrella said:
			
		

> "Tiene menos onda que un renglón" (= someone who is not friendly at all, or is boring)


O "Tiene menos onda que rulo de estatua"


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## Alundra

Aquí van algunas españolas que ahora recuerdo. 

Tienes más cuento que Calleja (debío ser un escritor de cuentos)

Llegas más tarde que las palmas a Bogarra (un pueblo que en sus fiestas patronales, llegaron las hojas de palma tradicionales tres días después)

Más loco que una cabra ¡¡También lo usamos por aquí!!!!

Sabe más que Lepe (debió ser un niño muy listo)

Alundra (luego si me acuerdo pongo algunas más....


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## araceli

Puente roto (porque nadie lo pasa).
Al pedo como cenicero de moto (algo inútil).
Más duro que rulo de estatua (algún envarado).


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## belén

Hola, algunas que recuerdo:

Ser más corto que un arado
Ir más justo que la piel de la nariz
Ser más basto que unas bragas de esparto
Estar más feliz que un tonto con un lápiz
Ser más listo que el hambre
Ser más feo que pegarle a un padre


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## Artrella

"Preocupado como Adán en otoño".  (= Worried as Adam in autumn)

"Desorientado como Adán en el día de la Madre" (Disoriented as Adam in Mother's Day)

"Apretado como pedo de visita".  (Tight as a visitor's/ guest's fart)


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## Benjy

sly as a fox. i'm lacking in imagination this evening


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## gotitadeleche

Sick as a dog.
Happy as a clam at high tide.
Wild as a little Indian.
Stubborn as a mule.
Mad as a hornet.
Mad as a wet hen.
Silly as a goose.
Strong as an ox.
Ugly as sin.


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## garryknight

OK, off the top of my head:

As mad as a hatter
As quick as a wink
As thick as two short planks
As thick as thieves
As wise as an owl
As cool as a cucumber
As crazy as a loon
As deaf as a post
As easy as pie
As nutty as a fruitcake
As poor as a church mouse
As solid as a rock
As drunk as a lord
As pissed as a newt
As bright as a button
As cute as a button
As thin as a rake
As white as the driven snow
As drunk as a lord
As fit as a fiddle
As black as pitch
As black as the ace of spades
As dead as a dodo
As dead as a doornail
As clear as a bell
As clear as day
As clear as mud
As deaf as a post
As flat as a pancake
As fresh as a daisy
As snug as a bug in a rug (more EEUU than UK)
As happy as a sandboy
As happy as Larry (arrived in UK from AUS)

As far as I know... that's all I can remember


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## LV4-26

sourd comme un pot (deaf as a jug)

myope comme une taupe (short-sighted as a mole)
long comme un jour sans pain (long as a breadless day)
[ça nous est tombé dessus] comme la vérole sur le bas-clergé breton
[it struck - _or anything bad that suddenly happens_]as pox on the Breton low-clergy.
malin comme un singe (cunning as a monkey)
clair comme de l'eau de roche (clear -_easy to understand_- as rock water)
clair comme de l'eau de boudin (clear as blood-sausage water - _means the opposite of the one just above  )_
clair comme du jus de chaussette (clear as sock juice - _same as above_)
gai comme un pinson (merry as a finch)
sauter comme un cabri (to jump around as a young goat)
excité comme une puce (excited as a flee)
emm*rdant comme la pluie (annoying as rain)
malade comme un chien (ill/sick as a dog)

Here are those which first came to my mind.


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## germinal

As happy as a dog with two tails
As barmy as a brush  (as mad as a hatter)  (crazy)
As mad as a March hare (Crazy)
Crazy as a fox (not so crazy!)
Like a bull in a china shop (Clumsy)

Still thinking...


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## germinal

As blind as a bat
As pretty as a picture
as sound as a pound
As angry as a wasp
As big as a barn door
As easy as shelling peas
As cold as charity
As fit as a butcher's dog
Like (as fast as) Greased lightning
Like (as fast as) shit off a shovel
like (as fast as) a bat out of hell
As welcome as a fart in a lift

Buenas noches a todos, bonne nuit à tout le monde & goonight everyone.


Germinal


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## LV4-26

germinal said:
			
		

> Like a bull in a china shop (Clumsy)


You may have noticed that there are similar comparisons in different languages.
This one, for example :
Comme un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine (like an *elephant* in a china shop)


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## Like an Angel

germinal said:
			
		

> As happy as a dog with two tails


 
Yes!! In Spanish this one is: *Más contento que perro con dos colas*.-


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## la grive solitaire

This is a link to a wealth of Irish expressions: http://www.daltai.com/grammar/similes/


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## gotitadeleche

As busy as a beaver.


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## LV4-26

gotitadeleche said:
			
		

> As busy as a beaver.


Which one is the busiest in English ? a beaver or a bee ? 
eg "_a busy bee"_
In French I bet we've got something with bees too. But we also have :
_un travail de_ _fourmi_ (an ant's work ?)"un travail de fourmi" is long and tedious and demands obstinacy. Whereas we associate bees with rather quick and efficient work.


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## LadyBlakeney

Os ofrezco algunas perlitas desde España:

 (perdonadme, compatriotas y amigos latinoamericanos, si repito alguno, pero con tantos es difícil no hacerlo)

*Te gusta (algo) más que a un tonto un pirulí (o un lápiz).* - You like sth. a lot, more than dumbs like candies (or pencils).

*Estás como un elefante en una cacharrería*. - You are clumsy as an elephant in a tin shop.

*Estás como un pulpo en un garaje.* - You are disoriented like an octopuss in a parking.

*Tienes más cara que espalda.* - You are very cheeky, so your face's bigger than your back.

*Estamos como piojos en costura*. - There's a lot of people and very little space, like louses inside a seam.

*Estamos como sardinas en lata.* - The same, packed like sardines.

*Eres más malo que un dolor de muelas*. - You're bad as a toothache.

*Es más feo que pegar a un padre.* - He is uglier that hitting your father.

*Eres más majo que las pesetas.* - You are as nice as our former Spanish currency.

*Eres más tonto que hecho por encargo.* - You're dumber than one made like that under request.

*Eres malo como un pecado*. - You're evil as a sin.

*Estoy más liado que la pata de un romano.* - This is a difficult one; when you are very busy, in Spanish you say that you're "liado" (tangled), so this expression says that you're tangled like the leg of a roman (referring to the sandals with strips up to the knee used by Roman soldiers).

Si se me ocurren más, volveré.


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## gotitadeleche

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Which one is the busiest in English ? a beaver or a bee ?
> eg "_a busy bee"_
> In French I bet we've got something with bees too. But we also have :
> _un travail de_ _fourmi_ (an ant's work ?)"un travail de fourmi" is long and tedious and demands obstinacy. Whereas we associate bees with rather quick and efficient work.




Good question. We also have one that goes "as busy as a one-armed (wall)paper hanger".


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## Eustache

acá estan las que se usan en Costa Rica

Más largo que miada en avioneta
Más lengo que la quijada de arriba
Más agarrado (avaro) que mono en un ventolero
Más papista que el Papa
Con más paja (hablada) que un político
Con más miedo que burro en lancha

Saludiviris Art!


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## lainyn

Hehe, are there any metaphorical comparisons in English that don't use "like" or "as". Shouldn't we be calling these similelical? .


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## Helicopta

Some more...
Knee high to a grasshoper = small/young child
Mad as a fish = crazy
Mad as a box of frogs = crazy
Like a fish out of water = uncomfortable/totally out of place
Like a dog with a bone = enthusiastic/excited
Like the cat that got the cream = smug

And some more vulgar ones... You have been warned!
Face like a smacked arse = red faced/angry
Like a dog with two dicks (in a street full of lamp posts) = over excited
Cold as a witch's tit = very cold
Like shit to a blanket = won't come unstuck
Like a one legged man in an arse kicking contest = useless
Like a pig in shit = very happy
Like flies around shit = people around someone or something popular
Hung like a donkey = well endowed
Bangs like a shithouse door in the wind = has sex enthusiastically
Built like a brick shithouse = very big (muscular) person
Like a baby's arm = large penis


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## garryknight

As cold as ice (there was a song with this as the title)
As plain as a pikestaff (don't ask)
As red as a beetroot (when embarrassed)
As ugly as a bag of spanners (even worse if you use ugly spanners)


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## LV4-26

garryknight said:
			
		

> As cold as ice (there was a song with this as the title)


I don't know of any song with this title but I do know a song with this in the course of the song :

_My baby says she's trav'ling on the one after 909_
_I said move over honey I'm travelling on that line_
_I said move over once, move over twice_
_Come on baby don't be cold as ice._

rouge comme une tomate
rouge comme une pivoine (as red as a peony)
laid comme les sept péchés capitaux (as ugly as the seven capital sins)


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## Artrella

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> rouge comme une tomate




Oh! We say the same here "rojo/a como un tomate" (=embarrassed)

"roja como un camarón" (red as a shrimp) = sunburnt

"más aburrido que chupar un clavo" (a crashing bore >> literally: "more boring than to suck a nail" (??)

"Pesado como collar de melones" (heavy as a melons necklace )

"Transpirado como testigo falso". (sweated like a fake witness)

"Más aburrido que bailar con la hermana".(more boring than to dance with your sister)


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## garryknight

Artrella said:
			
		

> "more boring than to suck a nail" (??)


We'd say "As boring as watching paint dry".


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## lainyn

Or as I've more often heard, "*As exciting as *watching paint dry" (with dollops of sarcasm, of course)


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## Artrella

*Frog strangler *  - Raining really hard.


This is from a Texas friend of mine... It is not a comparison exactly but it is really strange for me!!


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## germinal

Artrella said:
			
		

> Wow Garry...THAT_ IS_ BORING!!!


 


Artrella,    ¿No hay una expresión español: 'es como oyendo llover' no exactamente por expresar aburrimiento pero algo parecida?

Además, creo que puedo equivocarme con frequencia en gramática y ortografía Y quiero ayuda, si puedes de vez en quando.

Saludos,   Germinal


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## beatrizg

Arti, yo tengo muy mala memoria para estos dichos.
Solo recuerdo tres que se usan con frecuencia en mi tierra. 
Ahi van, por si de algo sirven:

mas canson que una aplanadora de pedal.
mas feliz que marrano estrenando lazo.
mas veloz que pedo de bruja.


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## Artrella

germinal said:
			
		

> Artrella,    ¿No hay una expresión* en * español: 'es como oyendo llover' no exactamente por *para  * expresar aburrimiento pero algo parecid*o* ?
> 
> Además, creo que puedo equivocarme con freq* c  * uencia en gramática y ortografía .  Y quiero ayuda, si puedes de vez en q*c*uando.
> 
> Saludos,   Germinal




Hola Germinal, no conozco esa frase... puede ser que haya alguna que se le parezca, pero no puedo pensar en alguna ahora...

Cuando necesites ayuda... acá estoy!! Si puedo...cómo no!  

Te hice unas correcciones en tu texto, espero que te ayuden.

Saludos!!


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## ixoxe

Falso como beso de suegra.


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