I’ve been sick this week, and daytime tv is driving me slowly, but surely, insane. As I explained to someone earlier today, this thing is lingering like a… lingering thing. And then it occurred to me to wonder about other lingering similes. Writers so often struggle to compare one lingering thing to another. Besides the usual selection (like a fog, like a cold, like a hangover), some lingerings stand out, like a vegetarian at an NRA banquet.
Here they are, some random “lingering like a…” similes pulled from the web:
lingering — like a train passing dysfunction junction
lingering like a fog on the lowlands
lingering like a just extinguished candle
Lingering like a ghost that / Was determined to finish that song.
lingering like a toxic cloud
lingering like a series of smoke signals
lingering like a train’s lonely whistle on the night wind
lingering like a river smooth / Along its grassy borders
lingering like a dreary January afternoon with no sun in a dimly lit room
lingering like a shallow wind
lingering like a well loved guest
lingering like a fart in a hot car
lingering, like a woman?s pique when she is disappointed in her lover
lingering like a great big elephant that has been sleeping next to the Prime Minister
lingering like a benevolent ghost dog protector
lingering, like a village maiden
lingering like a salsa stain on a white shirt
lingering like a running canker in the nation?s psyche
lingering like a fine tasting cigarette that he doesn’t want to burnout
lingering like a ticking time bomb in the archives
lingering like a buoy in the lake
lingering like a retarded parakeet in an unlatched cage
lingering like a lizards dead kiss
Lingering like a stolen god / That threatens to destroy our sin
lingering like a balloon nearly out of helium
lingering like a moth in a flood light
lingering like a small river through an ancient town
lingering like a palm print on the city’s face
lingering like a raincoat across my teeth
lingering like a whale at a buffet
Some similes are best forgotten, lest they linger like an anteater at an all-you-can eat ant bar. Like a copy of Police Academy 5 on the video store shelves. Like a grungy teen at a hemp rally. Like a one legged ring-tailed lemur at that place where they give free stuff to one-legged ring-tailed lemurs. Like a flock of ravenous vultures circling over the carcass of this blog entry.
OK, I’m done. Your turn.