Analogies: Fun - Dramatic - Doom & Gloom how do you use them?

[Anthem]

Today I read an analogy (maybe it's a simile) from @UpInTheAir  about his aerial drone photography being as dead as a coffin nail in winter.

Got me thinging about analogies - some are inspiring and hope-filled, others heavy with despair, and many just make you wonder; where did that come from, how does it apply, tell me more... Maybe it's a southern thing (southwest, central plains? whatever geographic bucket folks want to put Oklahoma), a turn of phrase, contextual sayings, analogies, similies - they are a big part of the conversation around here.

Today is gonna be more fun than a jackknifed chicken truck, says a buddy of mine when he knows it's gonna be a tough day. Lately, my staff has been like herding cats with a mouse loose in the room, a good one from my manger. Finding someone for this position was easy as hot butter on bread, yesterday from a business owner buddy that usually has a hard time finding help. 

 What analogy are you using to describe your business activity?

• How did you respond to the last few years? (as focused as a hound on a racoon)
• What are you using to describe your current situation? (like driving through the swamp with no tires)
• What analogy describes what you expect for the months ahead? (as clear as driving through the fog with nothing but the brights on)

[Candlestore]

@Anthem 

From January till March we are as "Slow as molasses in January"  being a seasonal business.

For the rest of the year "It's like watching TV through a solid wood door and not a glass Door"

[Anthem]

That’s a new one for me, I’ll be working a solid wood door into a conversation soon. 

[Candlestore]

Dad use to say it when he was trying to see something, and someone would stand in right in front of him..... "You make a Better Door than a window!"

lol

[UpInTheAir]

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@Anthem wrote:

Today I read an analogy (maybe it's a simile) from @UpInTheAir  about his aerial drone photography being as dead as a coffin nail in winter.

Got me thinging about analogies - some are inspiring and hope-filled, others heavy with despair, and many just make you wonder; where did that come from, how does it apply, tell me more... Maybe it's a southern thing (southwest, central plains? whatever geographic bucket folks want to put Oklahoma), a turn of phrase, contextual sayings, analogies, similies - they are a big part of the conversation around here.

Today is gonna be more fun than a jackknifed chicken truck, says a buddy of mine when he knows it's gonna be a tough day. Lately, my staff has been like herding cats with a mouse loose in the room, a good one from my manger. Finding someone for this position was easy as hot butter on bread, yesterday from a business owner buddy that usually has a hard time finding help. 

 What analogy are you using to describe your business activity?

• How did you respond to the last few years? (as focused as a hound on a racoon)
• What are you using to describe your current situation? (like driving through the swamp with no tires)
• What analogy describes what you expect for the months ahead? (as clear as driving through the fog with nothing but the brights on)

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I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and most of our analogies and similes would be unprintable. But I've worked with Southerners in my other job for about 17 years and have picked up a lot of their colloquialisms. I also live in a rural part of New York now where a lot of the same phrases are used (including "y'all," which is analogous to "youse" in Brooklyn, at least when I was growing up).

For example:

• When looking forward to the busy season, farmers and others in seasonal businesses might condition their predictions with something like "if the creek (or river) doesn't rise" or "the good Lord and [some unpredictable thing] willing."
• If the season starts slowly, one might say "We're off and running like a herd of turtles."
• If the season starts briskly, then the farmer or proprietor might say that he or she is busier than "a termite in a sawmill," "a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest," or "a one-armed paperhanger." That last one seems universal as I also heard it when I lived in New York City.

The "coffin nail" analogy, however, comes from the second paragraph of "A Christmas Carol in Prose" by Charles Dickens:

"I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade."

Richard

[Anthem]

Oh ya @UpInTheAir, those are all very familiar, some commonly used phrases in our neck of the woods. 

Thanks for the background on the coffin nail analogy. I’ve always been terrible remembering lines and phrases from the 🎥. Just like the who-sang-that-song game, I lose every time. 

[UpInTheAir]

I don't believe the phrase is in any of the movie versions. It's the first sentence of the second paragraph of the book.

The first paragraph begins with, "Marley was dead," and ends with, "Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail." The second paragraph sets forth Dickens' belief that a coffin nail would make a better object than a door nail for the "dead as" simile.

Richard