Simile

Similes are often compared (or contrasted) with metaphors. Similes compare two things explicitly, in English often using the words "like" or "as", whereas metaphors often create an implicit comparison (i.e., saying something "is" something else). Thus Odysseus is a weasel is a metaphor, while Odysseus is like a weasel is a simile. The second school considers metaphor to be the broader category, in which similes are a subcategory — according to which every simile is also a metaphor (but not vice-versa). These two schools reflect differing definitions and usages of the word "metaphor" and regardless of whether it encompasses similes, both agree that similes always involve a direct comparison word such as "like" or "as". The word simile derives from the Latin word similis ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word metapherein ("to transfer"). Author and lexicographer Frank J. Wilstach compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924. == Uses ==

In literature Sometimes similes and metaphors function in much the same way, as in "O My like a red, red rose" in the Robert Burns poem "A Red, Red Rose": this could be turned into the metaphor "my love is a red rose" without confusing the reader. However, because similes are explicit, it is possible for them to be more elaborate than metaphors while remaining comprehensible,::As when a prowling Wolf, ::Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey, ::Watching where Shepherds pen their Flocks at eve ::In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure, ::Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the Fold: ::. . . . . . . ::So clomb this first grand Thief into God's Fold • William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: ::How far that little candle throws his beams! ::So shines a good deed in a naughty world. ::Stopping her from going was like trying to catch a bullet with a pair of tweasers, impossible. (the same process can happen in everyday conversations, either with the metaphor or the simile coming first). In comedy Similes are used extensively in British comedy, notably in the slapstick era of the 1960s and 1970s. In comedy, the simile is often used in negative style: "he was as daft as a brush." They are also used in a comedic context where a sensitive subject is broached, and the comedian will test the audience with a response to a subtle implicit simile before going deeper. The sitcom Blackadder featured the use of extended similes, normally said by the title character. For example: ::Baldrick: I have a plan, sir. ::Blackadder: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one? ::Baldrick: Yes, sir. ::Blackadder: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University? == In languages other than English ==

Given that similes emphasize affinities between different objects, they occur in many cultures and languages. Arabic Sayf al-Din al-Amidi discussed Arabic similes in 1805: "On Substantiation Through Transitive Relations". Vietnamese Thuy Nga Nguyen and Ghil'ad Zuckermann (2012) classify Vietnamese similes into two types: Meaning Similes and Rhyming Similes. The following is an example: {{interlinear|indent=3 Whereas the above Vietnamese example is of a rhyming simile, the English simile "(as) poor as a church mouse" is only a semantic simile. == See also ==