Analogies

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(With a hat tip to Dianne for forwarding this to us…here is another bit of silliness found floating across the internet.)

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays.

These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country.
Here are last year’s winners:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p. m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p. m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p. m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River .
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up

Are you Martha or Maxine?

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(A Hit Tip to Eideann for sending us this bit of silliness that she found roaming around the Internet. So…Are you Martha or Maxine?)

Are you Martha or Maxine?

* Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of an ice cream cone to prevent ice cream drips.

* Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete’s sake! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway!

* To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

* Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix. Keeps in the pantry for up to a year.

* When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won’t be any white mess on the outside of the cake.

* Go to the bakery! Hell, they’ll even decorate it for you!

* If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it’s still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant ‘fix-me-up.’

* If you over-salt a dish while you are cooking, that’s too bad. Please recite with me the real woman’s motto: ‘I made it, you will eat it and I don’t care how bad it tastes!’

* Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.

* Celery? Never heard of it!

* Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.

* The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I don’t.

* Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

* Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink! All your pains go away!

* If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dish washing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

* Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you.

* Don’t throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

* Leftover wine??????????? HELLO!!!!!!!

Wear Armour

| Posted in Archive, Inbox, Role Playing

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(For any of you who have heard the song “Sunscreen” … This was found circling the internet a while back. We’ve dusted it off and here it is for you to enjoy. Thanks to Owain ap Maredudd who seems to have written this gem.)

Wear Armour

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, armour would be it. The long-term benefits of armour have been proven by Dukes, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your sword. Oh, never mind.. You will not understand the power and beauty of your sword until it’s mushed into a broom. But, trust me, in twenty rounds you’ll look back at pictures of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to block a Duke’s axe by screaming in fear. The real blows that ends the fight will are apt to be the things that you never saw, the kind that blind side you around your shield.

Do one thing in every bout that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s ribcages. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

“Light.”

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The bout is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself and with that guy trying to cave your skull in.

Remember the compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old helms. Throw away your old swords.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know how to fight your opponent. The most interesting Counts are still surprised they won. The very most interesting Dukes didn’t know how to fight all their opponents either.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll win, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll be coronated, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll get knocked out in the first round, maybe you’ll be in finals. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. You blows are half chance. So are everyone else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but on your fallen opponent.

Read the rules of the list, even if you are illiterate.

Do not read the Order of Precedence. It will only make you feel outclassed.

Get to know your Crown. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your Barons. They’re your best link to your Crown.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because, as Crown, you’ll have see more geography and lifestyles than you ever imagined.

Live in Atlantia once, but leave before it makes you invulnerable to normal blows.

Live in the Northern Outlands once, but leave before you start accepting near misses as killing shots.

Accept some inalienable truths: Tournaments always run longer than expected. Feasts will be late. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, tournaments were reasonable, feasts were on time, and children respected the Crown.

Respect your Crown.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a squire. Maybe you have a consort. But it’s you standing on the list field.

Don’t mess too much with your helm or by the time you’re 40, it will be 40 gauge.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the armour.

– Owain ap Maredudd

Silly Signs 2: Son of Silly Signs

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(Here’s another oldie-but-goodie. We’ve received it a few times here at the Silliness Lair, so we would just like to generally thank the folks who’ve sent it our way. Enjoy these silly signs, and ponder the true meaning of “Chopin Liszt.”)

Silly Signs 2: Son of Silly Signs

  • On an Electrician’s truck: ‘Let us remove your shorts.’
  • On a Scientist’s door: ‘Gone Fission’
  • On a Taxidermist’s window: ‘We really know our stuff.’
  • Outside a Hotel: ‘Help! We need inn-experienced people.’
  • At an Auto Body Shop: ‘May we have the next dents?’
  • At a Music Store: ‘Out to lunch. Bach at 12:30. Offenbach sooner.’
  • On a Music Teacher’s door: ‘Out Chopin.’
  • On the door of a Music Library: ‘Bach in a min-u-et.’
  • In a Podiatrist’s window: ‘Time wounds all heels.’
  • On a Butcher’s window: ‘Let me meat your needs.’
  • On another Butcher’s window: ‘Pleased to meat you.’
  • At a Used Car Lot: ‘Second Hand cars in first crash condition.’
  • Outside a Radiator Repair Shop: ‘Best place in town to take a leak.’
  • In a Beauty Shop: ‘Dye now!’
  • On the door of a Computer Store: ‘Out for a quick byte.’
  • In a Dry Cleaner’s Emporium: ‘Drop your pants here.’
  • At a farmer’s field: ‘The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges.’

The Physics of Hell

| Posted in Archive, Inbox, Science

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(We’re pretty sure that Joe was the one who originally sent this to us. Whoever it was, we would like to send them a huge Hat Tip. For the record, we’re not certain that this bit of silliness that has been circling the internet is true…but it should be, darn it! )

The Physics of Hell

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid term. The answer was so “profound” that the professor shared it with colleagues, which is why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it.

The question was: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell. Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, “…that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,” and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The student received the only “A” given.

Top 15 Signs of a Bad Renaissance Festival

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(Let’s just say that some of us here in the Lair of Silliness have worked at Renaissance Faires, so this is particularly amusing to us. Also…is it just us or would this festival have to me in Los Angeles? Thanks to whomever it was that sent this to our inbox. Sorry. We lost your name. Enjoy!)

Top 15 Signs of a Bad Renaissance Festival

15) The castle and village are made entirely of legos.

14) Turkey leg bears striking resemblance to Cocker Spaniel leg.

13) Festival activities include “Ye Olde Wet T-Shirt Contest.”

12) Eight minute drum solo in the middle of “Greensleeves.”

11) “Belly up to the bar, me lad, for some grilled mahi-mahi and fresh California roll!”

10) Ye Old Glassblower makes nothing but crack pipes.

9) The meade is served in a coconut shell with a Fizzy straw.

8) Everyone seems to have attended the Kevin Costner School of British Accents.

7) Mosh pit follows the wandering minstrels.

6) Guillotine exhibit closed due to pending litigation.

5) Friar Tuck’s pager keeps going off.

4) The Disgusting Ogre is merely an unshaved Marlon Brando.

3) “Tarry, wench, I prithee! Wouldst thou Macarena?”

2) Merlin the Magician’s only trick is “Got your nose!”

and the Number 1 Sign You’re at a Bad Renaissance Festival…

1) Jousting Crips & Bloods.

Literature Combined

| Posted in Archive, Inbox, Uncategorized

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(This is another oldie but goodie that has made its into our inbox recently. Enjoy!)

From the Washington Post Invitational Report from Week 312, in which readers were asked to combine the works of two authors and provide a suitable blurb.

Second Runner-Up:
“Machiavelli’s The Little Prince”–
Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic children’s tale as presented by Machiavelli. The whimsy of human nature is embodied in many delightful and intriguing characters, all of whom are executed. (Erik A., Tempe, Ariz.)

First Runner-Up:
“Green Eggs and Hamlet”
Would you kill him in his bed?
Thrust a dagger through his head?
I would not, could not, kill the King.
I could not do that evil thing.
I would not wed this girl, you see.
Now get her to a nunnery. (Robin P., Arlington)

And the Winner of the Dancing Critter:
“Fahrenheit 451 of the Vanities”-An ’80s yuppie is denied books. He does not object, or even notice. (Mike L., Burke)

Honorable Mentions:

“2001: A Space Iliad”-
The Hal 9000 computer wages an insane 10-year war against the Greeks after falling victim to the Y2K bug. (Joseph R., Washington)

“Curious Georgefather”-
The monkey finally sticks his nose where it don’t belong. (Chuck S., Woodbridge)

“The Hunchback Also Rises”-
Hideously deformed fellow is cloistered in bell tower by despicable clergymen. And that’s the good news … (John V., Washington)

“The Maltese Faulkner”-
Is the black bird a tortured symbol of Sam’s struggles with race and family? Does it signify his decay of soul along with the soul of the Old South? Is it merely a crow, mocking his attempts to understand? Or is it worth a cool mil? (Thad H., Warrenton)

“The Silence of the Hams”-
In this endearing update of the Seuss classic, young Sam-I-Am presses unconventional foodstuffs on his friend, Hannibal, who turns the tables. (Mark E., Washington)

“Portnoy’s Choice”:
A man is forced to choose between his right and left hand. (Tom W., Gaithersburg)

“Jane Eyre Jordan”:
Plucky English orphan girl survives hardships to lead the Chicago Bulls to the NBA championship. (Dave P., Bowie)

“Nicholas and Alexandra Nickleby”-
Having narrowly escaped a Bolshevik firing squad, the former czar and czarina join a troupe of actors only to find that playing the Palace isn’t as grand as living in it. (Sandra H., Arlington)

“Catch-22 in the Rye”-
Holden learns that if you’re insane, you’ll probably flunk out of prep school, but if you’re flunking out of prep school, you’re probably not insane. (Brendan B., Great Mills)

“Tarzan of the Grapes”-
The beleaguered Okies of the dust bowl are saved by a strong and brave savage who swings from grapevine to grapevine. (Joseph R., Washington)

“Where’s Walden?”-
Alas, the challenge of locating Henry David Thoreau in each richly detailed drawing loses its appeal when it quickly becomes clear that he is always in the woods. (Sandra H., Arlington)

“Looking for Mr. Godot”-
A young woman waits for Mr. Right to enter her life. She has a looong wait. (Jonathan P., Garrett Park)

“Rikki-Kon-Tiki-Tavi”-
Thor Heyerdahl recounts his attempt to prove Rudyard Kipling’s theory that the mongoose first came to India on a raft from Polynesia. (David L., Washington)

“As I Lay Winesburg, Ohio”-
William Faulkner and Sherwood Anderson tell the unforgettable story of one man’s ambitious quest to nail every woman in his home town. (Grady N., New Bern, N.C.)

Silly Facts

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Although these facts have not been verified, they are still funny. Unfortunately, the identity of the kind soul who sent them our way has been lost. So, thank you…whoever you were.

Stuff You Really Should Know

The longest one-syllable word in the English language is “screeched.”

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”.

Almonds are members of the peach family.

The symbol on the “pound” key (#) is called an octothorpe.

The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.

Ingrown toenails are hereditary.

The word “set” has more definitions than any other word in the English language.

“Underground” is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters “und.”

The longest place-name still in use is for a hill in New Zealand: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitnatahu

Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.

Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.

Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint – no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.

There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, “therein”: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

John Larroquette of “Night Court” and “The John Larroquette Show”, was the narrator of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.

The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.

To “testify” was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.

Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning “containing arsenic.”

Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian seal for that reason.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.

Conceived in Ignorance

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(This is another of those e-mails that circle the internet. Someone sent it to us a while back and we’re finally getting around to sharing it with you all. We hope that you never have to come up with answers to this sort of question.)

Conceived in Ignorance

The following are all replies that have been included on British Child Support Agency forms in the section for listing father’s details.

“Regarding the identity of the father of my twins child A was fathered by [name removed]. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of child B, but I believe that he was conceived on the same night.

I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my child as I was being sick out of a window when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can provide you with a list of names of men that I think were at the party if this helps.

I do not know the name of the father of my little girl. She was conceived at a party [address and date given] where I had unprotected sex with a man I met that night. I do remember that the sex was so good that I fainted. If you do manage to track down the father can you send me his phone number? Thanks.

I don’t know the identity of the father of my daughter. He drives a BMW that now has a hole made by my stiletto in one of the door panels. Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in this area and see if he’s had it replaced.

I have never had sex with a man. I am awaiting a letter from Pope confirming that my son’s conception was immaculate and that he is Christ risen again.

I cannot tell you the name of child A’s dad as he informs me that to do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmic implications for the British economy. I am torn between doing right by you and right by my country please advise.

I do not know who the father of my child was as all squadies look the same to me. I can confirm that he was a Royal Green Jacket.

[name given] is the father of child A. If you do catch up with him can you ask him what he did with my AC/DC CDs?

From the dates it seems that my daughter was conceived at Euro Disney maybe it really is the Magic Kingdom.

So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did a programme about eggs earlier in the evening. If I’d have stayed in and watched more TV rather than going to the party at[address given] mine might have remained unfertilised.

Not in the OED

| Posted in Archive, Inbox

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Well…these aren’t in the Oxford English Dictionary…

The Washington Post publishes a yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. The following were some of the winning entries:

Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.
Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent
Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.
Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you.
Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions.
Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.
Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your Soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.
Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist.