A simile, as my students are quick to tell me, is when you’re comparing something to something else and you use “as” or “like.” It’s a comparison of something by way of mentioning something else, and the “‘as’ or ‘like’” makes it very clear what you’re up to.
“Simile” is the title of one of my favorite poems from Line Dance (Word Press 2008) by Barbara Crooker:
My son showd me his paper from remedial
English; he was supposed to fill in the blanks.
Cool as a __________.
Smooth as a __________. Neat as a _____.
He came up with: angry as a teakettle
and when I …read more

Here’s what readers have been saying in a very busy week in which we learned, or learned again, that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism:
Norah on whether the term “mild autism” is still in use and Larry on the “pop psychology typical of wired [magazine].”
Ongoing discussion about stem cell therapy as an autism treatment, and about the death of Shirley Meade at a camp after being given the wrong medication.
Jaz on what it’s been like in Illinois on a 49-year-old younger brother who was “on a waiting list for a home for 20 years after contacting an advocate he …read more