Looking at Onomatopoeia and Metaphor, Simile, Collective Nouns, and my Delusional Dictionary. For definitions of those, click here to read the introductory post to the series.

This week’s words: Fizzle, Free, Fleet, Fuck.

Onomatopoeia: Fizzle

‘Young Jimmy looked on with growing disappointment as his favourite whizz-bang firework, dampened by constant rain, sputtered and fizzled out with nothing but a few impotent sparks.’ Both the weak sound and the unimpressive visual effect are carried by ‘fizzle’ here. Why not see what you can come up with?

Simile: as free as a bird

What do you see when you read the word ‘free’? The obvious image is one of a bird in flight. But there must be other items and ideas that express freedom. ‘Free as a gossip’s tongue’, ‘free as a rambler’, ‘free as an artist’s mind’. These are ideas that stem from the idea of personal choice resulting in freedom. For, though a bird may appear ‘free’ as it flies, often it is slave to the winds through which it tries to navigate.

Similes to avoid because they’re clichés?

as free as a bird, free as the air.

Collective Nouns: We talk about someone being fleet of foot, so perhaps we could have a fleet of runners?

Fleet of bass, boats, cars, ducklings, foxes, lorries, ships, trucks, vehicles.

Delusional Dictionary: Fuck; a lazy spacing word for those without imagination; something apparently so worthless it’s insignificant; an act capable of self-performance; a catchall insult used by those with limited vocabularies.

For those learning English as a language, there’s a useful guide to pronunciation here, and Facebook hosts a great group you can join here.

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