"She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli..."

Where would writers be without metaphors and analogies. They're as useful as an enormously useful thing. When you run out of one yourself, there's always this list to choose from, a collection of analogies compiled by U.S. high school teachers from their students' essays. Sample:

• 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.
• Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
• The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
• The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
• She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
• She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

[Hat tip Stephen Hicks]