Like a mackerel

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:09 PM -0800 3/5/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Is no one else familar with the old cliche' "dead as a mackerel"?
>
>   JL

True enough, and it seems as though other popular
similes include "cold as a mackerel" and "dry as
a mackerel", while "limber as a mackerel" goes
unattested. So all in all it sounds as though the
Pussycat dancer's athleticism around the pole may
have misled Kubicek's interlocutor as to her
relevant "goodness".

LH

>
>Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the
>mail header -----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Charles Doyle
>Subject: Re: Like a mackerel
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>It would be useful to know whether it's
>desirable or opprobrious for a woman to be a
>"mackerel"!
>
>--Charlie
>___________________________________________________
>
>
>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 08:51:56 -0800
>>From: Jonathan Lighter
>>Subject: Re: Like a mackerel
>
>>"A cold fish," sounds like.
>>
>>  JL
>>
>>neil wrote:
>>
>>Again, from Loren D, Estleman, Å’StressÂ', 1996
>>[Robert Hale, London, 1997, 54]:
>>
>>"I dated an erotic dancer from the Pussycat
>>that could fold both feet behind her neck."
>>
>>"She any good?" Kubiceck asked.
>>
>>"Like a fucking mackerel."
>>
>>Can someone elucidate that last comment for me?
>>
>>--Neil Crawford
>
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