: Re: Is there such a thing as a "reverse analogy"? Some analogies tend to be very common, becoming almost idiomatic. For example: He entered the doctor's office at 4:59 PM on a Friday. The

@Lee1909368

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Generally, both analogies and similes are symmetrical:

If A is like B, then B is like A (similes).
If the relation between A and B is like relation between C and D then relation between C and D is like relation between A and B. (analogies)

It would be hard to think up the exotic examples when that might not be true. So, technically, a reverse analogy is just an analogy, and a reverse simile is still a simile.

Now, if you create a simile of something relatively simple (cold air) to something overly long and descriptive (a doctor's secretary sending you a glare at 4:59PM on friday) this is called Epic simile or Homeric simile after these being common in the Illiad and the Odyssey.

In modern prose and poetry they are rarely welcome, because it usually results in purple prose, with parodistic tones at best, plain pathetic at worst, and you need absolute mastery to use them in a way that won't make the reader wince. (Your air-secretary simile certainly qualifies as wince-inducing.)

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