We were talking about superlatives, comparitives and equatives in class. I gave my students some examples of equatives that are commonly used to compare people to things.

He is as big as a horse
as strong as an ox
as stubborn as a mule
as dumb as a rock
as cute as a bug


I admitted that sometimes they didn't make much sense- I mean, I personally never thought many bugs were especially cute . . . maybe a lady bug . . .

I asked them if they had any sayings in their languages that equated two things this way. Some of them mentioned some that sounded familiar when translated to English.

as gentle as a lamb

One student said, "He is as lost as Adam between his mother's legs."

"Well," said, I, "That is pretty darn lost."