I turned on the pillow with a little moan, and at this juncture Jeeves entered with the vital oolong. I clutched at it like a drowning man at a straw hat.
P. G. WodehouseRead
the ice was not only broken; it was shivered into a million fragments
Interpretation
The quote humorously suggests that a very formal or tense situation has been completely transformed into one that is relaxed and open.
P. G. Wodehouse cleverly conveys how an initially awkward or tense moment has been utterly shattered, resulting in a state of ease and comfort. The imagery of ice being broken into a million fragments emphasizes the complete transformation, highlighting how the mood has shifted from one of stiffness to one of lightheartedness, often through humor and social interaction.
In practice
This quote can be used to describe a successful icebreaker at a networking event.
I turned on the pillow with a little moan, and at this juncture Jeeves entered with the vital oolong. I clutched at it like a drowning man at a straw hat.
While not exactly disgruntled, he was far from feeling gruntled. He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.
She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season
It was a nasty look. It made me feel as if I were something the dog had brought in and intended to bury later on, when he had time.
Memories are like mulligatawny soup in a cheap restaurant. It is wiser not to stir them.
It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
No matter what she did with her hair it took about three minutes for it to tangle itself up again, like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Which, no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].
Jeremy tried to be an interesting person. The trouble was that he was the kind of person who, having decided to be an interesting person, would first of all try to find a book called How to Be An Interesting Person and then see whether there were any courses available.
There has been much tragedy in my life; at least half of it actually happened.
There are two types of people on social media: people who want more followers, and liars.
The fellow who laughs last may laugh best, but he gets the reputation of being very slow-witted.
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