Running Like A Tap (Simile)
In Act One, Scene One, Helen and Jo arrive in their dingy new flat having come out of the rain. Helen complains that she has a cold and says her nose is "running like a tap." In this simile, Helen emphasizes the quick rate at which mucus is flowing out of her nose by comparing it to a faucet releasing water.
Knocked Me Into the Middle of Next Week (Metaphor)
While bickering with her daughter, Helen reprimands Jo for talking back to her. Helen says: "I would never have dared talk to my mother like that when I was her age. She’d have knocked me into the middle of next week." In this metaphor, Helen says that her mother would have physically abused her in reaction to insubordination. To emphasize the strength of the violence her mother would have used, Helen suggests that her mother would have hit her so hard she'd have been, impossibly, knocked forward in time.
Head's Splitting in Two (Metaphor)
In another exclamation about how irritating she finds her daughter, Helen complains that Jo is making her headache worse: "Oh! She’d drive you out of your mind. And my head’s splitting. Splitting in two." In this metaphor, Helen stresses the pain of her headache by saying that her head is splitting in two. In reality, it only feels as though something is splitting her head open.
His Hair Is Walking Away (Metaphor)
In the second act, Jo now lives with Geoffrey while expecting her first child. After pacing around the room, she goes to the window and complains about how filthy the local children look. Jo says: "It’s their parents’ fault. There’s a little boy over there and his hair, honestly, it’s walking away." In this metaphor, Jo jokes that the boy's hair is so dirty that it has become an independent organism capable of walking off his scalp.
As Cracked As An Old Bedbug (Simile)
When Geoffrey and Jo are living together, Jo talks about her fear that mental illness runs in her family. Geoffrey reassures her that she shouldn't worry about going mad because "everyone knows you’re as cracked as an old bedbug." In this simile, Geoffrey jokes that Jo is already insane ("cracked").
