Like Lean Teenage Greyhounds (Simile)
At the beginning of the novel, Bridget is reluctant to return to normal life after the Christmas holidays. She comments: "Was really beginning to enjoy the feeling that normal service was suspended and it was OK to lie in bed as long as you want, put anything you fancy into your mouth, and drink alcohol whenever it should chance to pass your way, even in the mornings. Now suddenly we are all supposed to snap into self-discipline like lean teenage greyhounds." In this simile, Bridget laments how society expects her to get back to real life by comparing herself to a well-trained greyhound that people think they can make race around a track at their command.
Like a Pair of Magnets (Simile)
During Bridget's and Daniel's on-and-off flirtation at the office, Bridget runs into Daniel in the elevator as she is leaving for home. Bridget comments: "There we were, just him and me, caught in a massive electrical-charge field, pulled together irresistibly, like a pair of magnets." In this simile, Bridget emphasizes the intense mutual attraction she and Daniel have by likening their unstoppable desire to press their bodies together to magnets brought close by the force of magnetism.
Unexploded Bomb (Simile)
Immediately after Bridget sleeps with Daniel and doesn't use protection, she feels certain she is pregnant. Distracted by the thought, she buys a pregnancy test from the pharmacy, putting the test in her purse. After buying it, Bridget comments: "For the first two hours this morning I kept staring at my handbag as if it was an unexploded bomb." In this simile, Bridget emphasizes the anxiety and fear she feels by claiming that the pregnancy test's ability to confirm life-changing news makes it akin to a bomb in her purse that has yet to explode.
Faster Than the Speed of Light (Metaphor)
After she leaves the would-be Tarts and Vicars party at the Alconburys' early, Bridget discovers that Daniel seems reluctant to let her into his flat. Once inside, Bridget searches for evidence that he is cheating on her with another woman, commenting: "I flung myself insouciantly on to the sofa, wondering whether to streak faster than the speed of light down to the study as the final place she might be." In this metaphor, Bridget speaks of running faster than the "speed of light" to emphasize the extreme quickness she knows she will need if she is going to find the potential other woman without Daniel getting in her way and stopping her search.
Drooling Over a Giant Bar of Soap (Metaphor)
Following the revelation that Daniel has been seeing someone else and has gotten engaged to her, Bridget agrees to attend an art gallery show with her friend Tom and a young friend of his named Gav. While at the gallery, Tom drifts away from Bridget to look at the contemporary art. She comments: "Tom was now drooling over a giant bar of soap bearing the imprint of a penis." In this metaphor, Bridget makes fun of Tom's obvious fascination with the penis-imprinted bar of soap by saying he is drooling over it, when in reality he is likely looking at it with focus and admiration.
