Metaphors used about someone perceived to be very smart might include:

[Name is] a real brain surgeon (provided [Name] isn't a real brain surgeon)

[Name is] a genuine rocket scientist (provided [Name] isn't a genuine rocket scientist)

[Name is] a total Einstein

[Name's] brain's an Apple Mac

[Name's] mind is Intel enhanced (provided the person saying this isn't someone who believes the 'Intel Inside' label is known to technicians as the 'Warning Sticker')

You might also want similes about someone who is very smart? There are quite a few, including:

[Name is] a smart cookie

[Name is] so sharp they'll cut themselves

And, all beginning with As…, as in '[Name] is as…

…bright as a button

…bright as a lightbulb

…clever as [name of someone famous for being very clever] - Einstein, and so on

…clever as a cartload [US: wagonload] of monkeys

…clever as a fox

…cute as a fox

…sharp as a [very sharp thing] - tack, razor, or other sharp instrument

…smart as [name of someone famous for being smart] - Einstein, and so on

…smart as a whip

These could all lose the 'As…', and be expressed '[Name is] bright like a lightbulb'; '[Name is] cute like a fox', and so on.

A social error or blunder is called a faux pas (French, false step).

The pronunciation is "foh pah" or "foe pa".

Central, cent, centaur, century, center, centrifuge

EDIT:

• CENT
• CENTAI
• CENTAL
• CENTALS
• CENTARE
• CENTARES
• CENTAS
• CENTAUR
• CENTAUREA
• CENTAUREAS
• CENTAURIC
• CENTAURIES
• CENTAURS
• CENTAURY
• CENTAVO
• CENTAVOS
• CENTENARIAN
• CENTENARIANS
• CENTENARIES
• CENTENARY
• CENTENNIAL
• CENTENNIALLY
• CENTENNIALS
• CENTER
• CENTERBOARD
• CENTERBOARDS
• CENTERED
• CENTEREDNESS
• CENTEREDNESSES
• CENTERFOLD
• CENTERFOLDS
• CENTERING
• CENTERINGS
• CENTERLESS
• CENTERLINE
• CENTERLINES
• CENTERPIECE
• CENTERPIECES
• CENTERS
• CENTESES
• CENTESIMAL
• CENTESIMI
• CENTESIMO
• CENTESIMOS
• CENTESIS
• CENTIARE
• CENTIARES
• CENTIGRADE
• CENTIGRAM
• CENTIGRAMS
• CENTILE
• CENTILES
• CENTILITER
• CENTILITERS
• CENTILLION
• CENTILLIONS
• CENTIME
• CENTIMES
• CENTIMETER
• CENTIMETERS
• CENTIMO
• CENTIMORGAN
• CENTIMORGANS
• CENTIMOS
• CENTIPEDE
• CENTIPEDES
• CENTNER
• CENTNERS
• CENTO
• CENTONES
• CENTOS
• CENTRA
• CENTRAL
• CENTRALER
• CENTRALEST
• CENTRALISE
• CENTRALISED
• CENTRALISES
• CENTRALISING
• CENTRALISM
• CENTRALISMS
• CENTRALIST
• CENTRALISTIC
• CENTRALISTS
• CENTRALITIES
• CENTRALITY
• CENTRALIZATION
• CENTRALIZATIONS
• CENTRALIZE
• CENTRALIZED
• CENTRALIZER
• CENTRALIZERS
• CENTRALIZES
• CENTRALIZING
• CENTRALLY
• CENTRALS
• CENTRE
• CENTRED
• CENTRES
• CENTRIC
• CENTRICAL
• CENTRICALLY
• CENTRICITIES
• CENTRICITY
• CENTRIFUGAL
• CENTRIFUGALLY
• CENTRIFUGALS
• CENTRIFUGATION
• CENTRIFUGATIONS
• CENTRIFUGE
• CENTRIFUGED
• CENTRIFUGES
• CENTRIFUGING
• CENTRING
• CENTRINGS
• CENTRIOLE
• CENTRIOLES
• CENTRIPETAL
• CENTRIPETALLY
• CENTRISM
• CENTRISMS
• CENTRIST
• CENTRISTS
• CENTROID
• CENTROIDS
• CENTROMERE
• CENTROMERES
• CENTROMERIC
• CENTROSOME
• CENTROSOMES
• CENTROSYMMETRIC
• CENTRUM
• CENTRUMS
• CENTS
• CENTU
• CENTUM
• CENTUMS
• CENTUPLE
• CENTUPLED
• CENTUPLES
• CENTUPLING
• CENTURIAL
• CENTURIES
• CENTURION
• CENTURIONS
• CENTURY

Use of metaphors in the English language is so common that we rarely realise they are being used.

A metaphor is: a descriptive term (a word or expression) applied to an object or action, but the description itself is not literally applicable to the thing being described.

(Note: A metaphor is not to be confused with a simile. A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the words 'like' or 'as', for example 'as cold as ice'.)

The word metaphor has Latin origins, and means 'carry across, transfer'. A metaphor carries across or transfers the meaning from one situation and applies it to another.

AN EXAMPLE OF A METAPHOR

Someone might refer to 'a glaring error', but errors aren't literally 'glaring', because the word glaring in its literal sense means 'gleaming/shining fiercely/brightly in an uncomfortable way', such as the 'glare of the sun', or 'I was blinded by the glare of the headlights of the oncoming vehicles.' Applying the metaphor 'glaring' to an error means that the error is clearly evident.

IDENTIFYING METAPHORS

To identify metaphors when reading passages, first look for a term that describes something, then see if that term has a more literal meaning, one that is not usually used with reference to the word or situation currently being described. If you can find one, it is probably a metaphor.

Some examples:

he spoke cold words of little comfort

a gene map

a sad willow tree

primordial soup

to bailout the banks

road map to peace

toxic assets

"My new motor bike cost me an arm and a leg, but hey, you should see her fly!"

Metaphoric prose:"The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on."

From the Fog by Carl Sandburg

Some well-known examples of oxymoronic poetry include the following:

Yesterday upon the stair

I met a man who wasn't there

He wasn't there again today

Oh, how I wish he'd go away

[William Hughes Mearns; 1899]

One fine day, quite late at night

Two dead boys got up to fight.

Back to back they faced each other,

Drew their swords and shot each other.

A deaf policeman heard the noise

and came and killed those two dead boys.

[anon]

O brawling love, O loving hate,

O any thing of nothing first create!

O heavy lightness, serious vanity,

Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!,

Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,

Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!'

[Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet; circa 1591-5]