On Twigs, Toothpicks and Dying Dogs

The month's parade of hurricanes have left a trail of really tired, annoying metaphors in their path. Lucky for us, Slate has collected the adjectives most often used by journalists to describe the havoc Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne have wreaked this hurricane season. Broken tree limbs? Twigs or toothpicks. Stuff you forgot to tie down outside? Those would be the hurricane's toys. Other favorites include locomotives and sardines.

Low Culture also picked up a headline from the Lafayette Daily Advertiser, which made Ivan sound less like a hurricane and more like "the weary dog lingering outside your gas station": Weary Ivan circles Gulf; expected to die.

Gothamist Weather captured this image of Ivan just as his sad little bands of rain padded toward Texas, looking for a place to lay down and rest one last time. (via PetsYouLove)