History’s greatest poets and philosophers have all relied on one infallible metric in the construction of their most enduring metaphors—comparing things to barrels of different animals. Penetrate their heady linguistic flourishes with this clear-cut guide to animal-barrel metaphors.

• Barrel of: Monkeys
  
• Symbolizes: Imminent, inescapable fun
  

• Use it in a sentence: “The new hit movie Scream 4 is more fun—and scarier—than a barrel of monkeys!”

• Barrel of: Fish

• Symbolizes: How easy it would be to accomplish a given task, in comparison to cornering fish in an enclosed space and hunting them with a gun
  

• Use it in a sentence: “Chucking shurikens into this oil drum full of lobsters will be slightly harder than shooting fish in a barrel!”

• Barrel of: One man

• Symbolizes: A whimsical look at Depression-era poverty
  
• Use it in a sentence: “There’s nothing metaphorical about the crisis of poverty.”