Busier than expressions
1 – Busier than an anteater at a picnic.
When we think of picnics we often relate them to ants. Ants love to eat the food found on the ground during a picnic. They gather in large numbers that would keep a hungry anteater extremely busy as it hunted them all down.
2 – Busier than a barefoot boy on an ant hill.
If you have ever stood on an anthill this expression is very relatable. Ants come from everywhere to bite you. It would be even worse if you had no footwear on.
3 – Busier than a bartender on payday.
It is common for people to go out for a few drinks when they get paid. A bartender on payday can be extremely busy serving a large crowd of thirsty customers.
4 – Busier than a bear at a beehive.
If you’ve heard of or seen Winnie the poo you’d assume bears like honey. While they indeed do they also like to eat the baby bees and larvae that are in the hives. Such a delicious treat can keep a bear busy eating. In North America bee farmers actually have to try to protect their hives from bears.
5 – Busier than a blind dog in a meat house.
As everyone knows, dogs love to eat bones and meat. A blind dog would be jumping around, and falling over frantically feasting if it locked in a meat house or butcher’s shop.
6 – Busier than a farmer with one hoe and two rattlesnakes.
Farmers tend to come across snakes in their line of work and rattlesnakes are some of the most dangerous of them. A farmer trying to defend themselves from a couple with only a rake would be very busy swinging it around.
7 – Busier than a hungry man in a hot dog eating contest.
Hot dog eating contests ask competitors to eat as much as they can and is about as busy eating as a person can get. Add in a hungry man and it makes it even more industrious.
8 -Busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
This one is also said as “As nervous as”. A cat in such a room would be very busy trying not to get its tail trapped under the chairs as they rock back and forth.
9 – Busier than a mosquito at a nudist camp.
As we know mosquitoes enjoy biting us on our bare skin. A mosquito at a nudist camp would have plenty of skin to choose from!
10 – Busier than a puppy in a room full of rubber balls.
Most puppies love to chase and play with balls, even so much so they sometimes bring them back. A puppy in a room full of rubber balls that bounce a lot would be completely engaged in playing with them.
11 – Busier than a one-toothed man in a corn cob eating contest.
The average cob of corn has around 800 hundred individual kernels on it. If you only had 1 tooth in your mouth it would no doubt take a lot of work to finish eating a whole corn cob.
12 – Busier than a palm tree in a hurricane.
Hurricanes come from the ocean before they hit coastal areas where palm trees grow. In such ferocious winds, they thrash around in a busy manner trying to withstand the storms.
13 – Busier than a squirrel with a barrel of acorns.
Here’s another busier than expression about an animal surrounded by what it likes to eat. Squirrels love to eat the acorns that come from oak trees. They typically eat 2 or 3 acorns a day so a full barrel would keep them busy for a long time.
14 – Busier than a termite in a sawmill.
At a sawmill, a termite could have an endless supply of wood to keep eating for as long as it liked. It would be very busy indeed!
15 – Busier than a pig on ice
A pig’s feet and hooves are designed for walking around and staying balanced in the soil, mud, and rocks. If a pig tried to cross a frozen lake it would be slip-sliding all over that place looking very busy as it tried to gain some traction.
16 – Busier than a cow’s tongue at a salt lick.
A salt lick is a place where animals can get minerals that they need to survive. They are found both in nature and on farms where they are man-made. A cow needs to use its tongue quickly and constantly to get the minerals that it requires to stall healthy from a salt lick.
17 – Busier than a cranberry merchant at Thanksgiving.
Cranberries are a traditional part of the Thanksgiving meal in the USA. A merchant selling them at this time of year would no doubt be very occupied and working as fast as possible to sell as many as they can.
18 – Busier than a cross-eyed air traffic controller.
If you’ve ever tried to cross your eyes you will know that you can’t see much when you do. As an air traffic controller needs to see what is going on in the air, their job would be very challenging with limited sight.
19 – Busier than a vacuum cleaner in a dirt factory.
A vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt and dust, in a dirt factory it would be running non-stop, probably forever.
20 – Busier than a vampire at a blood bank.
Another obvious one in that these mythical creatures are said to drink blood. The fabled Count Dracula would be busy drinking all he could if he was able to enter a blood bank.
21 – Busier than popcorn on a skillet.
Popcorn is usually cooked in a pot or pan with a lid for a good reason. When it starts to pop it gets a bit crazy and sounds like miniature fireworks. There is a lot of action going on there.
22 – Busier than a beaver building a new dam.
Beavers are known to be busy animals, they cut down trees with their teeth and drag them along rivers to build huge dams to live in. There is also the popular English simile – As busy as a beaver.
23 – Busier than a gopher on a golf course.
Gophers live to dig holes. Golf is a game where you try to put a ball into a hole. A golf course seems a logical place for gophers to get busy digging. If you’ve ever seen the 1980s movie Caddyshack, you will understand this one quite well.
24 – Busier than a hibernating bear.
This one actually means the opposite. A hibernating bear is simply sleeping through the winter, it is doing nothing at all. It is also said – “As busy as a hibernating bear”.
25 – Busier than a one-armed guy pitching a tent in a wind storm.
If you have been camping and tried to pitch a tent in strong wind this one makes a lot of sense. Doing it with only one arm would be nearly impossible.
26 – Busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger (with the hives).
Hanging paper or wallpaper isn’t a very easy task to do. Imagine trying to do it with only the use of one arm. It would be very difficult, add on to that you had hives or an itch that you wanted to scratch, you’d be very very busy.
27 – Busier than the legs of a fat duck on a short runway.
This funny expression about being busy is about taking off to fly. Planes need fairly long runways depending on their size and power. Although ducks don’t need much of a run-up to become airborne, it is amusing to think of a fat duck waddling as fast as it could to gain speed to fly.
28 – Busier than a one-armed pickpocket at a kangaroo convention.
Kangaroo’s are famous for their pouches which are basically large pockets at the front of their bodies. It’s a silly one but try to imagine a pickpocket trying to steal at a large gathering of kangaroos.
29 – Busier than a centipede at a toe-counting contest.
This one comes from Foghorn Leghorn in the Loony Tunes cartoons. Centipede actually means 100 feet in Latin but in fact, they never have this amount, it can be more or less. Nonetheless, at such a contest they’d be quite hard-pressed to count all their toes.
30 – Busier than a church fan in August.
August is one of the hottest months in the USA. Churches typically involve large gatherings of people that sit closely together. In such a situation a fan would be working overtime to try to cool everyone down.
More busier than expressions
31 – Busier than a weatherman in a tornado.
32 – Busier than a pickpocket at a nudist camp.
33 – Busier than skis on a steep slalom course.
34 – Busier than flies in a tar pit.
35 – Busier than a wildcat on a sheep farm.
36 – Busier than a three-legged cat covering poop on a marble floor.
37 – Busier than a desert cobra at a mongoose convention.
38 – Busier than a cow’s tail in fly season.
39 – Busier than the beard of an auctioneer.
40 – Busier than a cat on a hot tin roof.
41 – Busier than a portable toilet at a chili-eating contest.
42 – Busier than a cross-eyed cranberry picker.
43 – Busier than a bee in a tar bucket.
44 – Busier than a bee on a buzzsaw.
45 – Busier than a cross-eyed rooster on an ant hill.
46 – Busier than a raccoon in tall corn.
47 – Busier than a snake in a birdcage.
48 – Busier than a stump full of ants.
49 – Busier than a termite in a log cabin.
50 – Busier than a fox in a hen house.
51 – Busier than a squirrel in a nut factory.
52 – Busier than a one-legged man pushing a wheelbarrow.
53 – Busier than a one-armed barber with hives.
54 – Busier than a one-armed clown making balloon animals at a kid’s party.
55 – Busier than a one-armed man trying to peel two bananas.
56 – Busier than a one-armed man trying to play the trombone.
57 – Busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.
58 – Busier than a one-legged man playing football.
59 – Busier than a one-eyed cat watching three mice holes.
60 – Busier than a cat at a laser show.
61 – Busier than a blind cat in a litterbox.
62 – Busier than a hippy at a tie-dye contest.
63 – Busier than a moth in a mitten.
64 – Busier than a moth in a clothes closet.
