Would you call this text a simile or metaphor?

No they aren’t – so it is neither. (try metaphor.)

Simile. If it was a metaphor it would refer to the girls as waves, not like a wave.
For example, suppose you want to describe a woman with fat legs. You could say…

Her legs were like plump sausages (simile)

or you could say…

She walked into the room on two plump sausages. (metaphor)

“Girls are like waves” is a simile. A simple comparison.

The rest of the text is an extended simile. The actual constructions use some metaphorical language.

I agree with @Darkscribe that they aren’t. But the figures of speech are both simile (in the title) and metaphor (in the body). It doesn’t have to be true in order to be a figure of speech.

Thats just god damn hilarious!

can you email it to me? PopSciLover@gmail.com

@AstroChuck, it’s not a metaphor if two plump sausages were lying on the doorsill.

Metaphor: “Girls are waves.”
Simile: “Girls are like/as waves.”

“Like” for nouns, “as” for verbs.

Girls are like waves.
Girls overwhelm you as waves surge over the shore.

Both are similes.

@Jeruba

He asked how to describe the “text” in whole (or holistically), not the heading. It is (among other things) metaphorical.

Yes, @DarkScribe, and I distinguished between them in my first response above because one answer won’t do for both title and body and because the questioner asked if it’s [all] one or the other. It’s both. The title can’t be disregarded, and it is unequivocally a simile. The rest uses metaphorical language, but you can’t say it is a metaphor.

@Jeruba but you can’t say it is a metaphor.__The title can’t be disregarded, and it is unequivocally a simile

I did disregard it as the question was specifically about the text, which was supplied in length. You are quite right though the question was ambiguous.

(My pedanticism is in full flight. ;) )

[Not giving up yet]

Here’s the text:

Girls are like waves.

Clearly “text” includes the title in this member’s question.

Over.

@Jeruba Over.

You win – I think that I like you too much (based on my impression from your responses) to really argue. ;)

But that was fun, wasn’t it?

@Jeruba Jeruba’s avatar _But that was fun, wasn’t it?

Debate is always fun. (We could pretend that it is real debate and swap sides.)

Oh, I like to do that. That’s what I do sometimes when someone agrees with me too easily. (I used to have a boyfriend who agreed with me all the time. Wore me out with reversing myself.) But it’s too late tonight. Some other time.

The bold statement is a simile, but the other paragraphs are metaphors.

I think my minions have nailed it – no need for “the expert” to weigh in. :-)

Girls are like wonderous caverns, their depths unfathomable; while their mountains unsurmountable. (simile = like)

She was a cavern; deep, dark and mysterious. (metaphor)

Zen out.

@NewZen, very nice. But <donning editorial hat>...

their depths unfathomable and ; while their mountains unsurmountable.
or
their depths unfathomable, ; while their mountains unsurmountable.
or
their depths unfathomable ; while their mountains are unsurmountable.

No semicolon here unless you have an independent clause.

<doffing hat>

@Jeruba _Poetic License.__

…has its limits.

@NewZen __Poetic License.___

Has expired…

I am old fashioned, I use the “Little Book” as my primary guide, but I work in a field where I have to grit my teeth and accept tortured language as a part of publishing life. They continually change style to relax standards and allow atrocious abuse of language into print. For instance, many people use the word “may” when they mean “might”. It has become so commonplace that I am now frowned upon if I correct it. May has to do with permission, might with possibility.

I use Nuance’s voice software, and if I allow it to punctuate, it inserts semi colons into sentences with no fathomable logic. I had to go back and “weed” some long documents that I allowed it to transcribe. I have now turned the option off and am waiting for a bug-fix release.

@Jeruba Exanple: My love for you knows no boundaries, like the oceans and its waves. (simile)

But @Jeruba – you are a glistening moon, when your face brightens up the pixels of this precious pc – a shining beacon to sailors, nee castaways, in the seas of the mind.