Re concerns about the imperialism of the United states of Paradox: I was trying to be wry and I hope successfully. It's my favorite bread. (rye that is--pardon the pun)

I liked your last message. Paradoxes are never imperialistic. Everything in life is subjective...
Not that I have checked or anything, but I would say, bright as a button is a lot more modern than Miss Austen.

janeaites

Well, you know, that's all the fun. We all use and understand language differently, depending on our background, nationality, social class, personality...

Wow! I stand corrected, although it does sound a little absurd to me. I have rarely seen a bright button. I lived in a apartment ( brownstone walk-up) and was having a conversation
with a good friend Barbara one floor up from me one Saturday morning. We got to talking about a nice neighbor , a southern belle (so southern her dog was named Rhett Butler)named Mary Laura one floor below me. She was getting frightfully frail with age. Myfriend Barbara said, "That Mary Laura, she's as sharp as a button" It was a freudian slip, but quite funny. To this day I remember it.
Bright as a button is new to me. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it were an insult.

Nice to talk to you again, Poli. Bright as a button does exist : Look at this or check on-line:
be as bright as a button (British & Australian) to be intelligent and able to think quickly She was bright as a button - always asking questions and quick to help.

Blogs are strange to me. I don't much like them because I don't like the way word blog sounds.
The Bronte's would be appalled. They would prefer bog to blog any day. Anyway I writing this message to make a minor correction in what you qwote. " Bright as a button" doesn't work. Cute as a button is the term. Sometimes just using bright is sufficient, but if a platitude is required, bright as day works.

It's always nice to see you back at the forum.

Happy New Decade!

Happy belated Christmas greetings to you. I just got back, and didn't even check(another word for delete) e-mails.
It is nice to see you back here again.

Merry Christmas, David!