Really simply please!!

[chillipepper]

I mean really, really simply so a 8yearold can understand....... whats the difference between a simile and a metaphor.

Remember super simple!

[baitress]

metaphor is a thing regarded as symbolic of something else.
simile involves the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind.e.g. he was as brave as a lion.

[crisgal]

i would say a simile is comparing something that is "as" or "like" something true.
As blue as the sea, as black as coal etc

A metaphor is saying that something is "as if" something else, to imagine it another way:
The moon was a ghostly galleon
the dark crept in like a black panther

[swedeheart]

Just adding to above replies with yet another example (I'll borrow your lion, baitress ;-)

simile: My cousin has such a full head of hair he looks like a lion.

metaphor: My cousin was only 20 when he started losing his mane.

See? In the metaphor he is the lion.

[crisgal]

any clearer, chilli?

[fredpuli47]

simile is from the Latin word for 'like'. It's a figure of speech expressing the resemblance of one thing to another of a different category, usually introduced by 'as ' or 'like'

Simile 'In battle,John was like a lion', 'The wrestler is like a bull '

Metaphor is from Greek for 'transfer' In metaphor we transfer the image or meaning of one thing to another.It's a figure of speech where we treat two different things as the same. Instead of having something expressed as being like another thing, we say it is that thing.

So, the two similes above become metaphors by saying "In battle, John WAS a lion" and 'The wrestler IS a bull '. We don't mean either of those literally, but each is an effective image.

[CJ242]

O.k Simple terms honey!
Simile - Legs like a tree trunk - Voice like an angel - Neck like a swan. -- Anything that describes a person and relates it to something else.
Metaphor - I love you like the weather, ever changing and unpredictable but it will always be there. - Football is like a fickle child, entertain me, make me happy or I'll tell you I hate you!! --- Making your point by comparing different subjects. ( Subject is usually chosen depending on argument at the time)

[Quizmonster]

I'm afraid the answer immediately above this one is incorrect. As others have already said, if 'like' is involved in such descriptions, the figure is a simile.
To repeat...a) simile...He was like a lion in battle.
b) metaphor...He was a lion in battle.

[sara3]

you've gotta feel for the 8 year old!

[Quizmonster]

I should have added this to my earlier answer, I suppose, but what I imagine CJ242 is trying to define in the second part of his/her answer is the figure of speech known as personification...ie human-like qualities being given to non-animate entities.
"Rosy-fingered dawn" is an example. Here the pinkish rays of first light are seen as 'fingers', thus making dawn seem to be a living creature.

[Peter Pedant]

if it has like in it it is a simile.