CHOCISM

by The Chocolate Dictionary

A simile in which life or an aspect of life is compared to a box of chocolates. The best known chocism comes from the 1994  movie  Forrest Gump, where the eponymous hero states: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get”. Since then, journalists, commentators, and bloggers have all come up with interesting variations of their own:

• There’s are the pessimistic ones: “Life is like a box of chocolates, the best ones are half-eaten”; or: “Life is like a box of chocolates, I must have grabbed the wrong damn box”.
• There’s the anti-romantic ones: “Men are like chocolates, you never know when you’re going to get a nut”.
• There’s the matrimonial: “Marriage is like a box of chocolates, you have to squeeze a few bottoms to make sure you like what you’re getting”.
• There’s the educational: “Return on investment in training has a lot in common with a box of chocolates: what you see is not necessarily what you get”.
• And there’s the political: “Like a box of chocolates – you never know when you’re going to get a fudge”.

Because life is like a box of chocolates: we are born when the box is opened; we live as we choose our way through the assortment; and we die when the box is empty.