Common as bums

Bruises and bumps in the Kentucky camp were as common as bums at a free barbecue.

He made a face. "What for? You don't want a vineyard there. They're as common as bums; everybody's got one."

It was a long afternoon for those on the drink and the violence on the field was more often than not mirrored on the hill. Fistfights were as common as bums and people abandoned their picnic blankets to make room for the combatants. Many patrons lost full buckets of chips and pies in the mad scramble.

Tattoos were once solely used as a code by bikies and molls, the armed forces, crims and dykes to send a "I’m one of you", or "approach at your own risk", message ("In inky seas, tatts jumped the shark", June 1). Going by what I see in the changing room at my gym these days, they are now purely ornamental – and as common as bums.

"These kinds of thefts are common as bums at a soup kitchen," Ed said, yawning.